Part II : Intervening Against Homophobia

Resources and Strategies for Intervening Against Homophobia

Resources
Being prepared is essential to effective intervention. You can be prepared with information about resources for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth. You can be prepared with information about resources for yourself as an educator and as an ally or member of the LGBT community. And you can be prepared with some basic information and facts that might come in handy during an intervention.

The Challenging Homophobia Resources page provides the following:

• Basic Facts
• WWW Resources
• Bibliography

Strategies
Interpersonal incidents of homophobia can be highly charged emotionally and are usually spontaneous. The key is to be prepared -- psychologically and tactically.

Managing Feelings
Survey respondents reported feeling angry, nervous, embarrassed, afraid, and alone. These are natural feelings to have when we witness a homophobic interpersonal incident -- or when we are the target of such an incident. Be aware that these feelings may come up and try not to be distracted by resisting them.

Also be aware that this emotional response may change as the intervention proceeds or as we become more comfortable with our own intervention skills through practice. Survey respondents reported feeling more confident and affirmed as they became more articulate around these issues.

It is important also to be aware that everyone else involved in or witnessing the incident may be having similar or other feelings for various reasons. The homophobic behavior itself has some emotional roots. Because this is such an emotionally volatile situation, it is necessary for the intervenor to stay calm in order to get a handle on it and help to resolve it.

Establishing Perspective
One way to keep a functional perspective on the situation is to analyze the dynamics and assess what issues need to be addressed. We can use a Situation Model to check out many of the elements of a situation at a glance. These are some elements that will influence our approach to intervening in a given situation.

We can also use an Action Model to manage our choices. Taking a systematic approach to intervening against homophobia helps us be sure to cover all the bases, when otherwise such a situation can be so volatile that we might miss important information and opportunities that can guide a successful intervention.