Search

Fall 2022

McDowell, Kenna

Canada’s National Housing Strategy (2017) identifies LGBTQ2 people and newcomers (including refugees) as vulnerable groups within Canada’s housing system. Members of each group are known to experience significant barriers to housing in Canada. However, the unique experiences of LGBTQ refugees—who

fall into both groups—have yet to be investigated. As such, this thesis asks: To what extent are LGBTQ refugees able to access safe, stable and affordable housing in Alberta, Canada? To answer this question, this thesis addresses three primary objectives: 1) to develop a thorough understanding of the

legal and policy settings surrounding refugee status and housing in Alberta and Canada; 2) to examine the unique experiences and needs of LGBTQ refugees within the housing system using an Intersectional framework; and 3) to develop policy recommendations that can account for and remedy the barriers

Fall 2018

Sabo-Bassett, Dillon

Sexual health education in Alberta is a highly contested topic, particularly how inclusiveand comprehensive sexual health education in Alberta should be taught and incorporated in K-12schools. While all students are impacted by the health curriculum, LGBTQ+ students areparticularly vulnerable, as

the current curriculum does not equip them with the knowledge andunderstanding to navigate the complexities of sexual health and relationships they encounter.This research focused on the lived experiences of five young LGBTQ+ individuals from avariety of backgrounds. By sharing their lived experiences

and perceptions on the current state ofeducation, the participants hoped to contribute to future changes in the ways Alberta’s LGBTQ+youth interact with sexual health education. Participatory action research and an online focusgroup provided an opportunity for the participants’ experiences and

Spring 2019

Haldane, Chayse

events mean for fostering hope for the LGBTQ+ community. I used Merriam and Tisdell’s (2016) Basic Interpretive Qualitative Research to complete a secondary analysis on interview data originally used for the creation of The Edmonton Queer History App. I analyzed interview data from seven prominent

members of the sexual minority community to answer the following research questions:1) How did significant local (Edmonton) and national (Canada) historical events impact the local and national LGBTQ+ community? 2) What did these events mean for athe LGBTQ+ local (Edmonton) and national (Canada) community

at the time? and 3) What did these events mean for fostering hope for the LGBTQ+ local (Edmonton) and national (Canada) community? Three categories emerged from the data: 1) internalization of societal views, 2) fostering safety and a sense of community, and 3) sources of inspiration for initiating

Fall 2023

Brosinsky, Larissa H

, bisexual, transgender, queer (LGBTQ+) and other couples now successfully adopting children, with these adoption rates likely continuing to rise (Farr & Vázquez, 2020a, 2020b). The small body of research currently available on people who are adopted indicates that many youth and adolescent adoptees

two adoptees, Sarah (age 21) and Dolores (age 13), with the goal of co-constructing a narrative of their experiences being adopted into LGBTQ+ families. Sarah’s experiences highlighted the following strengths: LGBTQ+ parents, LGBTQ+ community, strong female role models, and cultural exploration

. Dolores’ lived experiences underscored the following as strengths in her life: humor and openness, supportive friendships, LGBTQ+ parents and their chosen family, and superhero role models. A discussion of how these narratives relate to the literature (a) explores adoptee challenges as external, (b

Fall 2015

Herriot, Lindsay K.

School based gay straight alliances (GSAs) are primarily North American extra- curricular clubs that foster support for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) and allied middle and secondary students. Founded and led by youth, they can also take on activist or educational roles

, such as lobbying for LGBTQ-inclusive curricular materials (Micelei, 2005; GSA Network, 2011). The continuing emergence of GSAs has forced intense public discussions and much debated policymaking decisions on how schools engage and grapple with LGBTQ topics, and the spectrum of sexual and gender roles

themselves. Findings from the work with participants were situated within a larger policy narrative, which was conducted using an interpretive approach using policy documents relevant to the participating GSAs. Policies generally defined openly or suspected ii LGBTQ students’ safety as the policy problem

Fall 2020

Tomczyk, Patrick

“Queering High School,” was a queer ethnodrama on the lived experience of LGBTQ youth in Alberta high schools that explored their experiences of homophobia, biphobia and transphobia. This ethnodrama, conducted through a queer lens, which I refer to as an ethnodramatic inqueery, was grounded in arts

transformed into a script, which is then performed to an audience. The intention of this type of social justice research is that participants become empowered to share their struggles, and thereby raise a queer conscientization to the larger LGBTQ and school communities. My primary research question was: What

are the lived experiences of LGBTQ youth in Alberta High Schools related to homophobic, biphobic, and transphobic harassment and bullying? And the secondary question was: How can queer ethnodrama serve as an effective tool to create more inclusive schools? The data that was uncovered through this

Fall 2021

Sluchinski, Kerry

By examining the language use of online Chinese “Anti” and “Pro” LGBTQ communities, this study primarily investigates the role that ‘ta’ plays in the construction of gender identities. Standard Chinese currently has three separate written forms for the third person: 他 (‘he’), 她 (‘she’), and 它 (‘it

) Appraisal and Evaluation framework. The data originates from the Anti and Pro Chinese LGBTQ Discourses Baidu Tieba Corpus. Baidu Tieba is the rough equivalent of Reddit in China. The corpus was compiled in 2019 and consists of texts from two Pro-LGBT communities and one Anti-LGBT community. The study

intent with implications for (non-)belonging of those who identify and/or are labelled as ‘Non-Conforming’. The qualitative analysis reveals 11 pragmatic functions of ‘ta’: four present a negative stance of Political Non-Belonging (i.e. Othering A: Refusing to recognize an LGBTQ individual’s self

Fall 2012

Letendre, Shannon M

This study explores the perspectives of four lesbian mothers from three different families regarding their families’ experiences with Alberta schools. Participants for this study were recruited using snowball sampling and included two recently separated lesbian mothers and one lesbian couple. ...

Fall 2021

Turner, Iliana

Comprehensive sexual education (CSE) is defined by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization as “a curriculum-based process of teaching and learning about the cognitive, emotional, physical and social aspects of sexuality” (2018, p. 16). Given the social and cultural...

Spring 2015

DeGagne, Alexa

implications of reproducing or resisting, particular heteronormal, social conservative, discourses in relation LGBTQ equality debates? I argue that through their bid to win same-sex marriage, the mainstream LGB organizations produced heteronormal and exclusionary discourses. As a result, the mainstream LGB