Queer Ecology: LGBTQ+ Identities and Environmental Advocacy—Workshop Summary

Submitted By Alex Gayheart On Behalf Of The Social Justice Committee

The Social Justice Committee was thrilled to host Parker McMullen Bushman (she/they), a Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion strategist and founder of Ecoinclusive (www.ecoinclusive.org), in May as part of our 2026 Speaker Series on social justice issues.

Parker began their workshop by delving into the concepts of bias, both conscious and unconscious, and stereotypes, both implicit and explicit. She described implicit bias as a kind of pattern-mapping. Our brains receive more information than we can consciously process, so they sort experiences, media messages, images, jokes, family stories, religious teachings, school lessons, and cultural assumptions into “folders.” Later, when we encounter a person or idea, the brain may pull out that folder before we have consciously examined whether the contents are accurate or fair. 

A major part of the session next focused on untangling concepts such as sex/sex characteristics, gender (socially defined), gender identity (self-defined), gender roles (social expectations), gender expression (how individuals present their identity), and pronouns (using someone’s pronouns is a basic form of respect, not a special favor) that are often treated as if they are the same. As we look back throughout time and across different cultures, we can see that gender is not fixed and has been, and continues to be, defined and influenced by social narratives.

The workshop named how people are socialized into a binary, heterosexual framework from childhood. This shows up in toys, colors, compliments, clothing, career assumptions, family expectations, movies, stories, leadership norms, and the ways adults imagine children’s futures. 

Queer Ecology challenges us to break the binary because the natural world does not conform to it. The workshop challenged the idea that the natural world is neatly binary, heterosexual, fixed, or simple. Instead, nature is full of variation, adaptation, fluidity, cooperation, kinship, social bonding, and reproductive strategies that do not map neatly onto human cultural assumptions.

Parker defined often misunderstood terms such as intersex (an occurrence as common as red-headedness, approximately 1.7% of the population), an umbrella term for natural variations in sex characteristics that do not fit typical binary definitions of male or female bodies, and transgender vs. cisgender. The terms “cis-” and “trans-” are Latin prefixes that have been used in scientific fields for over a century to indicate relative positions: same side vs. opposite side.  

The workshop highlighted that attraction and relationship structure are also more varied than many people are taught. Sexual attraction, romantic attraction, gender identity, and relationship agreements are distinct pieces of a person’s life. They can align in expected ways, but they do not always. 

The Gender Unicorn, transstudent.org/gender, developed by Trans Student Educational Resources, is an infographic that helps demystify these concepts in an easy-to-understand format.

Parker named that bias against LGBTQIA+ people appears interpersonally and structurally. It can show up in jokes, family rejection, policy, exclusion from spiritual communities, employment discrimination, healthcare barriers, housing insecurity, violence, and public narratives that frame queer and trans people as threats, leading to depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation due to constant stress and fear.

One of Parker’s strongest messages was that allyship is not an identity someone claims; it is an action someone practices. Allyship requires humility, learning, repair, risk, and follow-through. 

Ways to be an ally:
Advocate for change
Provide support and validation
Be aware of microaggressions
Use inclusive language
Speak out
Listen and learn

During the Q&A, Parker emphasized that social justice and environmental work are not separate. The same biases and systems that shape schools, churches, workplaces, healthcare, housing, policing, and family life also shape who has access to nature, who is welcomed in environmental spaces, who is believed, who is protected, and who is most harmed by climate disruption and environmental hazards.

Parker offered these questions for spiritual/justice community reflection:

What does my faith, spirituality, ethics, or worldview ask of me when people are being targeted? How can spiritual communities move beyond “welcome” into safety, affirmation, and shared power? Where has religion been used to harm LGBTQIA+ people, and what does repair require? How can love be practiced as policy, budget, language, leadership, and daily behavior?

Read the full issue of the June Messenger.