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Let's Talk Human Rights

Serving the Dear Neighbor in Queer and Catholic Spaces

By Angela Weiland '22

My name is Angela Weiland, and, over the summer, I worked an internship at the LGBT Community Center in Cleveland. LGBTQ+ rights and advocacy are very important to me as a member of the LGBTQ+ community. The more I learn and engage with the community, the more I fall in love with the work and the people. Here, I talk about my experiences at the center as well as touch on some things I have learned as a member of the community.

About the LGBT Community Center

Established in 1975, the mission of the Center is to “enrich the lives of the diverse LGBTQ+ community through advocacy, support, education and celebration." My tasks for the center varied, ranging from calling volunteers to confirm the days and times they were available to volunteer to ordering and organizing groceries for our bi-weekly grocery outreach program. Internships are often what you make of them. So, I have also advertised myself as a bit of a free agent at the Center and made it clear that I am willing to help any of the staff with projects. Because of this, I have also spent time working the front desk, writing out demographics from our trans-wellness program and doing some manual labor when tables needed to be moved up from the basement or the like. I have thoroughly enjoyed this work. 

After I graduate, I picture myself working for a non-profit organization. Getting the chance to do that now is very exciting to me. This is an especially important experience because it is a non-profit that supports a community in which I am a part and an ally. Working on the grocery outreach program and at the front desk allowed me to get to know the people the Center serves. One thing I find really wonderful about the Center is that anyone can walk in at any time, seeking any level of assistance and find it. Our doors are open to the LGBTQ+ community, but also to those outside of it. We have people without housing coming in for free meals, adult job-seekers asking for help with writing cover letters, regulars popping in to say hello and community members coming in to use our publicly accessible computers. While the Center has its limits, the staff operates in such a way that responds to community needs with help or direction to someone who can assist if we are unable to. For example, transgender specific housing is essentially nonexistent and the Center does not offer housing. However, we direct people to the few trans-friendly housing connections we have.

Having a space like this where everyone is welcome and cared for is new to me. Though I knew places like this existed, I have never worked for one before this summer. In a world that is so intent on driving people apart, it is truly beautiful to be in a place that intentionally works to bringing people together. Beyond that, in a world that tells the LGBTQ+ community that our identity is a negative, scary thing, it is wonderful to be in a space that cares for those in the community, treating them with the dignity and respect they deserve and the fabulous human beings they are. 

My Identity as LGBTQ+ and Catholic

This summer’s experience is one step along the road of my identity journey. Identities, including mine, are multi-fold or intersectional. I am a lesbian who is also Catholic. Coming into my freshman year of college, I was devoted to my faith and practiced it consistently. That has recently begun to change. The way I have seen other people of faith react to the LGBTQ+ community played a big part in this shift. 

My experience at the Community Center showed me what it means to be in a space of love, acceptance and help. It has inspired me to reflect more on my faith. My view is the Catholic Church needs to change its approach to the LGBTQ+ community and should do so quickly. Let me be clear about what I would like to see. I am not asking the Church to change its teachings, alter doctrine, ignore biblical texts or allow same-sex couples to be married in the Church. I’m asking that the LGBTQ+ community be acknowledged by the Church and invited into it. What I would like to see is the Church listening and empathizing with us, rather than trying to fix us. The root of the Catholic faith is to love your neighbor, and this comes with the acceptance that LGBTQ+ folks are neighbors, friends and loved ones. It is important that the Church not oppress nor ignore LGBTQ+ Catholics. 

Many of us want to be part of the faith community, but feel unsafe or unwelcome to do so. I would like to see recognition that the institution of the Church has harmed the LGBTQ+ community. The Church does not need to agree with everything the LGBTQ+ community stands for in order to love and respect us. I know, from my own journey and my interactions this summer, that the LGBTQ+ community is tired. We want a place to be safe, heard and loved, and based on its own teachings, the Catholic Church should be a place where that can happen, not unlike the Community Center. 

While I might be questioning my devotion to the Catholic Church, I remain tied to the faith in the idea that we are meant to love and serve everyone. To me, the Church could be a place for LGBTQ+ Catholics to experience this beautiful and powerful act of humanity. I would like to see that message lived out more fully for the LGBTQ+ community in the Catholic faith because we are a beautiful, powerful part of humanity.

 


My name is Angela Weiland, and I am a senior Human Rights Studies major at the University of Dayton graduating in Spring, 2022. Over the summer, I worked an internship at the LGBT Community Center in Cleveland, and plan on working with the LGBTQ+ community after graduation.

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