A Safe and Welcoming Environment for All

In recent years, we have witnessed a strong anti-immigrant and anti-LGBTQ trend nationwide, statewide, and locally. In an effort to engage both communities in dialogue around what a welcoming and safe environment truly looks like, SIREN brought together members from the Vietnamese, Latino, and Youth immigrant community, as well as the non-immigrant Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer community. Through a three-session dialogue, participants worked together to build connections, share experiences, and identify the values that should guide a safe and integrated community.
The eclectic group challenged each other’s perceptions through topics including common stereotypes, societal outcasts, inclusiveness, shared understanding of one another, among others. “I’ve used those stereotypes myself and didn’t realize how it can impact others,” reflects a participant during the discussion. Another shares that, “sometimes it is our own family who will make us feel like an outsider, but it’s important to not take everything seriously. What matters is how you feel about yourself.” The conversation continued, enabling participants to open up with each other, eventually leading them to the understanding that the success and well-being of the immigrant community, and the success and well-being of the LGBTQ community affect one another.
SIREN recognizes that this is a first pivotal step in bridging alliances between our most vulnerable communities in order to create a more favorable issue environment for immigrant and LGBTQ rights. A document detailing the principles that guide a safe and integrated community, along with a short documentary film, are being produced by SIREN in order to ensure that the immigrant and LBGTQ community live free of hate, violence, and oppression.