Research summary
While considerable progress on 2SLGBTQIA+ rights has been made in Canada over the years, there has been a recent rise in anti-queer and anti-trans rhetoric. This raises the risks of discrimination and harassment, and creates challenges for the community in areas like health care, education and public safety.
As Canada Research Chair in Social Justice in Youth and Child Studies, Dr. Casey Burkholder is working with 2SLGBTQIA+ communities and the broader public to co-create art that resists these sources of instability and discrimination. Focusing on children, youth, school workers and families, she and her research team are using visual tools to explore and express their experiences and perspectives. By applying a social justice-informed and gender and sexuality lens to community-building and media-making, Burkholder and her team are engaging 2SLGBTQIA+ communities in processes of joyful queer world-building and equipping them to face uncertain futures together.