I'm Pro-Equality, and I'm Not Your Ally

From GinnyDi:

“Okay, here’s the problem with the idea that oppressed groups can “alienate allies” by not being nice enough:

You shouldn’t be an ally because oppressed groups are nice to you. You should be an ally because you believe they deserve basic human rights. Hearing “I hate men” shouldn’t make men stop being feminist. Hearing “fuck white people” shouldn’t make white people stop opposing racism.

Your opposition to oppression should be moral, and immovable. Your belief that all humans should be treated with equal respect shouldn’t be conditional based on whether or not individual people are nice to you.”

(emphasis in original)

That last line is extremely important, and I wish the world was more like it. Principles fucking matter!

That being said, I think Ginny is conflating adherence to principles with support for a group, a little bit. I'm very pro-Free Speech, to the point that I support Fred Phelps's right to say that gays are causing hurricanes, and neo-nazi's rights to have peaceful protests, and communist's right to say that our society should be burned to the ground. But I abhor all these groups, and would never consider myself an ally of any of them.

Likewise, if some person or group said "I hate men," then I'm not an ally of theirs. Nor do I need to be to promote gender equality. My commitment to the principle of equality does not depend on my being bestowed with an "ally" token by every/any group who also supports that thing. So yeah, my "allyship" to any particular group is totally dependent on whether that group also treats me with some modicum of respect. For someone to claim that just because I'm not an ally of their particular circle, that means I'm a racist or sexist or pro-censorship or whatever, is manipulative and unethical.