Nominated by MISSives Guest Editor, Emily Unity
When I usually recommend a feminist, I point to Crenshaw, who I mentioned was the person who coined the term “Intersectionality”. However, this month I would love to highlight the work of someone who has personally helped me better understand intersectionality – my colleague, Budi Sudarto.
Budi is an intersectionality advocate who identifies as non-binary, gay, Indonesian, and Muslim. I first met Budi when I was looking for guests for my multicultural mental health podcast, Multicultural Minds. I had heard about their work in the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion space and loved how they worked from a lived experience perspective.
The first time we spoke was on the day of our recording, which was around the time of the Religious Discrimination Bill, a legislative change that overlooked and ignored the voices of intersectional LGBTIQA+ faith and ethnic minorities. Budi used an intersectional lens to unpack the impact of power, privilege, unconscious bias, and stereotypes that they and our peers had experienced. Budi spoke about how different communities are battling various, interconnected issues, all at once. They also helped provide practical strategies to foster inclusion and belonging based on human rights and social justice principles.
Our brief podcast still remains to be one of the most insightful and meaningful discussions I have ever had. You can listen to our podcast episode here.
