McGill continues to rewrite its legacy of solidarity with LGBTQ+ voices as it celebrates its seventh Queer History Month (QHM). Community programming, such as workshops, guest speaker conferences, and alumni events centring the LGBTQ+ community, mark this month at our institution. These events foster alliances and provide a space for our diverse intersectional identities.
In October 2018, McGill became Canada’s first post-secondary institution to celebrate QHM. This initiative was kickstarted by Meryem Benslimane, the former education advisor of the Equity Team, a group that facilitates the university’s LGBTQ+ events. In addition to the Equity Team, this year’s events are organized by Queer McGill, the Subcommittee on Queer People, the Union for Gender Empowerment, the Department of Family Medicine, and the Indigenous Health Professions Program. This month’s events are designed to further stimulate community involvement amongst students, faculty members, and graduates.
Sophie*, a student at McGill, stresses the importance of “queer communities that are racially and ethnically diverse to help people come to terms with the intersectionality of their identities,” similar to how she found acceptance in her identity through other women of colour at school.
While these activities are first and foremost celebrations, Christopher Manfredi, the Provost and Executive Vice President (Academic), who partners with the Equity Team, notes that it is also important to acknowledge McGill’s efforts to combat any systemic barriers LGBTQ+ people face on campus. Providing a space to discuss these grievances represents this year’s theme of “visibility,” which concentrates on access to sexual and gender care for two-spirited, transgender, and gender-non-affirming people. The Two-Spirit, Trans, and Nonbinary in Academia virtual roundtable on October 15 addressed issues in navigating identity in academia. Speakers included Dr. Jae Ford, who addressed inequities in the health care system; Raiya Taha Thomure, who advocated for justice through sport/non-sport movements; and Hazel Ali Zaman-Gonzalez, who spoke on the intersections of identity expression in art.
Moreover, this conversation of identity expression in academics is in the spotlight of Canadian politics. By the end of the month, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith plans to introduce legislation banning underage students from changing their pronouns or names without parental consent, a policy the Saskatchewan government passed last year. This is in addition to Smith’s proposal earlier this year to notify the parents of students who change their names and/or pronouns, while also limiting transgender students’ participation in female sports and their access to gender-affirming care. These barriers exacerbate pre-existing discrepancies in health care access for transgender and nonbinary Canadians. A 2019 survey by the National Library of Medicine revealed that only 52.3 percent of Canadians 14 years and older felt safe addressing their healthcare needs with a provider, the first step to accessing gender-affirming care.
Disadvantages in the health care system impacting Indigenous and LGBTQ+ peoples persist to this day, as addressed in Two-Spirit physician Dr. James A. Makokis’s opening speech for McGill’s Queer History Month programming on October 8. Makokis is a leading figure in Indigenous and transgender health, which he spearheaded through his medical clinic. Makokis’s speech emphasized the theme “visibility” in bringing to attention the issues that persist in Indigenous and transgender health.
This month also saw the Return of the Rainbow, a homecoming celebration for queer alumni, current students, and staff. By sharing their stories at forums like this, community members serve as “proof that if I accepted my identity and came out, there was still fulfillment and respect in my future,” said Bailey, another McGill student. For the rest of October, students can attend film screenings, web panels, art workshops, and book collections of identity expression through drag.
Events beyond October that uphold LGBTQ+ visibility include the Launch of the Rainbow, the annual celebration of the achievements of LGBTQ+ graduating students most recently celebrated this past May. This is also known as Lavender Graduation. The lavender, an international symbol of queer empowerment, symbolizes the Stonewall riots that triggered the queer rights movement internationally. Quarterly meetings are held by the Subcommittee on Queer People, one of six Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee (EDIC) advisory bodies to the McGill Senate. The subcommittee ensures equity for LGBTQ+ people at McGill, making reformative recommendations to address the needs of a community that has been systemically silenced and made invisible. McGill student Hannah* defines queer visibility as “not having or wanting to hide a core aspect of my identity,” and is grateful for the progressiveness of her community, particularly the work done by women of colour. McGill community members can access an array of social and medical gender-affirming services, including the Shag Shop, counsellors, sexologists, and more.
According to Manfredi, “the university’s work is far from done.” QHM’s purpose encompasses McGill’s continuing efforts to consolidate an equitable campus, “especially in the wake of … political mobilization against gender identity and sexual orientation equality in Canada and around the globe.”
*Students’ names have been changed to preserve anonymity.