With Dr. Lee Airton, Assistant Professor of Gender and Sexuality Studies in Education at Queen's University. International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia is coming up on May 17.
The UN says that only one out of three countries legally protect people from discrimination based on sexual orientation. Only one out of 10 protect people based on gender identity, and only a handful based on sex characteristics.
We can’t end gender injustice without ending discrimination widely faced by 2SLGBTQIA+ communities. A 2023 Global News story reports that, “Canadian LGBTQ2 community members and advocates say the past year has been difficult and scary amid a notable rise in hate crimes, threats and protests against drag queens and transgender people in particular.” This tracks with a rise in police-reported hate crimes based on sexuality and gender identity, which rose nearly 60 per cent between 2019 and 2021 to the highest level in five years.
Dr. Lee Airton (they/them) brings clarity in these tough times. Their research explores how Canadian K-12 education and teacher education are responding to gender identity and gender expression protections in human rights legislation. In 2012, Dr. Airton founded They Is My Pronoun, the first Q+A-based blog about gender-neutral pronoun usage and user support with over 30,000 visitors in 2017 alone. In 2016, Dr. Airton founded the No Big Deal Campaign, a national social media initiative that helps people show support for transgender peoples' right to have their pronouns used. In 2021, Dr. Airton and their research team launched gegi.ca, the first bilingual self-advocacy resource for K-12 students experiencing gender expression and gender identity discrimination at school. Dr. Airton's first book, Gender: Your Guide, offers practical steps for welcoming gender diversity in everyday life, and has been adopted as a key professional development text in teacher education programs, school districts, public sector and private sector organizations. With Dr. Susan Woolley, they recently edited Teaching About Gender Diversity: Teacher-Tested Lesson Plans for K-12 Classrooms.
Relevant links: www.leeairton.com
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