J-Series Presents: Solidarity, Racial Justice, Queer and Trans Activism, and the Parental Rights Movement in Canada

Solidarity, Racial Justice, Queer and Trans Activism, and the Parental Rights Movement in Canada

With special guests:

Natalie Kouri-Towe (she/her) and Lee Airton (they/them)

September 24th 2025, 12:00 – 1:30 pm

Presented by: J-Series and TransLab

In 2023, the rise of the “parental rights” movement launched a series of demonstrations under the banner of the “1 Million March 4 Children” in opposition to sex and gender-inclusive education in Canada. A series of new groups and informal networks mobilized hundreds of protesters in cities across Canada, including far-right, white supremacist, and Christian groups alongside Muslims and racialized immigrants—a surprising development given the largely Islamophobic and anti-immigrant sentiment that has been emblematic of Canada’s far right until now. Meanwhile, counter-protesters, largely comprised of queer and trans people and their allies, found themselves in a disturbing racial divide between predominantly white queer and trans activism on one side, and immigrant and racialized communities on the other, marking a rupture in the intersectional politics of cross-racial solidarity that has shaped much activism in Canadian cities like Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, and Ottawa in the past decades. This talk considers how queer and trans rights, access to education and affirming healthcare, transnational circuits, rising far-right discourses, and the mobilization of diasporic and religious minority communities in Canada converge to propose a series of interventions in response to the parental rights movement by drawing on a model of solidarity informed by racial justice.

Natalie Kouri-Towe (she/her), Associate Professor, Simone de Beauvoir Institute

Natalie Kouri-Towe is an Associate Professor of feminism and sexuality at the Simone de Beauvoir Institute at Concordia University. Her research has been published in both academic and non-academic venues on topics related to affect theory, solidarity, kinship, queer activism, trigger warnings, gender and sexuality pedagogies, masculinity, and responses to war in the Middle East. Her edited collection, Reading the Room: Lessons on Pedagogy and Curriculum from the Gender and Sexuality Studies Classroom, is forthcoming (Fall 2024) with Concordia University Press. Along with Myloe Martel-Perry, she has also published an open access teaching guidebook, Better Practice in the Classroom: A Teaching Guidebook for Sustainable, Inclusive, and Equitable Learning from a Gender and Sexuality Studies Framework, available through Concordia University Library Pressbooks. She is currently working on a book manuscript on feminist and queer solidarity under neoliberalism titled Solidarity at Risk.

Lee Airton (they/them) Associate Professor, Gender and Sexuality Studies in Education, Queen's University

Dr. Lee Airton is an Associate Professor of Gender and Sexuality Studies in Education at Queen's University. Their research explores how Canadian K-12 education and teacher education are responding to gender identity and gender expression protections in human rights legislation. Dr. Airton cofounded www.theyismypronoun.com in 2012, the No Big Deal Campaign in 2016, and www.gegi.ca, the first bilingual self-advocacy resource for K-12 students experiencing gender expression and gender identity discrimination at school. Most recently, Dr. Airton and colleagues released a white paper titled “No for Now: Guidance for School Staff on Supporting Transgender Students and Parent-Child Relationships,” available at www.nofornow.ca. Dr. Airton's first book, Gender: Your Guide offers practical steps for welcoming gender diversity and has been adopted as a key professional development text in teacher education programs, school districts, the public sector and private sector organizations. In spring 2024, a fully revised and updated edition was published by Adams Media (A Division of Simon and Schuster). With Dr. Susan Woolley, Dr. Airton edited Teaching About Gender Diversity: Teacher-Tested Lesson Plans for K-12 Classrooms.