Non-queer people should still engage the queerphobic system as a stance of solidarity.
Forbes, T. D., & Ueno, K. (2020), Forbes holds a PhD in Sociology from Florida State University. My research agenda is active, and my areas of interest are social stratification, allies and allyship (with a focus on the areas of race and sexualities), and higher education. Ueno is Professor of Sociology at Florida State University. He holds a doctoral degree from Vanderbilt University. He conducts sexuality research. Post-gay, Political, and Pieced Together: Queer Expectations of Straight Allies. Sociological Perspectives, 63(1), 159–176. https://doi.org/10.1177/0731121419885353, Acc 7/22/23 [tvisha]
Allies are often presumed to be beneficial for movements. For example, movement scholars have argued that allies help marginalized groups access resources and appeal to mainstream audiences (McCarthy and Zald 1977; Russo 2014). Yet, most work on straight allies focuses on how straight people come into the ally role and how being an ally benefits them, so little is known about whether and how straight allies benefit LGBTQ+ rights movements. Furthermore, little is known about what queer people expect from straight allies, making it difficult to investigate allies’ effectiveness up against expectations. However, research on the expectations and roles of allies in both women’s and people of color’s rights movements reveals patterns that one might expect to find in the present case. Prior work suggests that marginalized actors hold similar expectations of allies across identity-based movements. For example, a study of white allies found that people of color held two primary expectations of their allies: informed action and affirmation of racialized identities (Brown and Ostrove 2013). Affirming attitudes toward marginalized identities have been linked with low prejudice, an awareness of privilege, and an affinity for those unlike oneself (Ostrove and Brown 2018). In addition, Messner, Greenberg, and Peretz (2015) wrote about an example of informed action as male feminists, taking cues from women, began to hold other men accountable for helping end sexual and domestic violence against women. It follows that, based on what is known from these other contexts, some queer people might expect their allies to be actively involved in helping disrupt and dismantle homophobic and queerphobic systems of oppression while also affirming their existence as queer people.