Words by Abi Scaife
For many LGBTQIA+ people, one of the most important things in the never-ending journey of coming out is your cishet allies. In the same way that misogynists rarely listen to women on matters of feminism, queerphobes are more likely to hear out the cishet people who are sticking up for their LGBTQIA+ siblings.
That’s why, in honour of the International Day against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia, Smiley News decided to put together a list of five notable allies who are helping to support their queer siblings!
How could we mention queer allies without bringing up the queen herself? Having been recognised by the GLAAD Media Awards more than once for her contributions to the LGBTQIA+ community, she is possibly one of the most prominent cishet allies the LGBTQIA+ community has. She is certainly responsible for shining a more positive spotlight on the queer community and is showing no signs of stopping.
Oh, Prince, my Prince - that’s right, in case you missed the memo, Nicolas Galzatine AKA Prince Henry of Red, White and Royal Blue, identifies as a straight cis-man. In fact, he has made headlines lately for admitting he sometimes feels “guilt” about playing so many queer roles when he identifies as straight, but that he sees those characters as “more” than just their sexuality. That’s something that often, cishet people don’t always pick up on - and, though Nicolas might feel guilty occasionally, perhaps his commitment to telling these queer stories in a holistic way is what makes him such a great ally.
Anne Hathaway is a passionate advocate of LGBTQIA+ rights, and garnered a huge amount of attention for her 2018 Human Rights Campaign Ally Award acceptance speech where she claimed she wasn’t being “brave” but a “decent human being”. Her brother is gay, and the ‘The Idea of You’ actress has even committed to charity work in support of equal rights, no matter their gender or sexual orientation. In 2012, she even sold her wedding photos and donated a share of the profits to marriage equality advocacy groups.
The Boy Who Supports Basic Human Rights, Daniel Radcliffe, has always been a huge advocate for LGBTQIA+ people, and has even won numerous awards for doing so. He has held his head up high and continued to support the community, despite transphobic vitriol coming his way in recent months; and, if anything, has become even more committed. At Smiley News, we acknowledge that this isn’t always an easy thing, and commend Daniel for being such a brilliant friend and ally to the LGBTQIA+ community.
Now this is one you likely didn’t know about - but entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson has been a notable supporter of the LGBTQIA+ community for a long time. He is a huge supporter and patron of the Terrence Higgins Trust and, since its inception over 50 years ago, the Virgin group has been fully inclusive and supportive of queer people. Virgin was even a founding partner of Open for Business, a coalition of companies dedicated to LGBTQIA+ advocacy, and Sir Richard Branson continues to encourage and fight for LGBTQIA+ advocacy both in and outside of his business.
At Smiley Movement, we like to elevate the work of charities across the world. Here are three charities whose causes align with the themes in this article.
MindOut. An award-winning LGBTQ community mental health service based in Brighton; run by LGBTQ people, for LGBTQ people. Learn more here.
Switchboard. They provide an information, support and referral service for lesbians, gay men and bisexual and trans people – and anyone considering issues around their sexuality and/or gender identity. Support them here.
LGBT Hero. LGBT HERO is the national health and wellbeing charity for LGBTQ+ people supporting over 100,000 people a month. Find out more here.
