Students at the University of New Brunswick have started a new group aimed at helping LGBTQ students transition to university life.
Qmunity executive member Nadine Violette says it’s important to provide support to members of the LGBTQ community and to have a presence and visbility on campus.
Violette started the group with students Hayden Richardson, Jackie Toner and Caroline Mercier, after noticing there was an absence of resources on campus for queer students.
Violette says are other similar groups at UNB, but she says the main difference is that they plan to be active all year and host events around campus.
“It’s so exciting. It’s very very exciting” Violette said.
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Executive member Hayden Richardson tells Global News he “came out” just before his first day of senior high school. He says he was lucky to have supportive friends and family, but says it’s important to have support at post-secondary institutions — especially for students who don’t have that kind of personal support at home.
“I’m really excited for students to have this space where they can meet people and feel comfortable to say what they want or express themselves in whatever way they feel,” Richardson said.
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The group has not been ratified yet, but Violette says the Student Union has been supportive.
Student Union VP of finance and operations Grayson Beairsto says there will be a council meeting on Saturday, September 17, and the union will vote on Qmunity.
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“I think having groups like Qmunity hopefully would really help students…who aren’t sure if they’re going to fit in or how they’re going to fit in on campus, it gives them kind of a home to start off and make a couple friends and grow from there,” Beairsto said.
Violette says they currently have funding through counselling services and from external grants.
UNB Director of Counselling Services Dr. Rice Fuller says the UNB understands the importance of providing a safe, welcoming and supportive environment for all students.
“The energy, excitement, and commitment of the students leading the group is obvious and spreading and was clearly on display during Qmunity’s participation in the Fredericton Pride Parade, and at last weekend’s Ice Cream Social on campus,” Fuller wrote in an email to Global News.
Nathan Thompson, Qmunity faculty advisor and UNB part-time instructor at Renaissance College, says he wants to see broad-spectrum support for the group.
Institute for Sexual Minority Studies and Services in the Faculty of Education, University of Alberta Dr. Kristopher Wells says student-led support groups are part of a growing trend across Canada and North America. He says institutional support is important – coming from unions to create LGBT resource centres.
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“Particularly what we see is student unions stepping forward, whether it’s part of student fees, creating LGBT student centres and often on the university side of things. They’re looking at creating academic centres to create research scholarship and teaching,” Wells said
He commends the group for starting Qmunity and says good things happen when committed people raise awareness.
Wells says that with youth “coming out” younger and younger, it becomes important for students to know they have resources available at the post-secondary level.
“It’s important that there’s a continuum of support,” Wells said.
“No one should have to go back into the closet to go to university and groups like this are so important in breaking the silence — in challenging heteronormativity and creating space,” Wells said.
Violette says if anyone isn’t comfortable attending public events, the group can be reached on social media, or by emailing qmunityunb@gmail.com
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