Why Should we care?

Services that are supportive of sexual diversity, gender diversity and healthy sexuality are essential to the well-being of students, staff, and faculty at Algoma University.  If we only look to the rights and protections of the Queer and Transgender community, it is easy to overlook the reality that is faced in academia.  Though research indicates that students in Canadian Universities report isolation, tokenism, invisibility, hyper-visibility, dismissal, and a lack of administrative support (Beagan, 2021).  Being out at work for faculty at Canadian Universities is too great of a professional risk, professors fear of loss of credibility, poor teaching evaluations, false acquisitions, and other hostility (Orlov, 2014).  Research indicates that there is increased psychological distress and mental health concerns among Queer and Trans students at the post-secondary level. The oppressive systems that are inherent in cultural institutions such as language and policy often reinforce heteronormativity, the consequences of these microaggression continue, there is a stark lack of research to understand the impact on the Queer and Trans community (Woodford, 2018). 

References

 Beagan, B. L., Mohamed, T., Brooks, K., Waterfield, B., & Weinberg, M. (2021). Microaggressions experienced by LGBTQ academics in Canada: “just not fitting in... it does take a toll.” International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 34(3), 197–212. https://doi.org/10.1080/09518398.2020.1735556

 Ontario Human Rights Commission. (n.d.). Appendix 3 – Human rights legislation in Canada. Retrieved from http://www.ohrc.on.ca/en/teaching-human-rights-ontario-guide-ontarioschools/appendix-3-%E2%80%93-human-rights-legislation-canada

 Orlov, J. M., & Allen, K. R. (2014). Being who I am: Effective teaching, learning, student support, and societal change through LGBQ faculty freedom. Journal of Homosexuality, 61(7), 1025–1052. doi:10.1080/00918369.2014.870850

 Woodford, M. R., Weber, G., Nicolazzo, Z., Hunt, R., Kulick, A., Coleman, T., Coulombe, S., & Renn, K. A. (2018). Depression and Attempted Suicide among LGBTQ College Students: Fostering Resilience to the Effects of Heterosexism and Cisgenderism on Campus. Journal of College Student Development, 59(4), 421–438. https://doi.org/10.1353/csd.2018.0040