Episode 81: Breaking Stereotypes and Accepting Facts with Dr. Joshua Moon-Johnson, Author of Beyond Surviving: From Religious Oppression to Queer Activism
Dr. Joshua Moon-Johnson (he/him) is an award-winning author, activist, and educator with nearly two decades of experience as an educational administrator and consultant. He serves as a Dean of Student Services & Title IX Coordinator at American River College and as a Managing Partner at PMJ Consulting, LLC. Joshua has published multiple books; his first book, Beyond Surviving: From Religious Oppression to Queer Activism was a #1 Best-seller on Amazon.com for Gay & Lesbian Activism and was ranked #2 on Book Authority’s 25 Best-Selling LGBT Activism Books of All Time. Joshua's other books include Authentic Leadership, Queer People of Color in Higher Education, and his newest book, Queer & Trans Advocacy in the Community College, which will be released in 2022. Joshua previously served as the Assistant Dean and Director of the Multicultural Student Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and as the Director of the LGBT Center at the UC-Santa Barbara. Joshua received a doctorate in higher education and LGBT studies from Northern Illinois University, a master's degree in student affairs and diversity from Binghamton University, and a master’s degree in Marketing Analysis from the University of Alabama. Joshua has served as a board member or in a leadership position for multiple educational and social justice organizations, including NASPA (Student Affairs in Higher Education) MultiRacial Knowledge Community and Asian Pacific Islander Knowledge Community, as the Vice President of the Board for the Sacramento LGBT Community Center, and as a board member and lead for the Equity Committee with the Association of California Community College Administrators (ACCCA). Joshua is from Mississippi, but is happy to call Sacramento, California his home.
How to consolidate LGBTQ rights with education without interjecting identity?
We need to educate people from a young age, that these people a part of the LGBTQ community are also a part of our community, and have a right to stay safe. From a young age when we see people who are not the same and we dehumanize them and their relationships and thus we create the ability to harm them. People think they are not considered human or they’re not considered at the same level and value when in reality they are human and should be on the same level as everyone else. Laws are another way to consolidate LGBTQ rights and the people. When having conversations with people who we do not agree with, it is good to bring it back to some basics. People do not react in the same way because as a society, we do not value BIPOC people and LGBTQ people at the same levels that we value white American folks. cisgender folks, and heterosexual folks because it comes from an early age of how we socialize people through education curriculum, along with other forms of socialization.
How to make other communities realize that the LGBTQ community is equal?
When there is something that the majority of people, their food becomes more normal or their language or even their media and culture becomes more normalized. This results in the aspect of majority culture will end up becoming more dominant in many situations. There are so many layers to this for example from a historical viewpoint. It is because of what has happened in the past that frames where we are today in the lasting impact of things. There are even situations where the minority has a lot of power like in South Africa where it is white people are very much the minority but they have lots of power and even in California where the Latino, Latina, and Latinx populations are the majority but they do not have the most access control or wealth. History had a huge impact on where we are with this issue as well which makes it hard as well.
Higher education within the LGBTQ community
College admissions can be a long and daunting process but when applying as a gay or lesbian or bisexual transsexual queer, there is not much knowledge on if that plays a factor nor if the country values it enough to give favoritism too. Eventually, it could grow to where it makes a difference. Higher education’s gravitation towards diversity and inclusion is not altruistic. It is done because of the pressure they are facing from the media or they do not want to get canceled or they just need X numbers of students so they don’t look too American. They tokenize the pressure. No one even counts LGBTQ students and no one reports out to it as well. When it comes to LGBTQ identity, most of the time hiring admissions or job applications do not care because most of the time they don’t even ask. For someone applying to prestigious educational institutions, if their identity is woven into their personal statement in an empowering way to describe the obstacles the person had to overcome because of their sexual orientation, it can help them with the admissions applications and hopefully not because of a quota requirement but because they have shown the obstacles the student had to overcome to get to where he or she is today.
Contact Joshua Moon-Johnson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-joshua-moon-johnson-43050822
Buy Beyond Surviving: From Religious Oppression to Queer Activism: https://joshuamoonjohnson.com/
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