What is Beloved Community

Although LGBTQIA+ literature frequently applies the frame of war to conceptualize the struggle for inclusion, this chapter presents beloved community as a more healing framework for theorizing trans inclusion in higher education. The authors trace the roots of beloved community through relevant educational and theological scholarship. The framework's three interconnected concepts of radical love, inclusion, and balance are introduced with specific recommendations for trans and cisgendered members of the academic community who seek to create more inclusive and just spaces in the academy. This chapter explores how the beloved community framework can be used to repair harms to the community resulting from misidentification, misgendering, and performative allyship. The authors conclude with a call to apply the beloved community framework to engage in systems-level change to benefit all members of the academic community.