This month I spoke to Professor Andrew Campbell from the University of Toronto (OISE) and Queens University about his ongoing research on LGBTQ issues in the Jamaican media. 

Dr. Campbell's research and scholarship focus on issues of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, Cultural Competency, Education Leadership, 2SLGBTQ+ issues, and Teacher Performance Evaluation. Dr. Campbell continues to present at various peer-reviewed academic conferences across North America and the Caribbean.
He is a workshop facilitator, a motivational speaker and has delivered several Keynotes. You can listen to the podcast by clicking the PODCAST tab, and learn more about Dr. Campbell by visiting his website.  drabc.ca

Black History Month is celebrated every February. It’s a time of deep un/learning, centring of Black histories, culture, voices and futurities and demanding a more just present.  

As educators it’s important for us to recognize how we might benefit from anti-Black rhetoric and narratives. We know that we are entrenched in white supremacist logic and that our educational systems are not excluded from the violent histories that have caused generational trauma for Indigenous and Black communities. 

Black History Month is important because it is a time of resurgence, celebration and affirmation in the public eye and collective consciousness that Black communities feel and know year-long. It can also be an incredibly difficult and frustrating time for Black communities to feel pressure to speak out, be visible, and see the world celebrate Black History Month without making systemic changes that actually make a difference.  

So how do we, as non-Black educators, continue to do this work throughout the year? How can we continue our learning, address the systemic barriers in the institutions we work in and centre Black joy at all intersections?  

This month, more than ever, it is important to do the work on our own. Here are some things to either get you started, or continue your learning: 

1. Follow the queer, trans, Black leaders in our communities and listen and raise up their work.  
2. Advocate, create and demand educational curricula that centers Black histories, cultures, voices and futures beyond deficit narratives. 
3. Connect the struggle and resilience of Black communities through history to the discrimination and prejudice faced today
4. Recognize that the Black LGBTQ community is diverse and that no one voice can or should represent an entire community.
5. Think about your positionality and experiences: how do you benefit from anti-Black narratives? 
6. Think about how you can create change: is it personal learning? Is it community initiatives? Care mongering and donating funds to Black organizations?  
7. Start where you’re at, and then do more: if reading and educating yourself is where you are at, start there. If you can do more, you must.  

RESOURCES:

Policing Black Lives  - Robyn Maynard 
Beloved - Toni Morrison 
Black on Both Sides: A Racial History of Trans Identity - C. Riley Snorton 
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness - Michelle Alexander 
The Skin We’re In - Desmond Cole 
Until We Are Free: Reflections on Black Lives Matter in Canada - Rodney Diverlus, Sandy Hudson, Syrus Marcus Ware.  

A Different Booklist: https://www.adifferentbooklist.com 
Black Canadian Authors: https://nowtoronto.com/culture/books/11-books-by-black-canadian-authors?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_content=nowtoronto&utm_campaign=hootsuite 
Anti-Black Racism in Canada (HuffPost) https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/racism-canada-anti-black_ca_5ecd6c6cc5b670f88ad48d5c 

DONATE:

Black Lives Matter Toronto/Mutal Aid Fund: https://blacklivesmatter.ca 
Black Legal Action: https://www.blacklegalactioncentre.ca 
NIA Centre for Arts: https://niacentre.org 
Black Youth Helpline: https://blackyouth.ca/services/#how-to-access-our-services ​

image from: @kpinspires on instagram

The LGBTQ Families Speak Out project would like to congratulate Dr. Jenny Salisbury on the successful defence of her doctoral thesis!

Jenny's thesis Community-Engaged Theatre Audiences aims to understand how individuals make meaning or sense out of community-engaged theatre performances which are often plays are social justice initiatives, working within different communities to foster social change.

Jenny’s research  asks “what can scholars and artists learn about community-engaged theatre by asking audience members about their experiences?” Audiences are so often erased or simply absent from archives and theatre scholarship. Jenny’s thesis research centers their voices in order to better understand community-engaged theatre as an advocacy project. 

Many well wishes, Dr. Jenny Salisbury! 

Happy New Year everyone! 

The LGBTQ Families Speak Out research team is happy to announce that the first episode of season 3 of the Gender, Sexuality, School podcast is now available and was recently featured in Xtra Magazine! 

In the first episode of season 3, Tara talks to Professor Harper Keenan from the Faculty of Education at the University of British Columbia about two recent research projects: Building Blocks: Race, Gender and Early Education project and Drag Pedagogy. You can listen along here. 

As part of the Focus on Research series at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto, Tara Goldstein and research team member Yasmin Owis presented on their ethical principles and practices for arts-based testimonial research. These principles and practices were developed as part of an upcoming book entitled "Our Children are Your Students: LGBTQ Families Speak Out" set to be released in Winter 2021. 

You can read more about the presentation here, and download a copy of the presentation here.

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Today is National Coming Out Day. For some, today is an opportunity to share with others parts of our identity. And for some, it's a day of personal recognition and acceptance. Coming into yourself as our identities shift is a powerful practice, and one we continually do as queer, trans, and gender-diverse folks. Not everyone needs access to parts of you that you are still grappling with. So whether today is a day of celebration, public declaration, personal recognition or a moment of questioning, you are seen and supported unconditionally. 

You can watch videos of our families talking about coming out in schools here, and find resources that might be helpful here.