Applying Self-Directed Groupwork and Social Action Research Methodology with francophone parents of trans children and youth in Rural Quebec

Parental support is an important protective factor in preventing suicide among trans youth. However, parents often struggle to accept their child’s gender transition. Having access to a group and to meeting other parents facilitates the acceptance process, but support groups are rare and even more so outside urban areas. The research project discussed in this article was developed to understand specifically the experience of parents of francophone trans youth living in rural and remote communities in Quebec. A Self-Directed Group approach (Mullender, Ward and Fleming 2013), combined with Social Action Research (Author et al. 2015) was initiated to offer a platform for parents to explore the specificities of parenting a trans child in rural francophone Quebec. Parents were recruited through social and traditional media and a series of group meetings was planned to collect data and as well as to facilitate the parents' mobilization. Despite applying the Self-Directed Groupwork principles and process, many challenges were encountered, stimulating a number of reflections on the use of self-directed group work and social action in remote geographical areas. This paper explores some of those challenges and discusses a possible way forward for research.

In Pursuit of Visibility: Queer Space Approach to Community Architecture in Jamaica

<p>Public space is a site of contestation where people enact their identities and exercise their citizenship. Often non-conforming individuals and communities are not given this opportunity, existing solely on the fringes of these spaces. Queer, especially Trans-identified, people are members of multi-marginalised groups grappling with the realities of discrimination in Jamaica’s (public) spaces. This thesis will explore queer spaces, specifically, how architecture can be used to create safe spaces for the inclusion of the displaced Trans* youth of Jamaica. While queer space has been explored conceptually in architecture, there is now a pressing need to bring physicality to this corporeal subject. How can the experience of this community be translated into architectural expression? Playing on the theme of visibility, this research aims to develop a design of physical space through the analysis of various visual media, along with other experimental participatory design techniques. With input from members of the community, the architectural intervention will remain relevant to its target user community and grounded in its users’ Jamaican context.</p>

In Pursuit of Visibility: Queer Space Approach to Community Architecture in Jamaica

<p>Public space is a site of contestation where people enact their identities and exercise their citizenship. Often non-conforming individuals and communities are not given this opportunity, existing solely on the fringes of these spaces. Queer, especially Trans-identified, people are members of multi-marginalised groups grappling with the realities of discrimination in Jamaica’s (public) spaces. This thesis will explore queer spaces, specifically, how architecture can be used to create safe spaces for the inclusion of the displaced Trans* youth of Jamaica. While queer space has been explored conceptually in architecture, there is now a pressing need to bring physicality to this corporeal subject. How can the experience of this community be translated into architectural expression? Playing on the theme of visibility, this research aims to develop a design of physical space through the analysis of various visual media, along with other experimental participatory design techniques. With input from members of the community, the architectural intervention will remain relevant to its target user community and grounded in its users’ Jamaican context.</p>

Blossoming Child, Mourning Parent: A Qualitative Study of Trans Children and Their Parents Navigating Transition

An increasing number of jurisdictions now facilitate transitions for trans and non-binary youth (TNBY), allowing them to legally change their name and gender marker and providing medical gender-affirming care to support transition needs. The literature demonstrates the benefits of such measures in reducing adverse mental health outcomes. Strong parental support is also identified as key to TNBY thriving. But studies also show that parents may struggle to accept their child’s identity during transition and beyond, rendering this life stage particularly challenging for both parents and TNBY. This qualitative project traces the experiences of TNBY and their parents as they evolve from the discovery of diverse gender identity to affirmation. Participants were recruited through three Canadian specialty clinics offering gender-affirming care and interviews were conducted separately with 36 dyads of trans youth and one of their parents, for a total of 72 interviews. Data reveal notable differences between the experiences of TNBY and that of their parents. Many TNBY began questioning their gender secretly, waiting to be sure of it before disclosing it to parents. While coming out was often a relief for TNBY, it was experienced differently for their parents, who often struggled to accept their child’s identity even while outwardly showing support. However, we found that TNBY and their parents were able to bridge this gap by engaging in the transition process together. Because TNBY’s experiences of realization and affirmation differ from those of their parents, we reiterate the importance of centering TNBY voices when attempting to understand their experience.

QUEER (RE)VISIONS OF ARCHIVE, AFFECT, AND PLACE IN CHILD AND YOUTH CARE

This article presents an autoethnography that interweaves the queering of archive, affect, and place using an object-oriented method. Engaging with a hundred-year-old antique photo album found in a thrift store, this article brings forth queer (re)visions of past, present, and future that (re)imagine queer (be)longing, which expand spheres of ancestral consciousness in 2SLGBTQIAA+ communities. Situated in the United States, this work traces the entanglements in this object-oriented autoethnography through a mapping of queer identity in the Pacific Northwest, capturing temporal reflections that reach from the present back into 1918 and back further still into the early English colonies. In orienting towards the realm of queering child and youth care this work seeks to contribute to a cultivation of discourse of collective (re)visions of past, present, and future that uproots the enshrined settler-colonial, white supremacist, heteropatriarchal, capitalist ethos that continuously crafts the layered erasures of sex, gender, and sexually diverse people in the United States. I endeavour in the threading of autoethnography, both as a white settler and in my being and continually becoming, a genderqueer, trans person struggling and thriving, to critically query the implications of this history within the present and to (re)affirm the possibilities for queer and trans youth in the future.

Narratives of Regret: Resisting Cisnormative and Bionormative Biases in Fertility and Family Creation Counseling for Transgender Youth

Gender-affirming hormone therapy is increasingly available to support healthy development of transgender (trans) youth, but ethical concerns have been raised regarding fertility-related implications. In this article, I present data from an exploratory qualitative study of the decision-making experiences of trans youth, parents of trans youth, and healthcare providers serving trans youth related to fertility and family creation. I discuss how cisnormative and bionormative biases can impact care and contribute to ethically problematic narratives of regret. Finally, I offer recommendations to support ethically sound, gender-affirmative fertility and family creation counseling with transgender youth.

Who Counts as Trans? A Critical Discourse Analysis of Trans Tumblr Posts

Internet and social media sites have long served as a rich form of community-building and knowledge exchange within transgender communities. In particular, Tumblr has become a popular site among trans youth in recent years. Paralleling changes in medical and mainstream societal understandings of what it means to be transgender, trans Tumblr users have engaged in dialogue and debate about the definitions and limits of trans identity. While research has established the potential for positive identity-formation among LGBTQ+ youth on Tumblr, it is also important to consider how online trans communities may re-inscribe hegemonic narratives in addition to disrupting dominant discourses and ideologies. Using a critical discourse analysis of Tumblr posts, this research analyses how trans Tumblr users define “who counts as trans,” including how users define gender dysphoria and its relationship to trans identities. Our findings provide critical insight into how trans communities define the boundaries of their identities in a struggle for visibility, resources, and respect.