Ask Matt: Why Do We Mistreat Our Allies?

http://tranifesto.com/2012/02/23/ask-matt-why-do-we-mistreat-our-allies/
2/23/12
Matt Kailey

A reader writes: "I am avidly following your posts about how the T relates to the rest of the acronym. I'd like to bring up the A (or one of the A's, as the case may be). Many people in the Queer community tend to alienate our Allies. I think this is abhorrent.

"I have seen cis allies of trans people get called out harshly simply because they didn't know all of the proper terminology. I believe in education, but taking such a teaching moment and turning it into a bashing session is unacceptable. How do we as trans people (or queer people in general) help our allies? How do we help them learn and grow and support us how we need? How to we defend them from those who would rather not have them at all?"