Many Carleton students want to affirm and accept their LGBT peers, but don’t know how to go about it. This list gives suggestions for how to show support for LGBT students and their rights. This is by no means an exhaustive list of things you can do to support gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Carleton students, nor is it a list of strict “requirements” for being a good ally.

EDUCATE YOURSELF!
• Learn about laws, policies and practices at Carleton and at state and national levels, and their effects on LGBT people.
• Listen to what your LGBT peers have to say.

BE A VOCAL AND VISUAL ADVOCATE!
• Interrupt homophobic jokes; explain why they’re not funny.
• Encourage discussion.
• Vote for politicians with good voting records on LGBT issues.
• Pick up a Carleton Pride button in the GSC.

PARTICIPATE!
• Go to GSC-sponsored and gay-related events.
• Celebrate National Coming Out Day and Pride Month.
• Participate in SaGA (Sexuality and Gender Activism), or if you are very comfortable with LGBT issues, go to a meeting of CIAO (Carleton in and Out)

PRACTICE NONDISCRIMINATION!
• Don’t assume that someone is heterosexual until you know.
• Use genderless terms, like “significant other” rather than “boyfriend” or “girlfriend”.
• Be consistent in your acceptance and support of groups of other people.
• Examine your own actions; unlearn myths you have been taught.
• Accept different forms of gender expression. Try to unlearn gender stereotypes.

USE YOUR RESOURCES!
• Subscribe to the GSC, SaGA, and/or CIAO email lists. Visit https://lists.carleton.edu/ to sign up.
• Sign up to receive the GSC Newsletter.
• Participate in online activism. Visit the Human Rights Campaign at http://www.hrc.org/ and sign up to receive their action alerts.

LGBT Vocab | Myths and Realities | Symbols of Pride | Heterosexism | Homophobia | Queer Theory | How-To