Championing trans* inclusion in sports through research and lived experience

Can you tell us a bit about what sparked your initial interest in social innovation and social justice work?  

As a social work student, I had heard of the concept of social innovation but was not quite sure what it meant in relation to social work and social justice - until I took the course CYC 560: Social Innovation in Practice.

Were you hoping to explore social innovation more specifically within social work?

Yes -  especially because CYC 560 is primarily focused on child and youth care, I wanted to see how their sector approached social innovation and how that compared to my understanding of social innovation as a social work student.

How did you start working with the OSI? What made you want to do your social work placement with OSI?

In her class, Melanie spoke about OSI and the programs the office hosts, like Map the System (MTS). The MTS program stood out to me as a good mesh between what I was learning in the class and what I was hoping to further explore through my social work placement. I am grateful to OSI for giving me the opportunity of incorporating what I learned in the classroom within a placement setting.

You took part in the 2020 MTS  program as part of your placement with OSI. What made you want to take part in MTS?

A lot of it had to do with my original placement goal, which was wanting to integrate what I was learning in the classroom and adapt it to practical experiences, so, somewhat naturally, MTS became the primary focus of my placement. Going through the program also gave me an opportunity to have a tangible piece of work that I could leave with after completing my placement. 

Can you tell us about your project, Exclusionary Practices & Policies Affecting Trans* Olympians? What made you want to further explore this topic through systems mapping?

My research partner Mary Gomes and I are both trans-identified athletes who have experienced discrimination based on our gender within sports; in arenas and otherwise. These experiences brought us both to the realization that this was a societal issue we wanted to further explore. We focused on Olympians because we wanted to see how even at the highest/most respected level of sport there was still discrimination based on gender. 

In doing this research through MTS, what were some key learnings and/or new understandings you discovered about practices and policies affecting transgender athletes?

The recognition of transgender people in and out of sport is changing rapidly. Policies and practices are beginning to evolve and corporate and social initiatives are being implemented and more and more, inclusiveness is being valued - by that I mean that inclusiveness is increasingly becoming valued in all areas of sport. Striking the right balance and crafting thoughtful policies on such new and complex concepts requires fundamental shifts in age-old perceptions and beliefs.

In addition to your MTS research project, you were recently the subject of a  documentary called Unbecoming. What was it like to document and share your own journey in this way?

I got asked by Navid Mashayekhi, a Seneca College and York film student, who was looking for trans-identified people to be the subjects of his final student film. Since I had just come out in September of that year, I hadn’t started medically transitioning yet, so the film now serves as a reminder of my first leap into the LGBTQ2SIA+ community. 

I should also mention that this was Navid’s first interaction with a Trans* person, so I felt very honoured to be that person for him and appreciated how he made sure that what was shown in the film was what I wanted to portray. 

So, in a way, you were both going through two journeys together?

Exactly. And I feel like throughout the film we both got to learn so much but I also got to use it as an outlet to understand more about my community and myself and my transition. Again, looking back on it just to have the documentary as a piece to reflect on thoughts like ‘this is where I was and this is where I want to be.’ 

Building off of your research and personal journey in the documentary - what would you like the Toronto Metropolitan community to know about how they can best work with and support transgender students? Any practices or policies you’d like to see developed or improved on?

First, I would say that more research and discussion has to be done in the field of transgender persons - both within sports and outside of sports. 

When you first asked me that question I thought of the basics, which is just respecting people’s pronouns. I think this is something that gets very misunderstood - pronouns aren’t just “preferred” - they just are. I’ve seen a lot of institutions, not necessarily Toronto Metropolitan, refer to pronouns as “preferred” - and that’s not what it is. Lastly, please ensure that accessible gender-neutral washrooms are available in all public areas both on and off-campus.

What’s next for you and your work? 

I will definitely take what I learned through the MTS research process forward through my graduate studies and who knows, I might write about trans folx again!