I am an ally... or at least want to be?

     I'm going to review the article "Becoming an Ally" by Nancy J. Evans and Jamie Washington. I've always considered myself and 'ally' to the LGBT community. But after reading this article I question some my decisions I suppose. I’m not afraid of what will come from being an ally. People can say anything they want about me, whether heterosexual or someone of the LGBT community. In the article it listed the things to become an ally like awareness, knowledge, skills, and action. I am aware of the issues in the LGBT community and I’ve begun to acquire more knowledge just by taking a class like this and women’s studies/queer studies courses. I need to work on my skills however because like it said “some fall short because of fear, or lack or resources or supports”. I honestly am afraid sometimes because while I say I don’t care, everyone has some sort of resentment when people attack him or her for something. As of the action step, I have helped friends in these situations many times; I listen and try my hardest to give a helpful input.
     It’s important to me to be an ally because I have many friends in the LGBT community and I care a lot about them, their rights, and equality for men, women, lesbians, gay men, transgender people, and all the subcategories of the LGBT community. This is something I really want to work towards and this article was very helpful to lay out the steps and process of becoming a true and helpful ally.