June 6, 2023
In honour of Pride 2023, we would like to celebrate our EngiQueers student club.
Waterloo Engineering is dedicated to fostering a safe and welcoming environment for everyone, with organizations like EngiQueers making it possible by supporting diversity and equity within our Engineering community.
What is EngiQueers and how do you support Waterloo Engineering?
EngiQueers is the University of Waterloo's branch of EngiQueers Canada. We focus on bringing together LGBTQ+ students in engineering and providing a space where they can feel accepted and at home. We run weekly informal meetings that usually feature a queer-themed movie and conversation. We also host occasional events, such as a panel about navigating the workforce as an LGBTQ+ person during the Fall 2021 term, and we attended the national EngiQueers Canada conference this past January.
As an affiliate of the university's Engineering Society (EngSoc), we help promote and coordinate LGBTQ+ related events, such as Q-week (a collaboration with all the queer student groups on campus).
How does the EngiQueers club plan to celebrate pride this month?
We're collaborating with the University's Engineering Society (EngSoc) to send some of our members to march in Toronto's pride parade! A huge shoutout to Garnet Zhao for organizing this movement and coordinating with us to make sure EngiQueers members can participate.
What are some issues the LGBTQ+ community faces that a lot of people don’t know about?
I think the issues people are aware of are those that are either physical or visible (e.g., discrimination and violence against LGBTQ+ folks, exclusion or a lack of support), while quieter issues get ignored or unnoticed.
One issue that never really goes away is worrying about what people will think of you, or whether they will accept you. Unless someone is openly and visibly supportive of the LGBTQ+ community, there's often a thought in the back of your mind that asks "What will this person think of me? Will their image of me change if they find out about who I am?". I have personally talked with successful engineers who still have to navigate the issue of what to say and what not to say about their personal life because, for example, a client that they're working with is from a region of the world that is still very homophobic, and mentioning that your spouse is of the same sex as you could seriously damage work relations.
Another issue that I notice is a lack of knowledge amongst cishet people about the LGBTQ+ community and about LGBTQ+ folks. Drawing from my personal experience (I'm a trans woman), I've had family members and friends who didn't know whether a gay trans woman was attracted to men or to women (for the record, a gay trans woman is a gay woman, so she would be attracted to women), or who are deeply misinformed on the effects of hormone therapy. This can sometimes lead to questions that are asked in good faith, but that still remain very personal or irritating. Some common examples of this include asking gay couples about how they have sex, or asking trans people invasive questions about their body and surgeries.
How can individuals and organizations be better allies to the LGBTQ+ community?
For individuals, I think one of the most impactful things one could do is to educate themselves. Being queer can involve a lot of explaining who you are to other people, or dealing with people who have a very inaccurate understanding of LGBTQ+ people, so having even a basic level of knowledge can make interactions so much smoother when LGBTQ+ issues come up. For organizations, there's a lot that can be done to educate their membership and improve inclusivity. Two examples right off the top of my head include having gender-neutral washrooms, and including personal pronouns in email signatures.
For anyone who wants to improve their allyship, one thing to remember is there's a difference between saying you're an ally, and being an ally. A proper ally should back up their words with actions, and shouldn't tokenize or patronize LGBTQ+ folks. I remember a discussion I had with a UWaterloo alumnus (who's out at work): her workplace asked how it could be more welcoming and inclusive. She told them to change the signs on single washrooms to be gender neutral and to add pronouns to company email signatures. Her company ignored her, and instead plastered the workplace in rainbows for pride month and gave her a small gift. That... is not an example of good allyship. When LGBTQ+ people say something, please listen to them. We have a lot of issues to face, and simply plastering rainbows everywhere, or telling us about how brave we are, doesn't really help us, even if it makes you feel better about yourself.
I would like to end with this: Please don't be intimidated by all of this. As a member of the LGBTQ+ community, I forget how much there is that I think is common knowledge that is actually completely unknown to many cishet people. So long as you keep an open mind, and listen to and respect the LGBTQ+ voices you hear, you're on the right path, and there are many people who will be grateful for that.