From 'The Invisible Man' to 'Cozy Closets': Reflections on gender diverse student narratives in Ontario Catholic Schools


Yvonne Runstedler, Wilfrid Laurier University; James Dixon, Wilfrid Laurier University

Understanding the relationship between religion and 2SLGBTQIA+ students has emerged as a critical area of study (Price and Gibbs, 2021). At the same time, such studies need to resist the urge to homogenize 2SLGBTQIA+ experiences (Callaghan, 2018; Nicolazzo, 2021). Research is needed to understand how religion, and religious schools, impact gender diverse youth especially in provinces with publicly-funded Catholic education such as Ontario. The rise of transphobic hate reinforces the need to challenge and address school climate (Egale Canada: Taylor and Peter, 2021). In intersectional work, examining the nexus of gender diversity, religiosity, and rurality has also been identified as a needed area of further understanding (Singh, 2015; Anderson-Carpenter, 2021). Studies which examine the experiences of gender diverse youth in Catholic spaces have emerged as an area of need across North America (Roy-Steier, 2021). These studies must also recognize student-led activism, resistance, and joy as paramount to garnering positive change, such as protests which prompted legislation enabling GSAs in schools (Iskander and Shabtay, 2018). In this presentation, PhD Candidate Yvonne Runstedler (she/her) and her former student, now co-researcher and transgender activist James Dixon (he/him) discuss inclusive opportunities, while describing intersectional oppressions that gender-diverse students face in Catholic schools in Ontario. They examine religious curriculum to demonstrate that leaning on the Catechism of the Catholic Church can create ‘hotbeds for homophobia,’ (Callaghan, 2012) while also suggesting that alternative pedagogical locations within theological discourse exist and a focus on these might decenter and challenge epistemological cis-heteronormativity as ‘required’ curriculum (McDonough, 2008; Airton et al., 2022). This is responsive to calls from many Catholic educators who describe desire to be demonstrably inclusive of sexuality and gender diverse students, but often experience fear of reprisal from a variety of Catholic stakeholders. Some leaders in Catholic spaces suggest that the symbology of the cross, and other theological narratives encouraging love and acceptance, are sufficient to address the needs of gender diverse students in this climate. Others work within systems de-center cis-heteronormativity, encouraging such acts as flying the Pride Flag in June. Using Michel Foucault’s panopticon and Judith Butler’s performativity as theoretical backdrop, James and Yvonne critique the Catholic context responsive to Yvonne’s insider experience as a teacher and James’ experience as a transgender student. They also share the results of Yvonne’s doctoral research project consisting of constructivist narrative interviews with transgender graduates of non-metropolitan south-western Ontario Catholic Schools based on the question: How do transgender graduates of Ontario Catholic schools make meaning of the narratives on gender present in their secondary school contexts? In this presentation, Yvonne and James will also share the development of their research collaboration, including the difficulties and opportunities of including elements of participatory action research in doctoral studies. They contextualize the themes they constructed from the interviews within an intersectional, trauma-informed, queer theoretical framework. Finally, they provide wide-ranging recommendations for better theological and educational inclusivity which centres joy and resistance to cis-heteronormativity in Ontario Catholic schools.  

This paper will be presented at the following session: