Running Head: ACTION PLAN ONE 1

Action Plan

for

Luchanna Dix

Wright State University

For this assignment, I chose Action Plan One, which is the observation. As I prepare to

become a student affairs professional, it is imperative that I gain additional knowledge and

understanding of the perspective of all students. One of the areas in which I have little

knowledge is the area of the Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual, Transgender, and Queer culture and their

allies (LGBTQ+), that I will eventually serve.

It was not until I began working at Wright State University (WSU) that I became

exposed, on a regular basis, to students, faculty, and staff who associated themselves with the

LGBTQ+ culture. As I spend more and more time interacting with these individuals, and

especially now as I move through this graduate program, I have become much more aware of the

challenges that these individuals face, both in their educational pursuits and in their personal

lives as well. For so long a time, it was believed that those who lead the LGBTQ lifestyle do so

by choice. As I grow older, I truly question whether or not this is true. I struggle to accept that

any person would choose to lose the relationships of family and friends, risk job loss, and suffer

risk of harm, just to be involved in a same-sex relationship. Further, I cannot fathom going so

far as to change your body to a sexual orientation that is different than the one you were born

with, if there were not something deeper involved that drives individuals to make this life-

altering decision. So the question for me is how do I intentionally relate to these individuals in a

way that allows trust and respect to be present in all my interactions.

I was fortunate to be able to attend my first Ohio College Personnel Association (OCPA)

conference in January of this year. The theme of the OCPA conference was “Intersections”.

This subject was chosen to reflect the multiple ways in which educational, social, cultural,

economic, political, and environmental values and forces converge and shape our communities.

Intersectionality acknowledges that we are living in one of the most intriguing and challenging
ACTION PLAN ONE 3

times in history. As such, we need to develop new understanding on how we co-exist with

others in this unprecedented age. As I scanned the topics to be presented, I noticed several of

them involved information regarding the LGBTQ+ culture. I thought that this would be an

opportunity to gain additional knowledge of this subject; therefore, I chose two topics that dealt

with my own lack of knowledge concerning the LGBTQ+ community.

The first presentation was titled “How do you Ally? Closing gaps in LGBTQ+ Support”.

This lecture looked at ally-ship from the perspective of those students being allied. The

discussion centered on who LGBTQ+ students saw as allies in their everyday lives, as well as the

level of satisfaction these students had with their ally experiences. What I learned here, was that

there are no special qualifications necessary to be seen as an ally to LGBTQ+ students. Allies

are friends, professors, employees, staff members, and student affairs professionals that care

about the student and is supportive of them in ways that do not take away their “voice”. Further,

it is important that their opinions are not dismissed, strictly based on their sexuality. Dunstan

and Jaeger (2016) echo this sentiment where they write, “Indeed, in society today the idea that a

student on a college campus should have to get used to or learn to deal with being discriminated

against based on a characteristic largely beyond their control is unacceptable”.

The most important take away from this session for me was the fact that the LGBTQ+

experience cannot and should not be discounted. To say to a student that it does not matter if

they are gay or bi-sexual, discounts them as an individual. Every person’s sexuality is a part of

who they are. If you dismiss that part of them, then you are in essence dismissing the person as a

whole. This was a huge eye-opener for me in that something that we think shows acceptance,

actually is received as the opposite.

The second presentation I chose was “Supporting at the Intersections of Race and

Sexuality: Working with Queer Students of Color”. The most important thing that I learned in

this presentation was that queer students of color experience a different dimension of acceptance

than white queer students. Queer students of color experience more “microaggression” than do

their white peers. Palmer & Maramba (2015) describe microaggression as brief and

commonplace daily verbal, behavioral, or environmental indignities, intentional or unintentional,

that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative racial slights and insults toward people of

color. These can be comments such as “all Asian Americans are good at math”, or that “all

Puerto Ricans speak Spanish”. These statements are generalizations about a race of people and

may or may not represent one specific individual’s personal experiences. Microaggressions can

produce feelings of degradation, erode self-confidence and induce psychological stress, thereby

making it difficult for students to develop a sense of belonging on campus. Myriad studies have

shown that students are more likely to continue in an environment in which they feel supported

and valued.

Another interesting point that was made in this presentation, was that, even in LGBTQ+

communities, queer spaces are rarely “intersectional” in nature. In too many cases, queer

students of color are still seen as “other” based on their skin tone, with little or no

acknowledgement given to their queer (or other) identities. In the dating world, queer students

of color can also be “fetishized” because of their skin color or exotic features. Some white

individuals may express preference to date “only Asians, or only Blacks. This type of

macroaggression also retards the “belonging” process. In their study dealing with the impact of

belonging among college students with disabilities, Vaccaro, et al. (2015), suggest that the

development of a sense of belonging helps to advance students’ self-advocacy, helps the student
ACTION PLAN ONE 5

to master their role as a college student, and helps the development of social relationships. Right

or wrong, identities are framed by systems of power. In our current society, the power is still

predominately held by white males. Queer white males then, hold more power than queer

students of color. This is one of the reasons queer students of color often experience

microaggressions in the very spaces that are meant to be designed for them to be comfortable.

As student affairs professionals, we can help our queer students of color, by asking if

they have found spaces where both their identities (racial and sexual) are acknowledged. We

need to be sure there are such spaces on campus, and check to see who is being represented in

these spaces. If we are to be successful in recruiting, retaining and matriculating students, we

must work hard to make all students feel included, respected, and safe on all college campuses.
ACTION PLAN ONE 6

References

Dunstan, Stephany B. & Jaeger, Audrey J. (2016). The Role of Language in Interactions With

Others on Campus for Rural Appalachian College Students. Journal of College Student

Development, 57(1), 47-61.

Duran, Antonio (2017). Supporting at the Intersections of Race and Sexuality: Working with

Queer Students of Color. Presentation given at The Ohio College Personnel Association

(OCPA), Columbus, Ohio.

Gentner, Laura (2017). How Do You Ally? Closing the Gaps in LGBTQ+ Support.

Presentation given at The Ohio College Personnel Association (OCPA), Columbus, Ohio.

Palmer, Robert T. & Maramba, Dina C. (2015). Racial Microaggressions Among Asian

American and Latino/a Students at a Historically Black University. Journal of College

Student Development, 56(7), 705-721.

Vaccaro, Annemarie, Daly-Cano, Meada, & Newman, Barbara M. (2015). A Sense of Belonging

Among College Students with Disabilities: An Emergent Theoretical Model. Journal of

College Student Development, 56(7), 670-685.