A team of 8 artist researchers from the LGBTQ Families Speak Out project travelled to
The L Fest in Llandudno, Wales this past July to present Out at School to an international audience.  Our verbatim play based on interviews from the project was extremely well-received by an enthusiastic audience and the team was delighted to share our research and artistry with the folks attending the festival.

By Kate Reid

I was commissioned by Dr. Tara Goldstein to compose and record the song, "Let Love be the Way" based on a set of interviews conducted for the LGBTQ Families Speak Out project taking place at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE - University of Toronto). As an artist-researcher on Tara's research team, among other research duties, I am tasked with going through interview material and composing songs that support the research project and speak to the themes that emerge in the interviews we conduct with LGBTQ families about their experiences in Ontario schools. 

This particular song speaks to the overarching theme in the latest set of interviews I worked with where LGBTQ families and people often have to explain their bodies, families, and relationships to school personnel (and to society). This "labour of explaining" happens either pre-emptively, that is, in order to avoid questions and confusion in the future from students and/or school personnel; or, it happens in response to questions and confusion directed at them from another person(s) in a given moment. It is a particular kind of emotional and spiritual labour that gender and sexually-conforming people do not have to engage in. So, the song, "Let Love be the Way" attempts to "turn the tables" and invites gender and sexually-conforming people to do the labour of thinking through their own privileges and to deeply consider the questions posed in the song. In this way, it attempts to disrupt the comfort and ease of what it means to inhabit bodies, claim identities, and engage in relationships that are normative. It also troubles the idea that accommodating people is enough.

​

Musicians: 
Produced by Stew Crookes and Kate Reid 
Assistant engineering by Andrew Scott

Kate Reid (vocals, acoustic guitar)
Andrew Scott (drums, percussion)
Kurt Nielsen (bass)
Todd Lumley (piano and synth)

Listen here: 

Let Love be the Way - lyrics

Hey there, hello, you don’t know me
And I don’t know you
But I have a question or two
Thought I’d turn the tables 
On you

What's it like to walk down the street with your partner 
And never wonder “what if”?
To know that wherever you go together
You’re safe because your love blends in?

Could you imagine being unexpected, unforeseen
In the grand scheme of things? 
Then have to reveal yourself, describe and define your love
Your children, your family?

Chorus:
What would it take to let love be the way
Could you listen to people and raise them up? 
Could you up your own game and say “no big deal”
Be inspired instead of afraid? 

How would it feel to live two separate lives
To hide your true self away? 
To have to conform to someone else’s arbitrary rules
And always be asked to explain?

Have you ever had to carve out a space for yourself
Because there was no room for you?
Imagine there were only five choices to line up at school
LGBT and Q?

Chorus:
What would it take to let love be the way
Could you listen to people and raise them up? 
Could you up your own game and say “no big deal”
Be inspired instead of afraid?

Have you ever had to try and justify your body
To people you’ve never met
Or tried to translate yourself into someone else’s language
To make yourself legible?

Do you have to defend which public bathroom you use? 
Have you ever thought about that? 
And felt them attempt to decipher your intentions
While you’re standing there washing your hands?

Have you ever been told that you don’t know who you are
Your pronouns are wrong, they don’t match, they’re grammatically incorrect, 
Your name is wrong, your clothes are wrong, your hair is wrong
Your feelings are wrong, your love is wrong
You are wrong? 

Chorus:
What would it take to let love be the way
Could you listen to people and raise them up? 
Could you up your own game and say “no big deal”
Be inspired instead of afraid? 
What would it take to let love be the way
Could you listen to people and raise them up? 
Could you up your own game and say “no big deal”
Be inspired, could you be brave 

Has someone with good intentions worked to accommodate you
And tried to fit you in
Have you ever considered how accommodating someone
Doesn’t really change anything?
 
 

Happy Pride 2018 to Everyone!

At our performance of Out at School at the Glad Day Bookstore last Saturday Toronto District Board of Education librarian Susan Ewing shared this pinterest linked with us.  The link contains 41 pins of books for classroom teachers to use on the themes of gender and sexual diversity.  Enjoy!

https://www.pinterest.ca/proflib/lgbtq/

Join us for a Performance of Out at School at Nuit Rose
 
Glad Day Book Shop
499 Church Street
June 16, 2018
7:00 PM
Admission Free
 
Out at School is a compelling piece of verbatim theatre that shares stories from LGBTQ families across Ontario about their experiences at school. 
 
Directed by Jenny Salisbury
 
Illustrations by visual artist benjamin lee hicks
 
Original music by singer song writer Kate Reid. 

We are delighted to welcome OISE Master of Teaching student Yasmin Owis to the team.

Yasmin has been working with the team to choose excerpts from our latest set of video interviews to upload onto our website.  She will also participate in four-day writing workshop with the rest of the team later this month.  During the workshop, the team will be writing some new monologues for our set of Out at School verbatim play scripts and a set of academic paper proposals for the 2019 American Educational Research Association conference, which will be held in Toronto next April.
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The LGBTQ Families Speak Out team is excited to announce that we will be performing our verbatim theatre play ​Out at School at the Nuit Rose in Toronto the evening of June 16, 2018.  The play will be directed by Jenny Salisbury and include performances by Toronto actors Mary Ellen MacLean and Lori Nancy Kalamanski as well as members of the research team.  Details on time and place will follow.

The LGBTQ Families Speak Out project is delighted to welcome University of Toronto student Edil Ga'al to our team.  Edil is a Political Science and Equity Studies student at U of T who is graduating with her BA degree in June.  Edit will be involved in all aspects of the LGBTQ Families Speak Out project, and is funded by a University of Toronto Excellence Award grant.  Welcome Edil!

The LGBTQ Families Speak Out research team is looking forward to travelling to Sudbury next week to attend the 2018 Rainbow Health Conference and interview LGBTQ families about their experiences in Sudbury schools.  

We're bringing a new banner to our exhibit table at the conference and will be doing quick 5-minute interviews about people's experiences at school.  If you're attending the conference come by to our table and say hi.

Much thanks and appreciation go to benjamin lee hicks for their beautiful design of our new banner.

The LGBTQ Families Speak Out research team will be travelling to Sudbury, Ontario, for the Rainbow Health Conference from March 22-24, 2018.  While we're there we're hoping to interview LGBTQ families in Sudbury about their experiences at school.  If you're interested in participating please let us know at info@lbtbqfamiliesspeakout.ca