Safe Zone Training

 

 

I had the opportunity to go a Safe Zone Training at East Carolina University on Saturday.

 

While the day focused specifically on being a safe space for LGBTQ students, I walked away with echoes of a very important statement: “Overall inclusivity is important. There are lots of different differences.”

 

In fact, I’d wager to say that almost everyone feels different in at least one way at least one point in their lives.

 

Regardless of how you feel about LGBTQ issues—and believe me when I say that I know that there are all kinds of thoughts and feelings about LGBTQ issues—one thing needs to be understood: The differences that LGBTQ children, teens, and adults feel run to the very core of identity. We’re not talking about “risky, sinful behaviors.” We’re talking about personhood and, in many cases, whether or not someone feels worthy to be alive.

 

In my job, my purpose is not to judge a student and deem them unworthy because of their lack of interest in music, their behavior, their home-life, their religious upbringing, their sexuality, their academic failures, or anything else. My life’s work, instead, is to see all students as beloved and support them on their journeys into the unknown.

 

And what’s one way that I can do this? I can support, normalize, and validate feelings. This is one of the things that we talked about at Saturday’s training. I can let students—and colleagues—know that I am here to listen—to whatever is on their hearts and minds. I can show empathy for concerns. And when I can’t be supportive of things that I don’t understand, I can refer to someone who is, and then I can work on my own biases by reading, learning, and talking to people who can help stretch me beyond myself.

 

In short, I can be a safe space.

 

Dear God: You, in your essence, unadulterated by limited human understanding and religion, are a safe space. Jesus, you, in your personhood, undeterred by limited human understanding and religion, were a safe space. Holy Spirit, you, in your presence, unlimited by limited human understanding and religion, are a safe space. Likewise, help us to be safe spaces that honor the dignity and worth of each human life. Amen.