I’m sure you’ve probably thought of these, but…
- Use inclusive language. Don’t address the crowd as “ladies and gentlemen”, “brothers and sisters”, etc. Stick with gender neutral terms like “friends”, “siblings”, etc.
- Don’t set up rituals assuming everyone is straight and cis. For example, if your Great Rite always calls for a man and a woman, or a ritual divides people into two groups based on gender…Maybe consider how that’s leaving people out.
- Don’t apply genders to random inanimate objects (and especially the energies of other people!) in public ritual or discussion. This includes calling everything in the cosmos a mix of male and female, as there are non-binary people who don’t identify as being on that spectrum.
- Remember that there is more to fertility than sex or childbearing. (And that there’s more to sex than heterosexual sex.) Historically, most fertility festivals were centered around agriculture! And fertility can be expanded to include other things, such as creativity, personal growth, etc.
- Don’t disparage someone’s choice of deities, path, etc. based on their gender. In historical polytheistic religions, there were very few cases where only one gender was allowed to participate in a thing…and even in those cases, the person may be a closeted trans person, or you may be misgendering them.
- Provide access to gender-neutral/”family” restroom facilities if possible.
- I won’t say don’t use any homophobic or transphobic sources ever, as sometimes that just can’t be helped, especially in historical primary texts. But if there’s a choice between two more or less equal books on a discussion topic, and one writer is inclusive and the other is a TERF, use the inclusive option in your study group.
- This is straight ally 101, but it bears repeating: Don’t out people without their permission. This includes posts and photos on social media.
- Most importantly, if someone makes a shitty homophobic or transphobic comment, please stand up for us. Don’t speak over any queer people present, but back us up and make it clear that kind of thing isn’t okay.
