Why I Come to the Fight for LGBTQI+ Equality With My Whole Self and With Full Commitment

By Carol Vincent, Director, FOCUS at Gilead

My personal experiences in life have helped me make good choices in supporting humanity. In high school, I had two male friends who told me they liked each other. They told me with a whisper that I couldn’t tell anyone. In my youthful naivete, I thought how odd that you just couldn’t love who you love and be who you are? Why would you have to whisper about it?

Fast forward to adulthood. Throughout college, in my career as a nurse, as a mom and as a human being, I found out why. I observed, I listened, and I talked to other people and came to the harsh realization that there are power differentials and many other parts of life that are not equal for no good reason.

That is when I knew that I needed to be the best ally I could be.

I come to the fight for LGBTQI+ equality with my whole self and with full commitment. I will continue to listen, be open-minded, be willing to talk, be inclusive, not make assumptions, to defend against discrimination in all forms, to be clear with my words, to confront my own biases and prejudices, and hold others accountable when I see that there are treating others without dignity and respect.

Carol will be speaking on myGwork panel, Allyship: Supporting One Another, taking place 3rd August at 4:00pm BST. Register to join now.