An Unexpected Connection

EF had a booth at Centreville Day on Saturday, September 15th. I, along with a few other volunteers worked the 3:30-5:30 shift in the afternoon. The weather was beautiful and a few supportive people had stopped by to say hello.

This was intended to be a fairly low key event and it was. We wanted to be out and visible. We used the measuring cups along with the "We are your neighbors" banner sign to get the message out. The measuring cups were a great ice breaker and were always appreciated by the visitors.

One visitor, in particular, really touched my heart. She was an older woman and appeared to be an immigrant from somewhere in the middle east based on her accent. She walked by I said hello and asked her if she would like a measuring cup. After she accepted one she asked, in somewhat halting English, what sort of group we were. I explained what EF was and she said that the kind of discrimination we were subject to was terrible.

I hate to admit it but I had been subconsciously braced for a rejection. The stereotype is that older people from immigrant communities tend to be less receptive to our message and often fairly hostile to it. But, this woman, with her straightforward response, caught me by surprise. I could have hugged her, both for her reaction and for reminding me how easy it is to pre-judge people.

We do have allies and often where we least expect them. That is what is great about working events like this. Not only do we help to break down those myths about just who LGBT people are, we get a chance to break down some barriers of our own.