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Allies in Sudbury say more work needed to raise awareness about transgender community

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More work needs to be done to raise awareness about issues facing the transgender community.

That's the sentiment from a group of social work students who held a Trans Day of Celebration inside Laurentian University's Parker Building on Friday as part of Transgender Awareness Week.

The group is circulating a petition calling for more gender inclusive washrooms on campus. According to their findings, 10 out of 13 buildings don't have the necessary facilities.

"I am hopeful for change but the change is going to come from within the student body," said student Harper Gilbert. "This petition that's been going around Laurentian, the issue has been happening for at least a decade and has only been met with a laissez attitude by university administration."

As a cis-gender person herself, Gilbert said she, too, has been educated and needs to learn more about this changing demographic.

She said they've been getting a lot of positive reception from the student body.

"It's not something that happens immediately and it's not something that happens overnight," Gilbert said. "And we need to accept people at every stage that they're at."

"We want to be able to show the Laurentian community that there are trans bodies here, there are trans individuals in your classes and in your faculty and administration and at every level of this university and they need to be celebrated and people need to be educated on trans matters and trans health," she added.

Gilbert was asked about a social media post in which a trans individual asked if it was safe to come to Laurentian University.

"If I were to answer that question, 'no you are not safe in coming to Laurentian University right now, you may be met with stereotyping, you may be met with bullying, you may be met with even just unhelpful comments and I'm not saying you're not going to met with loving, kindness and acceptance but on the whole there's a total lack of education," she said.

One of those students in attendance was third-year university student and transgender woman Thalia Gillott.

"Honestly this is a really weird week for me because I understand the need for visibility for transgender people, but also we've been visible since before the 1800s," Gillott said.

"It's not the visibility that we're lacking, it's the actual respect for who we are and ways to advance our rights."

Gillott said she has to undertake a six-month healthcare process just to know if she'll qualify for funding for surgeries.

She struggles with using the term 'raising awareness.'

Undeniable fact

"Everyone is aware of the fact that transgender people do exist -- that's kind of an undeniable fact -- but it's the awareness around what does it mean to be a transgender person," Gillott said.

"I would really like to see more of an awareness on what can benefit us as a community than just recognizing us to say that we exist."

While she's not optimistic about change, she's hopeful that it will someday happen. She wants people to be aware the community is not trying to get rid of gender or trying to turn everyone 'homosexual.'

"We're out here trying to live our lives and feel authentic as to who we are," Gillott said.

The philosophy student said many might not even be aware about those challenges. For instance, she said the university is charging a fee just to change her name.

"I hope that everyone's able to look back and recognize that we just aren't transgender people, we are people first and we have issues because we are transgender but our being transgender is not the cause of these issues," she said.

The Trans Day of Celebration was a school assignment but also a passion project for the social work students.

Liz Carlson-Manathara is their professor.

"In social work, two pillars are social work and social justice, so for students we're really hoping they can get in there, get involved in social movements," said Carlson-Manathara.

"I think it's great, I think we need general-neutral bathrooms for comfort," said Melonie Gilchrist, a Laurentian University parent who came out to show her support.

"Some people need them, there's issues where some people have to have a safeguard standing outside the washroom for them, just to make sure they're in a safe place just to use the washroom, which seems really silly."

Laurentian University issued a statement on the petition about gender-inclusive washrooms:

"We strive to be an inclusive campus and would welcome the opportunity to work alongside all equity-seeking groups to improve the student experience. We have made changes to our washroom facilities over the years and will continue to respond to the needs of our community." 

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