Student-led initiatives seek to dismantle barriers to access 

As winter is beginning to phase into spring and people are in the midst of putting away their winter coats, we welcome a new season of activities—sports! As the weather begins to clear up, (albeit, reluctantly) more people are putting on their athletic gear and running outside to embrace the beautiful weather or hitting the gym once again. However, as more people begin to re-enter these athletic spaces, there are some people who are struggling to do so.

LGBTQ+ students over the years have expressed disinterest in going to athletic spaces, specifically the Athletic Centre and the Goldring Centre for High Performance Sport. Given the fact that both of those spaces are extremely heteronormative (for instance, most of the gyms are dominated by cis men who are hypermasculine, which means they end up taking up a lot of space, leaving LGBTQ+ students feeling like they don’t belong there), it is no wonder why LGBTQ+ students would be hesitant to enter such spaces.

Historically, both the Athletic Centre and the Goldring Centre have catered towards athletes, creating barriers for the average student on campus to enter them. Even though both of these spaces have opened up over the years to students who are represented by the UTSU, many students are still reluctant to spend time there.

In response to the under-participation of women and LGBTQ+ students in athletic spaces on campus, the Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education (KPE) has implemented initiatives that hope to incentivize students to come to their locations (such as women-only hours in the Strength and Conditioning Centre). Be it for religious reasons or for the comfort of women, it is important that these hours and spaces exist. It is important that students are able to use the facilities that they pay for in their tuition, without the anxiety of their bodies being objectified by others.

It is within the rights of each student to be able to use these spaces without feeling uncomfortable. However, with LGBTQ+ students, it’s a little more complicated than just that.

No person is defined by solely one identity. In fact, everyone has their own unique intersection of identities. Each of those identities allows those around us to perceive us differently than others. For instance, a queer person of colour is perceived differently than a white queer person; a cisgender woman would be treated differently than a transgender woman. This difference of treatment not only creates barriers for individuals to enter athletic spaces, but is also rooted in greater systemic issues.

KPE acknowledges the different barriers that people face in order to enter these spaces, given that these facilities were originally built for cisgender men. For instance, the Change Room Project, a campaign initiated by a KPE professor last year, put up posters in changerooms addressing homophobia and the problematic nature of “locker talk.” The Change Room Project also addressed the microaggressions queer and trans students feel in changerooms, such as being unable to go to the changeroom that resonates with their gender identity because of a fear of violence. Like most spaces on campus, many were not accessible to women when they were initially built. While those spaces have opened up more to women over the years, LGBTQ+ students disagree with the notion that these spaces are completely inclusive because of factors such as transphobia, and gendered changerooms.

KPE’s Equity Movement has developed different incentives over the years to seek to address and deconstruct these barriers. One of Equity Movement’s initiatives, Move with Pride, focuses on bringing LGBTQ+ students into KPE’s athletic spaces. Move with Pride is best known for its “Day of Movement” where they book the Athletic Centre, and LGBTQ+ students take it over and make it their own. While the event is fun, and students have a good time, students are still reluctant to enter the space on a regular and consistent basis because it, like other spaces, is still incredibly cisheteronormative. It takes more than just one event to change the dynamics of the space and to make it accessible.

Over the past few years, Move with Pride decided to get away from simply doing one big “extravaganza,” instead focusing more on students and their voices. Move With Pride has decided to redistribute their funds into smaller events that happen more frequently throughout the year. By hosting more events throughout the year, Equity Movement hopes to help students familiarize themselves with the different facilities, so that, instead of just feeling safe in these physical spaces on one day of the year, students can become comfortable enough to use them regularly.

These events are designed in response to event ideas and general concerns voiced by LGBTQ+ students, in conversations facilitated by Equity Movement. Equity Movement work-study students then take these ideas and create events based on those suggestions and concerns; like Bubble Soccer, Learn to Lift, Queer Orientation events, and most recently, the Hayley Kiyoko Choreo Dance Workshop.

Students are the ones for whom these events are made. It is not marketing tactics that bring students to us, but rather, it is the camaraderie within the LGBTQ+ communities. For instance, the events with the strongest attendance are always those where students have brought their friends, who then spread awareness of the events to other groups. This goes to show how important it is to reach out to student communities and to establish a good rapport with different individuals. Because of people’s overwhelming generosity, there is never a shortage of support coming from these individuals.

There has been a gradual success recently because of these smaller events, and Move with Pride seeks to continuously improve itself with the assistance of students. Student voices are imperative, regardless of whether they are voices of enthusiasm or valid criticisms; student voices are what help generate these diverse ideas. There has been progress made over the years, but it is still not enough, and there is always work to be done to deconstruct barriers for LGBTQ+ students in athletic spaces. Move with Pride will continuously strive to advocate for students’ rights to exist comfortably in athletic spaces, and it needs the voices of students in order to address barriers it might be blindsided to.

If you’re interested in any Move with Pride events, follow Equity Movement on Facebook to be part of the conversation! Keep an eye out for any upcoming events, initiatives, or conversations that will be hosted over the next year.