Inspired

  Warning: This episode contains discussion of mental illness, self-harm, and suicide, and may not be suitable for all audiences. Nothing contained in the podcast should be interpreted as medical or mental health treatment or advice. Please follow your medical provider's advice and direction. If you or someone you know is in immediate danger, call 9-1-1. Listener discretion is advised.    What is an ally?  You may relate the term to countries that have formed military relationships to fight together against their enemies. When one country in the alliance goes to war, the other countries take on that war as their own. While this is one definition, the term reaches beyond the military to a far more personal war – a war against hate, bigotry, and oppression.   A simple internet search will produce official historical references to the queer community in the U.S. as early as the Revolutionary War, but the term ally appears as recently as 1969 with the beginning of the LGBTQ+ civil rights movement. LGBTQ+