This question is a reflection of current realities for many queer and trans teachers in British Columbia, as well as a call to action for the union. Over the past few years, there has been a marked increase in hateful and harmful rhetoric and actions against queer and trans teachers.[1] These can look like individual teachers being targeted by “parents’ rights” groups, communities in which symbols of pride and human rights are being defaced, and a broader climate in which teachers feel they have to make themselves less visibly queer or risk professional and personal harm.

In light of rising queerphobia and transphobia, the British Columbia Teachers’ Federation (BCTF) held a Think Tank on April 14, 2025, to explore what is needed to create a workplace that learns from and celebrates queer and trans teachers. The Think Tank is a methodology that the BCTF has been using as a form of “activist research.” Following Denisha Jones, activist research is a “framework for conducting collaborative research that makes explicit challenges to power through transformative action” (p. 27).[2] In this approach, a group of BCTF members come together to share their perspectives and experiences on a particular issue. The day’s conversations are captured through notes as well as interpreted through a visual mural, created for this research by Sam Bradd of Drawing Change.[3] Drawing Change is a network of graphic recorders who listen, synthesize, and draw dialogue in real time, enabling participants to see patterns and collective wisdom emerging from group dialogue.

The research approach for this Think Tank was also guided by Eve Tuck’s call to shift inquiry from a “damage-based framework” to a “desire-based framework” that “accounts for the loss and despair, but also the hope, the visions, the wisdom of lived lives and communities” (p. 417).[4] Asking queer and trans teachers to repeatedly share their stories of emotional and physical harm can itself be an act of violence, especially when no action is taken. As such, the goal of the research was not to ask if queerphobia and transphobia exist. They do exist and are inflicting real and symbolic violence on teachers, students, and communities every day. Indeed, within the space of the Think Tank, there was a strong tension between imagining what is needed and the weight of current realities on folks’ lived lives. If anything, this tension made the focus of the research, and this report, even more urgent: exploring how  queerphobia and transphobia are impacting teachers’ working conditions and what the union should be doing.

The day-long event brought together 13 queer and trans teachers from around the province, representing urban and rural areas as well as a range of teaching positions and years of experience within the profession. Some participants were quite familiar with the union, including folks who had participated in previous union events or who sit on provincial committees, while others were not. Participants also brought multiple identities with them into the space, and conversation returned multiple times to the need for a nuanced understanding of identity and the power relations that operate through intersecting identities. The diversity of voices, experiences, and perspectives foregrounds what author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (2009) warns is the danger of a single story.[5] There is no single narrative of queer and trans teachers in BC, just as there is no single solution to what the union can and should be doing. Listening and responding to queerphobia and transphobia in our schools requires working in complexity, tensions, and contradictions. The union must commit to action that simultaneously works across individual, structural, and systemic levels to defend the rights of all teachers.

A workplace that learns from and celebrates queer and trans teachers

The first guiding question of the Think Tank was, “What does a workplace look like that learns from and celebrates queer and trans teachers?"  Working in small groups, participants started by describing what this workplace would look and feel like. There were many diverse answers, reflecting how notions of “belonging” are always contextual, relational, and intersectional. At the same time, there were several shared threads that ran across participants’ visions. These are spaces where “intersectional lives are seen,” and their voices are listened to in a way that “promotes and respects self-determination.” They are spaces that respect teachers’ professional autonomy, and in which “teachers can teach inclusivity without fear of parental pushback.” They are spaces grounded in collectivity and solidarity, where “an injury to one is an injury to all” and “district[s] stand strongly and proudly with us.” Furthermore, when there is harm, they are spaces that center “systemic transformative justice” and allyship that is fostered and felt across the school community.

From these visions, participants were then asked to work backward to identify (1) the root beliefs and values needed to support these visions and (2) specific structures and practices that can build these workplaces in BC schools. The rest of this section focuses on responses related to these two areas.

The roots of change

Participants shared a number of core beliefs and values that are the foundations of workplaces that learn from and celebrate queer and trans teachers. These broadly fall into four orientations to bring to this work:

• Intersectionality[6] and solidarity across marginalized groups: Right-wing attacks work by dividing various justice struggles, creating a sense of scarcity and defensiveness, and pitting marginalized groups against one another. This makes it more likely that marginalized groups will focus on defending existing rights specific to their group rather than envisioning possible futures and thinking in intersectionality. To combat this, it is necessary to always think in an intersectional way and build solidarity across marginalized groups. As one participant wrote: “Equity is not pie [from which we each fight for a piece]: no one moves forward unless we all move forward.” Crucially, this challenges manufactured vulnerability and reinforces collective strength.
• Communal safety: While many anti-SOGI attacks use the language of “parents’ rights,” it is vital to highlight the rights of students and teachers in schools. In a school environment, everyone has a right to safety, privacy, and recognition, including being referred to by their correct names and pronouns. These are human rights and crucial as, as one participant stated, “we are ALL (students and teachers!) learning how to be people.” Fear, intimidation, and violence have no place in BC schools, and teachers should be able to celebrate their identities rather than worrying about negative impacts on their careers if they share they are queer or trans.
• A learning process that builds community, solidarity, accountability, and belonging: To create a workplace that learns from queer and trans teachers, it is necessary to first understand that all teachers are always learning from one another about how to support each other better. Everyone must value this learning process and be accountable when they have caused harm, no matter the intentions. This learning process requires centering marginalized voices when learning about injustice, as one participant stressed by quoting the slogan from the disability justice movement: “Nothing about us without us.” When premised on everyone belonging in a school community, mistakes can more easily be responded to with patience and grace, with the goal of advancing learning. At the same time, it is important that in instances of discrimination, the focus is on the discrimination, not how the victim responded.
• Multiplicity and complexity in advocacy work: Some queer and trans teachers engage in more public advocacy work, while others quietly create safe spaces in their classrooms and schools. Both are valid and essential. It is important to acknowledge that different contexts, such as rural versus urban environments, make various kinds of advocacy work possible. In some contexts, queer and trans teachers engaging in public advocacy work can become targets, and it is valid to choose ways of engaging in equity work that protect one’s safety. In all contexts, allies, and leaders (both within the union and in districts) must step up.

Actions to build upon

With these orientations undergirding practice, participants suggested specific actions that build and nourish a workplace that learns from and celebrates queer and trans teachers. These include:

• Acknowledge and mitigate the “burden of expertise” on queer and trans teachers. Queer and trans teachers are often expected to educate their colleagues and intervene in incidents of queerphobia and transphobia, and this can have both a physical and mental toll. Specific actions could include release time for teacher training related to SOGI, support to improve the comfort and excitement of all teachers to engage in SOGI-inclusive teaching (including dedicated prep time), and professional development days that make space for healing, not just harm reduction. There should also be regular in-service focused on anti-oppression at the district level. Change requires space and time for teachers to reflect on their work, identities, and privilege. Furthermore, it necessitates intersectional SOGI resources that address the entanglement of cis heteronormativity with colonialism and other oppressive systems. These resources should be available to teachers of all grade levels.
• Adopt effective and transformative justice practices. Participants identified a critical gap in current responses to workplace violence and erasure. Transformative justice initiatives require a systemic approach, including mechanisms for holding administrators accountable when they perpetuate harm, procedures for addressing harm (both between teachers and between teachers and administrators) that take teacher positionality into account, and the supportive presence of people who are adequately trained to support teachers who have experienced discrimination based on gender and sexuality in the workplace. Schools should have simple, efficient, well-resourced processes for reporting, responding to, and redressing harm. All teachers should receive training to support their capacity to stand up for themselves and others in the workplace and intervene in situations of homophobia and transphobia. There should also be efforts to support healing and mental health for teachers who have been affected by workplace violence and erasure.
• Purposefully build a shared understanding of human rights at school. The weaponization of “rights” (such as through the notion of “parents’ rights”) undermines school safety and belonging for everyone. This must be countered by building a shared understanding of human rights at school, including teachers’ rights and students’ rights. This might look like a single, accessible document that summarizes rights-based protections for queer and trans students and teachers. Affirming these rights is key to supporting teachers to bring their full selves to school, including identities that are in progress or uncertain. It also requires political mobilization in the broader community, such as through electing trustees who support SOGI-inclusive education.
• Ensure intersectional queer and trans representation across the school and community. Representation must move beyond single and tokenistic notions of inclusion and expand across leadership, images, voices, language, and content. At a school level, this looks like normalizing introductions with pronouns in all situations and teachers being supported to include diverse queer and trans people in their lessons. Administrators should model a supportive and celebratory approach to SOGI and buffer teachers from any parental pushback. At a district level, the employer should consider equity in hiring. At a union level, local officers and provincial executive committee members should be trained in SOGI inclusivity and be accountable for how they represent the diverse membership. There is also learning to be done from shared histories: one participant pointed out that previous generations of queer and trans educators had strategies for surviving and thriving in schools, even in times of intense backlash. Newer generations might benefit from more opportunities to connect with and learn from those who have gone before.

These actions are urgently needed, particularly amid a climate in which, as one participant stated, “queer and trans rights are being minimized in the political landscape municipally, provincially, and federally. Education must be the vehicle for anti-oppressive education.”

What the union should do

In many parts of the world, there is a resurgence of right-wing political groups that are attacking public education and efforts that advance diversity, equity, and inclusion. Recent research suggests that, while there are diverse actors and agendas under the broad label of “far-right social movements” in Canada, three broad shared strategies are being used by these movements.[7] Firstly, these movements seek to undermine public trust in the legitimacy of public institutions like the public school system. Secondly, they implicitly and explicitly promote physical and symbolic violence. Thirdly, they purposefully construct an “out-group” that must be purged or protected against. Within the education sector, these strategies can be seen to coalesce around gender and sexuality. For instance, framing inclusive teaching as “indoctrination” undermines trust in public education at the same time as it targets queer and trans teachers as “others” who threaten the rights of parents and families.[8] This targeting results in very real effects, with teachers being doxed and fearing for their safety within the school and broader community. Read in this light, the rise in attacks on queer and trans teachers cannot be dismissed as isolated or the result of one individual’s harmful views and actions. They are a part of the broader political context and require actions that expose and destabilize these strategies at the same time as they affirm the inclusive public education system that students and teachers need.

As such, to explore the question of “what specific actions should the union take,” participants were asked to identify specific actions within the areas of (1) strengthening trust in public education, (2) preventing and responding to violence, and (3) challenging “othering.” Recognizing the tension between reactive and proactive responses, these areas have been framed thematically to point towards envisioning workplaces and classrooms that teachers and students need.

Celebrate a trusted public education system

• Directly combat misinformation. The union should collaborate with parent organizations to create resources that accurately explain what SOGI-inclusive teaching entails and what relevant curriculum means. These resources should be multilingual and relevant to various faith and cultural communities. The union can also summarize accurate information about relevant procedures, policies, and rights to avoid misinformation.
• Advocate for the value of well-resourced, public education. The union should work to ensure that funding for public education is not diminished by increased funding for private schools and homeschooling. The union should also work to increase awareness of and appreciation for teachers’ expertise. This can include media campaigns to support and restore trust in teachers and public education.
• Challenge the idea that schooling is ever “neutral.” Everything that schools and teachers do reflect particular values and worldviews. For example, honouring Christian and colonial holidays communicates certain values. Often, the right will suggest that teachers should teach “just the facts,” but this is impossible and stems from an inaccurate and reductive idea of education. SOGI education reflects society’s valuing of inclusivity. The union could create a document explaining teachers’ responsibilities for SOGI education that members could reference should they be challenged.

Ensure the conditions for safe schools and communities

• Collect accurate data. The union should use existing surveys to collect data from queer and trans teachers, with an intersectional analysis brought to consider those who are also Black, Indigenous, and people of colour. This data should be used to guide advocacy and union actions, including strike votes.
• Defend working and learning conditions with an expanded definition of violence. The union should understand marginalization as impacting what violence looks like in the workplace, and should communicate this to parents, administrators, teachers, and others through public education. The defacing of SOGI symbols ought to be understood as a form of violence. The union could advocate for a specifically trained and vetted ombudsperson available to support teachers during discrimination-related grievances based on a marginalized identity. Ultimately, addressing violence is key for defending teachers’ working and learning conditions, and should be a priority of the union.
• Promote safety as a right, not something to earn. Often, new or temporary teachers are scared to come out, teach in a SOGI-inclusive way, or speak up about instances of queerphobia or transphobia. The union should ensure these teachers are protected and aware of the protections they have. The union should actively combat fear and inaccurate information about rights that could lead to “obeying in advance.” If these teachers do experience violence, the process of filing a grievance and accessing support ought to be as simple and accessible as possible.

Affirm and celebrate intersectional identities

• Offer relevant and responsive training. Member training opportunities should be designed to be short but comprehensive and offer tangible takeaways that can be implemented in classrooms. Training should cover strategies for dealing with bullying and verbal harassment and offer specific responses that can be used to confront discrimination and bias. The training should emphasize that SOGI education helps all students, not just queer and trans students.
• Create opportunities for building solidarity. The union should create opportunities to foster solidarity both across different unions representing various school workers and across marginalized communities. Gatherings could be organized in which teachers from various marginalized groups could share experiences and foster their commitment to speaking up for members from other marginalized groups. At the same time, teachers who hold privilege should be supported to deepen their understanding of and enactment of allyship.
• Share stories that represent queer and trans teachers as valued members of communities. Across its events and resources, the union should consider the stories it is telling about queer and trans teachers. Too often, stories focus on damage and pain and fail to hold up stories of queer and trans members experiencing safety, inclusion, and connection at work. These stories are acts of resistance and hold joy and hope for the future. Furthermore, the union ought to discuss gender and sexuality in ways that do not imply queer and trans people are exceptional. Gender and sexuality are spectrums that all people fall on. Challenging binaries and hierarchies benefits all people.

How we stay

The current realities of queerphobia and transphobia can make it difficult to shift from a reactive to a proactive stance. This tension often played out during the Think Tank, as some participants found it challenging to focus on envisioning transformed educational environments in the face of intense queerphobia and transphobia. However, the difficulty of this shift foregrounds its importance. Efforts to challenge queerphobia and transphobia in schools must make space for difficult experiences, while at the same time never reducing queer and trans people to this difficulty. In responding to far-right attacks, we must not merely document the harm queer and trans people might face but also highlight the joy, strengths, and, as Eve Tuck describes, “hope and wisdom” that they and all marginalized groups bring to schools.

Responding to the question “How do we stay?” requires addressing teachers’ current realities and proactively building the educational spaces that teachers and students need and deserve. Hints of these changes are present. Teachers care deeply for their students, feeling, as one teacher said, “I’m their safe space. I have to show up.” Teachers find support from trusted colleagues and seeing and being taught by queer teachers is important for staying in the profession. Participants in the Think Tank gestured toward what queer and trans teachers offer to schools and the profession, describing moments and spaces of joy, solidarity, and successful advocacy. They shared a hope for the future in which challenging discriminatory practices and policies now will make it better for everyone. This is a call to action that cannot wait.

Acknowledgement

[1][1] The 2024 provincial election in British Columbia provides one example. See https://instituteforpubliceducation.org/the-impact-of-the-new-rights-on-the-privatization-of-education/

[2][2] Jones, Denisha. (2018). Research as resistance: Activist research as a framework and methodology for social change. In innovative techniques, trends and analysis for optimized research methods IGI Global 2018. doi: 10.4018/978-1-5225-5164-5.ch002

[3][3] See https://drawingchange.com/

[4][4] Tuck, Eve. (2009). Suspending damage: A letter to communities. Harvard Educational Review, 79(3): 409-427.

[5][5] Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi. (2009). The danger of a single story. TED Talks. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9Ihs241zeg

[6][6] Following Crenshaw (1991), intersectionality refers to a lens through which to interrogate intersecting power relations within and across social identities. See: Crenshaw, K. (1991). Mapping the margins: Intersectionality, identity politics, and violence against women of color. Stanford Law Review, 43(6): 1241 – 1299. doi: 10.2307/1229039

[7][7] Leman-Langlois, S., Campana, A. & Tanner, S. (2024). The great right north: Inside far right activism in Canada. McGill-Queen’s University Press.

[8][8] Butler, J. (2024). Who’s afraid of gender? MacMillan Publishers.