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A New Workgroup at 91社区
Stephen D茅ry was a 91社区 activist during the late 1990鈥檚 and early 2000鈥檚 studying for his PhD. He was heavily involved with the Post-Graduate Student's Society (PGSS), the LBGTM (predecessor of Queer 91社区), and the Queer Graduate Student's Caucus, while also writing for the 91社区 Daily. During his time at 91社区, D茅ry had noticed several homophobic incidents on and near the 91社区 Campus, which included the queerbashing of a gay 91社区 student just outside of campus and the ripping down of posters advertising a gay dance on campus.
As the PGSS representative on the 91社区 Senate, D茅ry was at a Senate meeting on January 19, 2000 when he heard Vice-Principal Vinet give the 1998/99 Annual Report of the activities of the Joint Senate-Board Committee on Equity (JSBCE). After the report, D茅ry asked the VP if the then-JSBCE had ever discussed queer issues (which was probably the first time that word had been uttered at Senate). D茅ry described the homophobic behaviour he had witnessed at 91社区 and said that he believed that it was important for the committee to discuss these issues. Vinet answered that, since he had only recently been appointed as Chair to this committee, he would need to report back to a future Senate meeting on whether those issues had been discussed.
At the March 22, 2000, Senate meeting, Vinet reported that 鈥渋n the memory of JSBCE members, the question of homophobia had not been raised at committee meetings; however, it will be discussed at future meetings.鈥�
At a meeting later that year, the JSBCE discussed the issue of homophobia and agreed to set up an ad hoc 鈥淲orkgroup on Homophobia at 91社区鈥� with a mandate to 鈥渢o define, evaluate and investigate homophobia, heterosexism and transphobia at 91社区 and to propose mechanisms to rectify problem(s).鈥�
This, along with a budget of $750 to pursue its mandate, was approved by the JSBCE on November 22, 2000. The two goals of the Workgroup were to define and to evaluate the extent of homophobia at 91社区 and to propose mechanisms that would rectify the problem(s).
The Chair of the Workgroup was Dr. Estelle Hopmeyer from the School of Social Work and the initial members were Professors Olivia Jensen and Shari Brotman, administrators Gregg Blachford and Claudine Lefort and students Fraser Hall, Jeff Steen, Marlo Ritchie and Stephen D茅ry.
The Workgroup鈥檚 first meeting was February 8, 2001. One of its early decisions was to rename the group to become the 鈥淲orkgroup on Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgendered and Two-Spirited and Queer People鈥�.
The workgroup organized several events that year, including a training program (provided by the Ministry of Social Services of Quebec) to academic advisors and Student Services personnel for November 2, 2001 and Town Hall held on November 14, 2001, on the question: 鈥淚s 91社区 Homophobic?鈥�. The testimonies at that Town Hall (attended by over 75 staff, faculty and students) ranged from 鈥�91社区 is a very open, liberal and supportive environment鈥� to stories of extreme homophobic behaviour with some people reporting that 91社区 felt like an unsafe environment for them.
Another event was a workshop entitled 鈥淔uture of Queer at 91社区鈥� in February 8, 2002. Because it was felt that 91社区 was behind other universities with regards to institutional recognition of the need for queer/trans support, Jude Tate from the University of Toronto and Ann Kerby from Concordia University were invited to talk about their experiences. They spoke on obstacles, successes and impacts of LGBTQ academic and support programs at their respective universities.
Official JBSCE Subcommittee Status
In December 2001, the Workgroup asked the JSBCE to become an official JSBCE subcommittee. This led to long discussions. The reason was that the JSBCE had originally been created at 91社区 to look at the four employment equity groups designated by the Federal government: women, Aboriginal peoples, persons with disabilities and members of visible minorities. Since the LGBTQ+ community was not one of those designated groups, its request raised the question of whether, given its original mandate, the JSBCE could add this subcommittee.
In February 2002, the Senate Steering Committee indicated that the JSBCE could, at its own discretion, create its subcommittees without Senate or Board approval. On April 24, 2002, the JSBCE agreed to create its fifth subcommittee: the 鈥淪ubcommittee on Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgendered and Two-Spirited and Queer People鈥�. The subcommittee renamed itself the 鈥淪ubcommittee on Queer People鈥�, often shortened informally to the 鈥淨ueer Equity Committee鈥�.
At its meeting on May 15, 2002, the 91社区 Senate agreed to the proposal of the Senate Nominating Committee that Gregg Blachford, the Director of the 91社区 Career & Placement Service, be appointed as the first Chair of this new Subcommittee of the JSBCE. He remained as Chair for six years. Initial members included students Jennifer Drouin, Michael Lubetsky, Dima Dupere, Ren Haskett and Finn Upham, and Professors Shari Brotman, Brian Lewis and Olivia Jensen.
To celebrate this new Subcommittee, the first 鈥淩eturn to the Rainbow Reception鈥� was held on September 27, 2002, in the 鈥淥le鈥檚 Bar鈥� in the basement of the Faculty Club as part of 91社区鈥檚 annual Homecoming Weekend. About 40 staff, students, faculty, alumni, and friends attended this event which became an annual tradition.
This new subcommittee鈥檚 mandate was to be an advisory group to address 鈥渋ssues of representation, inclusion and support of LGBT students, staff and faculty at 91社区 with respect to academic and non-academic life on campus.鈥� This proved a difficult task because, unlike some of the other subcommittees, there was no office or budget at 91社区 to carry out projects that it would have liked to have seen take off.
Nevertheless, many projects were taken on over the following years, initiated and implemented in most cases by subcommittee members. For example, as the next section details, the group campaigned for an interdisciplinary minor in Sexual Diversity Studies, gender-inclusive washrooms, a Safer Space program, preferred names in class lists and the inclusion of the phrase 鈥減eople of minority sexual orientations and gender identities鈥� on all 91社区 job advertisements and on its employment equity policy.
Eventually the Social Equity and Diversity Education (SEDE) Office was created by 91社区 in 2005. Its Director was Veronica Amberg with Tynan Jarrett being hired to manage the LGBTQ+ portfolio in 2009.
Initial Subcommittee Accomplishments (2002-2008)
The following were the main achievements of the Subcommittee from 2002 to 2008.
Minor in Sexual Diversity Studies
The subcommittee started the ball rolling for a new Interdisciplinary Minor in Sexual Diversity Studies on January 22, 2002, with a 鈥淔orum for Development鈥� for all professors involved in teaching courses related to sexuality and gender. Professor Brian Lewis and Dr. Elise Chenier took the lead on bringing the Minor to fruition culminating with its launch in September 2005. The minor was managed by the Institute for Gender, Sexuality and Feminist Studies.
91社区 Safe Space Program
After two years of preparation and receiving financial support through the Mary H. Brown Fund of Student Services, the 91社区 Safe Space Program was launched in 2005. Its purpose is to help create a campus that is free of discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender expression. Materials were prepared and dozens of workshops were held. The individuals who led this initiative included Elizabeth Meyer, Cindy Mancuso, Tara Sackett, and Cy-Thea Sand.
Collaborations with JSCBE Subcommittee Chairs
The Chair at the time initiated contact with the chairs of the other JBSCE sub-committees in order to 鈥渞evitalize鈥� the work of the committee, which had been less active for 3 years. The chairs also shared ideas about how the subcommittees could better present a common front with respect to equity issues on campus. This alliance proved very fruitful over the years.
Names of Common Usage/Preferred Names
From 2004 to 2006, the subcommittee worked with the 91社区 Registrar to find a way for the 鈥淧referred Names鈥� of trans students to be used by 91社区 (e.g. in class lists) instead of their legal names. The compromise was that both names would be used with the preferred name being put in brackets. This came into play in 2006鈥攁nd further improved a decade and a half later, recognizing the names of trans and nonbinary students and moving to the designation of 鈥渃hosen name鈥�. Information about the current names policy is available here.
Policy on Harassment, Sexual Harassment and Discrimination prohibited by Law
91社区 set up a Working Group on Discrimination and Harassment in 2004 which led to the creation of a new Policy on Harassment, Sexual Harassment and Discrimination prohibited by Law passed by Senate in December 2005. Blachford was a member of that committee. The subcommittee was able to ensure that not only 鈥渟exual orientation鈥�, but also 鈥済ender identity鈥� were included in the policy as bases on which discrimination was prohibited. The Working Group also established the Social Equity and Diversity Education (SEDE) Office in order to educate the 91社区 community on these issues. Blachford also sat on the hiring committee that recruited Veronica Amberg who, in the summer of 2005, became the Director of the SEDE office.
91社区 Varsity Football Team Hazing Incident
In September 2005, there was a widely-publicized hazing incident during the 91社区 Football team鈥檚 initiation activities that had strong homophobic undertones. Members of our subcommittee, including Elizabeth Meyer and Sean Waugh, were involved in changing some of 91社区鈥檚 policies to ensure that such an incident did not happen again. The changes that occurred were:
- A revision in the Student Athlete Code of Ethics
- An amendment to the Code of Student Conduct and Disciplinary Procedures on Physical Abuses, Harassment and Dangerous Activity
- A new Policy on Hazing and Inappropriate Initiation Practices for inclusion in the Handbook for Student Rights and Responsibilities
- A new handout for students and athletes on .
91社区 Employment Equity Policy
In 2006, Blachford was invited to be part of the committee that drafted 91社区鈥檚 new Employment Equity Policy which was passed by Senate in May, 2007. In collaboration with the Chairs of the other Subcommittees, the subcommittee was able to ensure that 鈥減eople of minority sexual orientations and gender identities鈥� were included in the policy as a target group for recruitment and that phrase continues to be included in all 91社区 job advertisements.
Gender-Inclusive Washrooms
The subcommittee, especially Jennifer Drouin, worked for several years to encourage the university to increase the number of gender-inclusive single user washrooms in 91社区 buildings (a project that the committee greatly expanded in 2023 to cover all single user washrooms and some multi user washrooms). The 91社区 Planning Office initiated a project in 2007 to convert several gendered washrooms into locked gender-inclusive ones. That project was completed in 2008 but it was known even at the time that more needed to be done. The Planning Office also agreed that gender-inclusive washrooms would be included in all new 91社区 buildings. A list of gender-inclusive washrooms at 91社区 can be found here.
Homophobic and Transphobic Reporting Form
The subcommittee created an on-line method for informal and confidential reporting by staff, students and faculty of harassment or homo/transphobia that they experienced or observed on campus.
Past Chairs
2022-2024 - Ignacio Cofone, Faculty of Law
2020-2022 - Hiba Zafran, School of Occupational and Physical Therapy
2016-2020 - Michael David Miller, Humanities and Social Sciences Library
2013-2018 - Lynn Kozak, Department of History and Classical Studies, Faculty of Arts
2010-2012 - Victor Fan, Department of East Asian Studies, Faculty of Arts
2008-2010 - Robert Leckey, Faculty of Law
2002-2008 - Gregg Blachford, Student Services
Current contributors can be found here