Put your money where your flag is: Trans and Non-binary Equity Strategy evaluates UW for queer people on campus

The Office of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Anti-Racism released its new Trans and Non-binary Equity Strategy on Wednesday, July 2, breaking down how far UW has come and how far it has left to go in supporting its queer, trans and non-binary populations.

The report is a result of an initiative started in response to the June 2023 Hagey Hall attack, a hate crime committed by a former student in a gender studies class on campus, exposing lingering transphobic and homophobic sentiments in the community as well as the lack of institutional support and awareness surrounding these identities on campus.

Led by counsellor Washington Silk, associate director of equity Alex Pershai and co-op student Danielle Boland, the initiative collected community feedback and created an action plan to address the needs, concerns, and gaps in service for the Two-Spirit, transgender, non-binary, and gender non-conforming (2STNBGNC+) community at UW. This document also addresses concerns and needs that apply to the broader 2SLGBTQIA+ community at UW.

From July to November last year, the committee reached out to 2STNBGNC+ individuals as part of the Community Gathering and Sharing Project through 22 consultations with UW community members, five service provider interviews and an online survey. In total, there were 166 participants in this initiative and 100 valid survey responses collected.

Overall, the findings of this project indicate that 2STNBGNC+ (and by extension, 2SLGBTQIA+) individuals still feel neglected despite the university’s stated commitment to diversity and inclusion. Survey respondents stated that rather than being consistent across the institution, support and acceptance of their identities is fragmented and insufficient. Participants cited that being given support was heavily dependent on a case-by-case basis with specific individuals, such as professors who choose to curate in-class environments that respect chosen names, pronouns and orientations.

Fourth-year honours English student Kyrie Hannigan noted this in her own experience as a queer student at UW. She notes that while queer identities and relationships are discussed in lecture when relevant to course material, “a lot of professors still struggle with using they/them pronouns… like when generally talking about a person in a situation, a lot of professors still use he/him or she/her,” defaulting to binary forms of address even when gender is not specified. “We have Pride flags painted on pavement, and we have these support systems and organizations in place for queer students, but there’s not really an acknowledgement to improve them or implement strategies into the classroom.”

Non-binary fourth-year English student Amaya Kodituwakku also observes that these gaps in support lead to more burden on independent student clubs and associations, even as they remain understaffed or underfunded by the university. “A lot of the work being done to support queer and trans students has been done by students themselves, or sometimes by faculty,” they said. “GLOW, QTPOCKW, the Women of Waterloo Collective, Feminist Think Tank, and others are great places for community, but often find themselves under-supported by the institution.”

Even when efforts are made to bring 2SLGBTQIA+ and 2STNBGNC+ identities to the forefront, there is still unequal representation and awareness of them. When Hannigan has heard these identities explicitly discussed by faculty, they “talk about trans and non-binary [identities]… but I would say there are a lot of gaps. There wasn’t much talk about bi or pan identities — there was barely any acknowledgement about polyamorous relationships, and there wasn’t much talk about gender identities beyond being trans or non-binary.” Hannigan believes that this has an especially large impact on students questioning their identity or orientation who need this information at a time when they are learning more about themselves through their university experience. The Trans and Non-binary Equity Strategy also acknowledges the extremely limited understanding of Two-Spirit identities, owing to how it exists in Indigenous cultures outside of Western definitions of gender identity and sexual orientation.

The report additionally notes the communities’ heavy distrust towards the university’s capacity for change regarding this issue, owing to the administration’s lukewarm response following the Hagey Hall attack and lack of sufficient response afterwards when other homophobia or transphobia-related incidents were reported. One community member said in the report that some who chose not to participate in consultation sessions did so because they felt the initiative “wouldn’t change anything.” Changing global politics and an increase in homophobic and transphobic rhetoric on social media has also contributed to harassment becoming more normalized online. “You only have to take one look at informal or formal UW social media spaces… the UW subreddit, UWConfessions, the comment section of Pride posts on UW’s official Instagram… to notice the rising trends of gendered hate,” Kodituwakku noted.

What about outside the lecture hall? Community members have also noted the absence of enforcing campus spaces and services that help queer students stay healthy and feel safe, not just included. Kodituwakku mentions that many of their trans and non-binary friends are not comfortable accessing UW athletic services due to not having access to gender neutral locker rooms. Most of the scheduled trans and non-binary gym programming also doesn’t align with their schedules. At Campus Wellness, many participants in the Gathering and Sharing Project noted conflicting or vague information regarding gender-affirming healthcare, such as medication supplies or hidden service fees. They were also unaware of new or modified health services for trans and non-binary students, such as binder try-on sessions or voice training.

The report concluded with recommendations to expand education, awareness and services for those in the 2STNBGNC+ community and those outside of it. Some initiatives mentioned include developing multiple programs to share personal pronouns and preferred names across systems such as Quest, LEARN and WaterlooWorks, training faculty on the risks of non-consensual data collection, educating the community on how to prevent homophobia and transphobia-related harassment, and reviving the discontinued Walksafe program, which provided students with a companion when students travelled at night for safety. In addition, gender-inclusive washrooms are to be re-designed or newly built as single stall washrooms for better privacy. More frequent communications about Campus Wellness’ gender-affirming services are also planned.

Above all, the report and queer community members agree that steps taken to help them should be informed by members of said community and baked into the campus experience, rather than being surface level gestures. “All of these institutional efforts need to be consistent and recurring,” Kodituwakku stressed in a statement to Imprint. “They cannot come in the reactive aftermath of tragic events, but rather as proactive measures of prioritizing community well-being and safety for marginalized peoples.” The Trans and Non-binary Equity Strategy report anticipates that further steps and action items will be evaluated when the Fall term begins.

The full strategy report can be found here.