22: Straight Privilege, Yes It Does Exist

Simply put straight privilege is a bunch of unearned benefits that heterosexual people get that people with other sexualities don’t get. Straight Privilege is a topic I’ve wanted to talk about for a while. The inequality that exists for LGBTQ+ people that often people don’t see or fully appreciate. And I’m not talking solely about straight, heterosexual people here either. I think that sometimes as gay, bi, trans and queer people we may not fully see the inequality and discrimination that exists against us it’s so ingrained in our societal, cultural and religious structures.

If you’re LGBTQ+ and listening to this I urge you to look at what you are accepting because of your sexuality or because of your gender identity. Are you accepting less than? Are you accepting being thought of as not having an equally meaningful and important relationship with your same sex partner for example, or that you’re not accurately represented in tv, films, media, marketing and advertising? When you start to become fully aware of these things that maybe you accepted for a long time (consciously or subconsciously) you can start to connect with the real impact and potential correlation with your feelings of less than, unworthiness and ‘not as valued or seen as straight people….I’d love to know if this resonates with you so as always drop me a DM @sarahtaylorcoaching on Instagram or facebook or email me at sarahtaylorcoaching@gmail.com with any thoughts.

Straight privilege reinforces the differences between heterosexual and other sexualities and the fact that straight is seen as superior in some way. And just as so many of us learned from the recent amplification of the black lives matter movement, when you are straight it’s so easy not to see your privilege. You don’t think about it because well, why would you. You are benefiting from it. I want to make it clear that my intention here is to give you some food for thought, to give you an idea of the unearned benefits you have that LGBTQ+ people don’t. So that you can consider them. So that you can deepen your understanding and build closer connections and community between LGBTQ+ people and our straight allies. Together we can really make a difference, in our daily interactions, being curious about why things are the way they are if they disadvantage people from minority groups and standing for equality by the choices we make and the conversations we have. 

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