By: Coby Zucker
Saturday’s Pride volleyball games went off without a hitch, in part due to the organizational skills of Shawn Small, a manager in the department of Athletics and Recreation. The event was designed to merge athletics with a celebration of the LGBTQA2S+ groups on campus and in the Hamilton area.
“It’s just a celebration of the community,” said Small. “And trying to bridge our department with the community on campus and outside in the Hamilton community. Again, it's a celebration game and just opening up the doors, making sure that people know what we stand for, who we are and making an inclusive environment for everyone.”
Small is something of an industry veteran, having had the opportunity to work in a similar role within the professional sports scene. During his time with the Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment, he was able to help organize a similar event for the Toronto Raptors. Looking at what the pro teams were doing, as well as other universities, it was only a matter of time before the Pride event wound its way into Marauders athletics.
“The Toronto Blue Jays do a game,” said Small. “And Ryerson University, York University. So it's something that's pretty prevalent in the sports community. Pretty common. So we felt that it's time that we make sure that we're recognizing and celebrating our community as well.”
@mcmasterwvb 🏐 warming up for their PRIDE DAY 🏳️🌈 game in their @truehamiltonian shirts. Get here to get yours and show your support! 💕
.
.
.#GoMacGo #YouCanPlay #HamiltonIsHome pic.twitter.com/zJIV3G7McF— McMaster Marauders (@McMasterSports) February 9, 2019
Small explained that beyond just a celebration of the LGBTQA2S+ community, the event also helps promote equity and inclusion within university athletics.
“Generally, there's a stigma around sports and the LGBT community,” said Small. “So we're trying to break down those barriers and make sure people know that it's an inclusive and equitable environment at the David Braley Athletic Centre and at the Athletics and Recreation Department.”
Though high-level athletics and the LGBTQA2S+ community have frequently been at odds, Small feels as though stigma within the Marauders community is mostly imposed from the outside and not by teammates.
“I mean, we've had some openly gay athletes and student-athletes on our teams,” Small said. “And there is this stigma of people outside the sports world. But when you're in it, all the people on the teams that know these openly-gay athletes are already open arms, and there's no stigma within the environment. But when you're outside the environment, we feel like there is always a perceived stigma, but perception is not always reality.”
The game itself was an overwhelming success for the Marauders. Both the women and men’s volleyball teams easily handled the Nipissing University Lakers in three-set sweeps. While the women’s team has remained competitive in the Ontario University Athletics West division, the men’s team is in prime position to go for OUA gold once again.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BtrhGdoh7tf/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Even still, the team’s dominance was not a large factor in the scheduling of the Pride event and was more of a happy coincidence.
“We don't have many available dates with other things going on,” said Small. “So it landed on this date and we're actually very excited again because the men's volleyball team has been doing so well and it's a strong draw — we always have a solid crowd. So it helps enhance what's already a good event.”
This is not the first time Marauders sports have been fused with celebratory or awareness-spreading campaigns. Bell Let’s Talk Day, which promotes conversation around mental health, was marked by a sizable campaign led by student-athletes and punctuated by McMaster basketball games in support of the event. Chances are, the two events won’t be where the themed games end.
“We're really trying to look at our calendar and schedule appropriately,” said Small. “Making sure that we have the opportunity to break down walls and invite different groups from all cultural, sexual orientation, gender or whatever it would be. So we try our best to make sure we spread the net wide and bring everyone together and to our building.”
After another successful social event in the Marauders community brought fans and athletes together through sports, the volleyball teams will build on this energy to boost them through the rest of the season.
[thesil_related_posts_sc]Related Posts[/thesil_related_posts_sc]
By: Andrew Mrozowski
Concluding McMaster’s Pride Week, the Pride Community Centre in conjunction with Queer Outta Hamilton, put on one of Hamilton’s only open stage drag show at downtown’s Sous Bas. With the turnout being so large that a line extended down the block, this was truly a night that people were going to be talking about for a while.
As I went down the stairs into the club, I was immediately met with the loud chatter of hundreds of people in a dimly lit room. The music played so loud that I could feel it vibrating up from the floor into my bones. Host Troy Boy Parks, a Guelph-based drag queen who knows how to control a crowd, stood on a single runway connected off the main stage.
Drag herstory begins in the mid 1900s during a time when homosexuality was prosecuted. Drag was used to escape the harsh realities of being an outcast of society. Only being practiced at clubs within the back corners of cities, queens would perform allowing the LGBTQ+ community to play with the concept of gender and sexuality in a time when they were not allowed to do so.
[spacer height="20px"]Drag was also the community’s reaction to freedom of speech during a time when it was hard to come by. Instead of picketing, they chose to stand up in an elegant way, a way that people would talk about for years to come.
As the LGBTQ+ community became more socially accepted within the world, so did the concept of drag. Present day drag has evolved much more than its predecessor. Modern drag is very much an entertainment-driven performance in which a person dresses extravagantly to amplify overexaggerated male or female characteristics. This along with the rise of drag in popular culture, through the reality TV show, “RuPaul’s Drag Race”, made drag culture mainstream.
“RuPaul’s Drag Race”, hosted by world-renowned queen RuPaul Charles, enables drag queens from around the United States to compete in various challenges to prove they have what it takes to be America’s Next Drag Superstar. Concluding it’s tenth season in 2018, along with four seasons of an all-star spin-off series, RuPaul has given queens, both amateur and professional, a platform to notoriety within not only the queer community, but society as well.
[spacer height="20px"]As a member of the LGBTQ+ community, I know that it can be hard to find your own identity, especially in a society that is not always accepting of others. Some queens do drag because it is their way to express their feminine side in a society that prohibits showing that.
Queens also gain a lot of confidence being on stage performing in front of a crowd with a group of people appreciating them and what they do. This is in part thanks to the success of RuPaul’s Drag Race creating a positive look at drag culture. Confidence on stage can add to the person’s own confidence as they feel validated that others appreciate their craft.
Other queens look at it as creative medium. As a man who has only dressed up as a grandmother once for Halloween, I will be the first to tell you that make up is hard to do! Makeup takes a lot of artistic skill to achieve the look you have in your mind, and some queens find this self-expression to be a form of art in itself.
[spacer height="20px"]Every queen has a different take on how they want to deliver their drag extravaganza and what it should contribute to the LGBTQ+ community. Whether it be comedic relief to take the edge off or a rally to vote against a pumpkin president, drag will always be the first voice heard from the community and will always be ever-present.
Standing amongst hundreds of chattering people in a dimly lit room, my eyes flutter back and forth from the stage to the people surrounding me. Watching queen after queen putting the bass in their walk down the runway, I ponder on how we got to where we are today. If you asked me a year ago what I thought about drag, I would have said I don’t care for it.
Enter all my friends, both gay and straight, who didn’t stop raving about drag, I decided to give it a chance. What I ended up seeing was members of a shared community who didn’t care how others looked at them.
I saw members of a shared community who have so much love for one another. RuPaul ends each of her shows by asking contestants: “if you can’t love yourself, how in the hell you gonna love somebody else?” These are words that constantly flow through the LGBTQ+ community.
Drag creates a sense of belonging and safety because you are in an environment amongst people who feel the same way as you. At a drag show, I feel safe because I know that the people around me will always care and support me, as I would them.
Although Pride Week at McMaster must ‘sashay away’ for another year, the progress the community makes will stay and continue to be built upon.
To the future generations of queer youth coming to McMaster, I say this: do not be afraid to be who you are and share it with the rest of the world. Sometimes it seems unfair but be proud. Stand up and fight for what you believe in, but also remember to have fun too.
Be it through drag or another medium that may rise in the years to come, there will always be an audience there for you. To close with the immortal words of Mama Ru, ‘Good luck and don’t fuck it up!’
[spacer height="20px"][thesil_related_posts_sc]Related Posts[/thesil_related_posts_sc]
Students walking home on Sept. 27 were surprised to see the usually colourful crosswalks at the most eastern part of campus covered in white paint.
The crosswalks were commissioned by the city of Hamilton in an effort to honour Hamilton’s LGBTQ+ community.
Introducing the beautiful new crosswalks at the Sterling Street entrance to campus! Thank you to #HamOnt Mayor @FredEisenberger and Ward 1 Councillor @aidan_johnson for including McMaster in this initiative. | #BrighterWorld pic.twitter.com/0vDQbNhNRN
— McMaster University (@McMasterU) August 2, 2018
Pooja Sreerangan, a fourth-year student who lives in Westdale, saw the paint on her way home. She also said that the paint was clearly dry by the time she was leaving campus, sometime around 3 p.m., and that the paint had already spread out onto Sterling Street as cars drove over it.
UPDATE, Sept. 28 2018, 10:11 a.m. :
Both McMaster University and Hamilton Police are investigating the crosswalks.
"The University is concerned about this and is investigating. We are working to clean up the paint. The crosswalk is an initiative of the city that’s fully supported by the University and we are working together to repair the damage and clean up the paint," said Gord Arbeau, the McMaster director of communications, in an email.
"Hamilton Police have received a report of damage to the Rainbow painted crosswalk located at the intersection of Forsyth Avenue North and Sterling Street, Hamilton. The incident is believed to have occurred before 6:00 a.m. this morning," confirmed Jerome Stewart, Hamilton Police media relations officer, in an email.
"Detectives are currently investigating and an update will be made available early next week," he added.
McMaster University has begun cleaning up the crosswalks, as of 9:53 a.m., Sept. 28, 2018.
We’re cleaning up the Sterling entrance to campus and the rainbow crosswalk after a large quantity of white paint was spilled. Mac security is also investigating. Thanks for slowing down as you enter during the clean-up. pic.twitter.com/uUG8tPJe9E
— McMaster University (@McMasterU) September 28, 2018
This is a developing story. More information will be added to this page as the Silhouette receives it.
[thesil_related_posts_sc]Related Posts[/thesil_related_posts_sc]
By Miranda Clayton
I recently took a trip to the Canadian Museum of History. In the Modern Canada section there was a display on human rights progress where I found myself confronted by how recent the past is. LGBTQ+ rights became included in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms in 1995. Same sex marriage became legalized in 2005. I would say most Canadians see these rights as a obvious and integral part of society now but the truth is I will die with rights I was not born with despite only being 25 years old.
Society is safer but not safe. Society is more accepting but LGBTQ+ people are not accepted. You can buy pride themed decorations at Party City but to love and exist as an LGBTQ+ person is still to risk marginalization, abandonment and death at the hands of a society that was never built to include you. We have come so far and we still have far to go. These are sobering thoughts but do not despair. We as LGBTQ+ people are still here and still fighting. Our fight became MSU sanctioned with the GLBT Centre in 1997 but the fight has transformed and so have we. We spent the past decade as the QSCC but again, things changed. Recent history has blessed the student body with identity-based peer support services so we are no longer alone in our struggle to provide space for marginalized students. With this change we critically evaluated our place in peer support and what we could do to be better. This is how we became the Pride Community Centre.
Last year we asked what we could to improve and 111 of you responded. You want a space where the diversity of our community is valued and appreciated. You want a space where your identity is seen and recognized. You want a place to relax, a place to learn, a place to meet and a place to grow. We heard you and we are adjusting to be this place. As a service we are older but here on out we will be bolder. A space renovation, support groups, more community events, updated volunteer training, more off campus connections, and intersection focused programming are all in various stages of happening.
We're open in MUSC 219/221! Pop by between 9:30 and 4:30 Monday to Friday to access our LGBTQ2SI+ safe(r) space. Grab some stickers, meet some new people, access support, and generally chill. We can't wait to meet you! #McSU pic.twitter.com/l3EAS2xhOm
— MSU Pride Community Centre (@msu_pride) September 17, 2018
This is a new era for the service and thankfully it is happening now and not a minute later. These are trying times for a lot of community members in the current political climate. Hate crimes haven’t gone anywhere and pride crosswalks will only get us so far. Remember you have a voice and can use it. Remember your voice is stronger with many others. Remember you are not alone in this and you have friends in MUSC 219-221 waiting for you.
We hope to see you there.
[thesil_related_posts_sc]Related Posts[/thesil_related_posts_sc]
By Lilian Obeng
Over the course summer, city council voted in favour of paying public tribute to Hamilton’s LGBTQ+ community. The intersections in front of city hall and McMaster University, Summers Lane at Main Street West and Sterling Street respectively, now don brightly coloured trans and pride flags.
The decision was met with praise across the board. McMaster University specifically seized on the opportunity to integrate the new crosswalks into their overall public-relations strategy — tweets, Facebook posts and even an Instagram post. A bright, simple and public display of support for a marginalized community, such as this, is unlikely to encounter many challenges. But as a queer student who has been on this campus for upwards of three years, these crosswalks are only a bleak reminder of the actual priorities of the university’s administration.
Symbolic gestures, such as these crosswalks, can be important political statements. Given the current political climate, I would be remiss if I did not highlight the need to remain firm and resolute in our solidarity with the marginalized. However, what purpose do rainbow crosswalks serve when the university fails to ensure the safety of its LGBTQ+ community?
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bl_XGqvnAcL/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet
This was best illustrated by Jordan Peterson’s visit to our campus, and the university’s dismal response to staff, student and faculty outcry. In March 2017, a McMaster Students Union ratified club invited Peterson to campus to speak on ‘political correctness.’ Needless to say, the visit was marred with controversy from its planning stages all the way through to Peterson’s arrival.
Peterson rose to prominence for refusing to use his trans students correct pronouns at the University of Toronto, citing the mere act of respecting students as compelled speech and infringing on his own rights. He has since gone on to accrue a host of misogynistic and racist views. Peterson’s bigoted diatribes have earned him legions of right-wing and white supremacist support as well as personal wealth.
Needless to say, all of this information was presented multiple times to multiple levels of the university. The President’s Advisory Council on Building and Inclusive Community brought students, staff and faculty together to lucidly explain the potential threat Peterson’s visit could pose to already vulnerable people. Our concern was met with silence, and in these times, silence is complicity.
Peterson supporters — supporters that had absolutely no affiliation with McMaster or the broader Hamilton community, physically assaulted student protesters. Members of PACBIC faced weeks of harassment both in-person and online from Peterson’s fans. The university has made little to no attempt to ameliorate this situation. The only action that has been taken were the creation of guidelines for event planners — guidelines that demonstrate that the university’s understanding of the free speech debate is informed entirely by right-wing propaganda and not the social realities that are present on our campus.
The fact remains that if our struggles cannot be moulded or integrated into the existing public relations strategy of the university, our legitimate concerns fall by the wayside. Our pointed policy solutions, our calm consultations, and even our protests are either tokenized, such as with these crosswalks, or minimized and placed aside. The LGBTQ+ community deserves more than this spectacle.
[thesil_related_posts_sc]Related Posts[/thesil_related_posts_sc]
The McMaster Students Union Queer Students Community Centre may see big changes in the coming school year if incoming coordinator, Miranda Clayton, has her way. Clayton, who plans on implementing new programming and potentially change the physical layout of the space, hopes to bring the QSCC to the quality of other MSU peer support services on campus.
“The QSCC hasn’t felt like home to queer and trans students for a really long time. I’ve been at Mac for quite a while even though I’ve been out as bisexual on campus for several years, I have never actually felt comfortable accessing a service,” said Clayton.
Clayton, whose term as QSCC coordinator officially began on March 1, has been circulating a survey to LGBTQ+ students in order to see what specific needs the McMaster LGBTQ+ community has.
The survey, which asks students to describe their past experiences with the QSCC and what programming they would like to see, aims to make sure all identities may see their preferred programming and systems of support offered by the QSCC.
"The QSCC is one of the older services. It's been around for a number of years under different names and it really needs to match the quality of the rest of the peer support services that have sprung up now."
Miranda Clayton
Incoming Coordinator
Queer Students Community Centre
“It’s kind of a common issue in the queer and trans community that conversations become focused on one particular experience, but there isn’t very much use to run programming that only appeals, to say, [cisgender], white, male gays,” she said.
“The thing with the LGBTQ+ community is that it’s really diverse. A lot of people have very different needs. They want to see different things happen and they want to be supported in different ways,” Clayton added.
Although the survey is by no means complete, Clayton has already begun to receive a swath of responses and has already identified some major programming the QSCC will work to offer in the coming months.
Through Clayton’s preliminary research, she has found a growing need for support groups for bisexual students and programming for those who are currently questioning their sexual or gender identity.
According to the data Clayton has received so far, many students currently questioning their identities feel that the QSCC is only for those who know for sure, and others have identified that programming would have helped them arrive to a conclusion concerning their identity earlier had they explored it within the context of a service like the QSCC.
Clayton highlighted the importance of QSCC as a peer support service, especially with the rise of other peer support services such as Maccess and the Women and Gender Equity Network.
“The QSCC is one of the older services. It’s been around for a number of years under different names and it really needs to match the quality of the rest of the peer support services that have sprung up now,” she said.
In addition to adding new programming, Clayton also hopes to change some of the physical barriers students may have while trying to use the QSCC space. One of Clayton’s top priorities is cleaning up the space to ensure that it is accessible to those who use mobility devices.
“I actually have a friend who’s been out for a long time but couldn’t access to space because their wheelchair couldn’t fit into the space,” Clayton noted.
The QSCC space, which is located in the McMaster University Student Centre, room 221, is often considered isolated from the rest of the building.
Clayton plans on changing the basic layout of the space to make it more inviting by switching the main door and side door, which Clayton believes will make the space more welcoming for students. Clayton also plans on defrosting the glass of the windows in the QSCC space.
For anyone interested in contributing to Clayton’s survey, it will remain open for the coming weeks.
[thesil_related_posts_sc]Related Posts[/thesil_related_posts_sc]
By: Mary Craig
When I was 16 I experienced two milestones in my life. The first was being part of a team that won a Women’s Soccer Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations championship title. The second was coming out as gay. Both of these had a major impact on my life at the time, and still influence my life today.
In life people always look to categorize themselves and others, and this tends to make people believe that we can only belong to one “box” or the other. For me, being a soccer player and being gay are not two separate parts of me, but both part of my identity as a whole.
I personally had a very positive and accepting coming out experience, which I am very lucky and grateful to have had. My family and friends showed me unconditional love and support at the time, and I was never excluded or ostracized for being gay during my high school years of playing sports.
However, when it was time for me to attend McMaster to play soccer at the university level, I was still afraid my teammates, coaches and school would not be as accepting of me being an openly gay athlete.
When you move away from home to attend university, there are a number of obstacles all students face. There is the challenge of getting used to the newness of living on your own in addition to adapting to a new academic level. Plus you’re trying to make new friends, take care of yourself, keep in touch with family and try to stay active, all of which is far from easy.
As a student-athlete I had to keep all of those things in mind while also learning how to balance them with training, workouts and film sessions. On top of all of this, I was feared that me being a lesbian would not fit into my new environment. I knew that being myself was something that could be seen as different from the “norm” and that feeling terrified me.
When you are in high school you recognize or know everyone around you. In university, every day you see and meet new faces from different walks of life. This could either mean you encounter more people who are open-minded, or unfortunately meet those people who are closed-minded. I feared the latter. Like many others, I was scared to come to university because I didn’t know how much of myself I had to be in order to be accepted.
Would my team be awkward around me? Would they make me feel uncomfortable for being a lesbian? It may seem absurd to some to think like this in this day and age, but these were the thoughts running through my mind.
Luckily for me when I came to Mac, I found out I had no reason to be terrified. McMaster University, especially McMaster Athletics could not have been more welcoming.
My teammates, coaches and other student-athletes displayed acceptance and inclusion in every aspect. By choosing to use inclusive language and the support they constantly give me, or seeing rainbow stickers on doors that signify safe spaces around campus and Ron Joyce Stadium all help make me feel more welcome.
The David Braley Athletic Centre doubles as a second home for me at times, and the facility itself is somewhere I feel comfortable being myself and expressing my sexuality. The facility establishes a statement of dignity and inclusion that aims to create a safe space and value all human differences. These statements may not mean much to most, but this is something that I genuinely feel as a student-athlete at McMaster University.
I am grateful to have former teammates who paved the way for gay soccer players like myself and played a huge role in helping me feel more comfortable in who I am. This as well as the clubs and events on campus that make being queer visible, and celebrate the differences among us as students are so amazing to have.
Today I proudly rep both Mac pride and Marauder pride. I haven’t always been proud to be gay, but it is something that I have learned to become over time. I know not everyone has the opportunity to attend or play the sport they love at an institution that makes them feel included, and for that I will never take my time attending McMaster for granted.
[thesil_related_posts_sc]Related Posts[/thesil_related_posts_sc]
Hamilton is the city in which I first discovered what a queer community could feel like. When I moved here for my undergraduate degree, I quickly learned how to assemble a makeshift community of queer friends that felt more like coming home than I could have ever predicted. Building a home is equal parts locating a physical space to claim as yours and finding a family to fill it.
I have had no difficulties with the latter. What Hamilton has failed to do, however, is represent the needs of its queer communities in the services and spaces it provides. There is an astounding lack of permanent queer nightlife in Hamilton, despite the clear need for more adequate spaces of our own. Although permanent queer spaces in Hamilton are sorely missed, queer people create communities by staking out places for ourselves.
When brick-and-mortar spaces hold nothing for us, finding sanctuary in each other is equally as important. I am thankful for all the LGBTQ2SIA+ people who have created a makeshift safe haven when a physical one didn’t exist. Hamilton needs to better reflect the members of its queer community, many of whom are building safer, more accessible spaces from the ground up on their own time.
Queer Pub Night is a monthly event run by Queer Outta Hamilton, operating one night a month at Gallagher’s Bar & Lounge, located on John Street South. The final Thursday of each month sees some of Hamilton’s LGBTQ2SIA+ folks in attendance.
Hamilton used to have gay bars. In the past, you could find yourself at the Werx, the Rainbow Lounge, M Bar, the Steel Lounge, the Windsor or the Embassy. For a variety of reasons, none of these spaces exist any longer. Queer Pub Night is now the only semi-regular queer bar environment in Hamilton.
It is important to remain mindful of which groups of people feel welcome in, or can access, spaces like these. Queer Pub Night is a predominantly white space. The fact that it is currently the only night of its kind in Hamilton fails our community severely. I am grateful for organizers working within groups like Speqtrum, McMaster Womanists, New Generation Youth Centre, McMaster’s Women and Gender Equity Network and The Tower, who work toward accessible safe(r) spaces for trans, queer and/or gender oppressed youth, and specifically spaces for Black and Indigenous young people. Those who can must elevate these projects and spaces by and for queer people of colour.
Seeing queer and trans elders in these spaces is especially significant because it is a reminder that queer and trans people actually survive, that we live long enough to see each other’s hair turn grey.
There is strength to be drawn from being in the midst of large gatherings of other people who share identities similar to your own. Seeing queer and trans elders in these spaces is especially significant because it is a reminder that queer and trans people actually survive, that we live long enough to see each other’s hair turn grey. As a white cis queer woman, I can see myself reflected in a lot of older queer folks at events like Queer Pub Night, but there are many people of other, more marginalized identities, who should be there but haven’t survived.
Trans femmes of colour and queer trans people of colour in general face much higher rates of violence. As a result, many young queer folks cannot see themselves in older generations of queer folks simply because of the mortality rate of people sharing their identity namely, the most marginalized and at-risk of our community.
The reality of queerness, of otherness, is that no place is truly safe. But the triumphant feeling of seeing whole spaces filled with people like you, of being able to let down some portion of your guard, of seeing that others like you have survived and continue surviving, is unparalleled.
I have drawn strength from every unambiguously queer space I’ve ever found sanctuary in. As someone who has decidedly failed at categorizing myself, queer spaces have been integral to the formation of my jumbled queer identity. Queer spaces have reminded me that I owe no justifications to anyone, or even to myself, of my labels, of whom I might love or of the boundaries I have drawn and am constantly redrawing.
I am lucky to have had these spaces to grow myself in, and luckier still that I felt safe enough to access them.
If Hamilton is to do better by its queer community, we need to raise up spaces that allow folks to express and explore their queerness. While Queer Pub Night is an important, and now integral, part of the community here, we need more than one night a month to gather and celebrate our queerness. Cultivating more queer spaces in the city will make Hamilton a safer place in which to survive and thrive as young queer folks and older queer folks and everything in between.
[thesil_related_posts_sc]Related Posts[/thesil_related_posts_sc]
Last names have been omitted to protect identities.
In an office within the YWCA’s Hamilton headquarters on MacNab Street lays the home base for Hamilton’s latest initiative to connect LGBTQ+ youth. Speqtrum Hamilton, a non-profit organization housed under the YWCA, hosts monthly events and workshops for LGBTQ+ youth aged 17-29, and focuses on creating connections and teaching youth new skills.
Founded by three McMaster alumni, Speqtrum Hamilton holds sessions twice a month offering a variety of activities such as knitting circles, dodgeball tournaments and letter writing workshops. Speqtrum Hamilton is funded by the Ontario Trillium Foundation and housed under the local YWCA.
Speqtrum Hamilton is meant to fill the void left after the shutdown of LGBT+ friendly bars and the LGBTQ+ Wellness Centre of Hamilton. Currently run by Jyssika, the project coordinator and Jiya, the program coordinator, the two hope to offer LGBTQ+ spaces outside of post-secondary institutions.
“When I went to McMaster, I found a lot of community in spaces like the Queer Students Community Centre and spaces like that but I noticed there wasn’t a lot happening outside of Mac and with the fall of the [LGBTQ+ Wellness Centre], Hamilton’s only queer agency, which collapsed about three or four years ago, there really wasn’t anything,” said Jyssika. “Considering barriers queer students face just to access school, or maybe you lose financial support from your parents, that kind of thing, or maybe you’re just not interested in going to school, then you don’t really have those spaces,” she said.
“There’s no specific [LGBTQ+] space that’s continuous, and the nice thing about Speqtrum Hamilton is that it’s every single month,” Jiya said.
"Considering barrieres queer students face just to access school, or maybe you lose financial support from your parents, that kind of thing, or maybe you're just not interested in going to school, then you don't really have those spaces."
Jyssika
Program coordinator
Speqtrum Hamilton
Jyssika cites the recent gentrification of Hamilton’s downtown core as one of the reasons for the shutdown of popular LGBTQ+ bars like the Embassy, a once popular club on King Street West.
“I think that, especially in Hamilton and the gentrification that’s happened in the last five years, unfortunately, that gentrification in a way also comes some different queer acceptance in spaces — generally gentrified spaces are more queer-infused, and there was a comfort level queer people had going to other places outside of traditional spaces that probably affected business in spaces,” said Jyssika.
Jiya also cites the lack of connection between LGBTQ+ services and service providers as another aspect of the decline of LGBTQ+ spaces in Hamilton.
“So for example, if you’re not connected to a service provider, it’s a lot harder to be connected with the different things that are happening for queer youth. And that’s not to say there aren’t groups here and there. … There’s no specific [LGBTQ+] space that’s continuous, and the nice thing about Speqtrum Hamilton is that it’s every single month,” Jiya said. Speqtrum Hamilton focuses on offering a variety of activities in hopes of building different communities within the LGBTQ+ community in Hamilton.
“Some of the most lasting connections I made at school were through theatre or doing something together or learning a skill together, rather than the classic form of ‘alright, let’s put a bunch of people with a shared identity and expect them to be best friends’,” Jyssika said.
“Ideally if you don’t find comfort in one space, you’ll find comfort in another. We want to create spaces for people to learn skills to learn how to create community,” she added.
While Speqtrum Hamilton currently focuses on offering diverse programming, both Jyssika and Jiya plan on creating community building workshops to teach LGBTQ+ youth how to plan their own events and community build on their own.
As the service continues to grow, both hope to offer a sense of community in Hamilton.
“We’re trying to offer consistency, and offer a space that people know and that they can invest in,” said Jyssika.
From letter writing workshops to swim nights, Speqtrum Hamilton hopes to build communities for LGBTQ+ youth living in an ever changing city.
[thesil_related_posts_sc]Related Posts[/thesil_related_posts_sc]
Trans Hamiltonians may soon see an increase in healthcare quality, as city council drafts a letter of recommendations for Local Health Integration Network, the board of Hamilton Health Sciences and St. Joesph’s Healthcare to improve regional healthcare for trans and gender non-conforming folk in the area.
The LHIN is in charge of fund allocation for the area, and the latter boards are in charge of daily aspects of healthcare in Hamilton.
The initial motion, put forward by ward 1 and 3 councillors Aidan Johnson and Matthew Green, calls for the mayor to send an initial letter to the LHIN for advice, and to consult with other groups such as the Hamilton Trans Health Coalition for advice on the contents of the letter.
Cole Gately, co-chair of the HTHC, has high hopes for the letter, considering its institutional support.
“When the mayor of an entire municipality is asking the LHIN asking for support and advice about increasing the capacity of healthcare for trans people in Hamilton, it’s pretty significant,” Gately said.
The letter is set to be sent out on Nov. 20, 2017, the Transgender Day of Remembrance, a date which commemorates the trans and gender non-conforming folk who have died as a result of transphobia.
In addition to higher murder rates, trans and gender non-conforming people are at a higher risk of suicide, with one study finding 43 per cent of participants with a history of attempted suicide due to the constant discrimination many faced.
The same study also found that many trans and gender non-conforming people actively avoid healthcare due to being trans or gender non-conforming, with 21 per cent of participants forgoing emergency healthcare due to their previous experiences with the healthcare system.
Currently, the local community has done its part to unofficially fill the gaps in the current healthcare system. The HTHC, Gately’s organization, is one of the main organizations within the city which aims to connect trans and gender non-conforming individuals in the city to healthcare workers able to sufficiently give care and offer information and resources to those in healthcare who wish to improve their care.
Some of the main challenges within trans healthcare equity include, but are not limited to, long wait times, lack of information and refusal of care by healthcare professionals.
Gately argues that trans health equity is as simple as educating physicians on basic aspects of transitioning and basic cultural competency. Gately stressed the importance of all physicians being knowledgeable on trans healthcare, thus allowing individuals to access healthcare without outing themselves as trans or gender non-conforming in the way going to a specifically trans healthcare centre would.
“It’s not so much opening a clinic or a centre, it’s more like providing education and support to physicians all across Hamilton to learn how to give good healthcare [to trans and gender non-conforming patients],” Gately said.
Hamilton has, in recent months, has made strides in supporting trans and gender non-conforming folk in the city. In March 2017, city council voted to implement a citywide protocol aiming to protect trans people in Hamilton.
Some aspects of the protocol include protecting the rights of trans folk employed by the city and recommendations on creating an inclusive environment.
“We are the only municipality that has a policy and protocol around trans clients using services and trans employees of the city, and so we’re pretty on the leading edge of this,” said Gately. “It’s not something [the LHIN] can ignore.”
[thesil_related_posts_sc]Related Posts[/thesil_related_posts_sc]
