New online KPU course covers 2SLGBTQIA+ inclusion and creating safer spaces

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A new self-paced course on gender inclusion is available online for Kwantlen Polytechnic University students and employees to take.

“Relearning Gender” covers sexuality, gender identity and expression, using correct pronouns, deconstructing gender norms, and creating safer spaces for the 2SLGBTQIA+ community.

Manager of culture and wellbeing at KPU’s Office of Equity and Inclusive Communities, Trina Prince, created the module found on the Community Moodle website.

“Everyone is so beautifully diverse in this world, and we have so many ways that we all walk through this world. It’s impossible to know all the things, but it’s so great to have resources to help us learn more ways that we can be more inclusive,” Prince says.

“So [people can] just learn how we can be more comfortable about also making mistakes, learning how to ask for pronouns, learning how we can create spaces where we take the time to get to know the person, so you can be like, ‘What do you need to feel safe in this space?’”

The module has different learning modes, like videos and articles, and covers topics such as introducing the “Platinum Rule” when compared to the “Golden Rule,” which both cover how to treat others. The “Gender Unicorn,” which is a graphic from Trans Student Educational Resources on the distinction between gender, sex assigned at birth, and sexuality, are also a part of the module.

“We’re going to try and meet folks where they’re at. We’re going to have folks that live within the community or are part of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, and we’re also going to have folks that are not. We’re going have folks that have tons of knowledge and we’re going to have folks that don’t.” Prince says.

“I hope this course is able to reach anybody, no matter what. Maybe someone might be walking away with a ton of new knowledge or someone might be walking away with just one new fact, which I think is so important.”

The development of this course began nine years ago when Prince worked at the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT). There, a colleague approached them about helping to develop a “Let’s Talk About Gender” course on trans inclusion, which the two presented together for about three years.

But when their colleague left her position and moved, she gave Prince permission to take the course and make it their own. Prince updated the course to “Relearning Gender” a couple of years after that.

When Prince came to KPU, they presented it as an in-person workshop before realizing it would be beneficial on Moodle as well, so they took the work from their BCIT course and brought it here.

Within KPU, those who collaborated on and reviewed the module included the Pride Advocacy Group (PAG), student Liam Ruel, Indigenous counsellor Natashia Pellatt, and Romy Kozak, the director of diversity in the Office of Equity and Inclusive Communities.

Destiny Lang, the Kwantlen Student Association queer students representative and Pride peer leader at the university, was also among those who collaborated on the module.

Lang says they completed each page in the module, wrote notes for Prince on their feelings about it, what they thought was important and beneficial, and what can help reshape people’s perspectives or understandings on the queer community.

They believe this course will help the KPU community have a more holistic view of gender from a decolonial lens that furthers queer inclusion and rights.

“For me, it’s important that universities have this information offered not only for free, but also in a very simple-and-easy-to-understand manner because not everyone necessarily knows what’s the best place to find this information, and sometimes, other information on the internet can be misleading,” Lang says.

In having this course at KPU, Prince hopes to see people feel more confident asking for others’ pronouns and comfortable in getting involved in Pride activities, regardless of if they are a part of the queer community or not.

To access the module, visit bit.ly/48Ki6wl.