‘Love is louder’ says facilitator from The 519: LGBTQ inclusion training highlights power of language

Jeffrey Reffo's first memory of Pride is much different than the colourful and inclusive month-long celebration we know today. Twenty-five years ago in his Eastern Canada hometown, Jeffrey remembers seeing a single Pride float for the first time in a Canada Day parade.

“It was the first time people in our city stood up and said we are Canada and Canadians are gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans,” says Jeffrey, Social Worker/Counsellor and Education Facilitator at The 519 who identifies as a gay cisgender man.

“What I love most about Pride is seeing some of the most marginalized members of the LGBTQ community experiencing their first Pride and feeling loved and a sense of belonging. Because when I was growing up, that community didn't exist.”

Since the age of 17, Jeffrey has dedicated his life's work to building up strong and resilient communities, with a focus on breaking down barriers for the LGBTQ community.

As an East Yorker who calls Michael Garron Hospital (MGH) his community hospital, Jeffrey is especially proud to co-facilitate an LGBTQ inclusion training workshop tailored to staff and frontline healthcare providers alongside Emily Ambos, Staff Learning Specialist at MGH.

In 2015, MGH struck the first Ontario healthcare partnership of its kind with The 519 to offer LGBTQ inclusion training. With the support of MGH's leadership team, Emily was at the forefront of solidifying the agreement that has seen more than 400 frontline staff receive training at the hospital.

Five years ago, Emily was asked to spearhead a positive space campaign at the hospital, which led her to The 519 where MGH underwent a needs assessment.

“It's about so much more than putting up a sticker or sign. It's about building a solid foundation with fundamental training that can be supported by education and sustained by the hospital,” says Emily, who underlines the importance of the co-facilitation model. Training sessions are offered to hospital staff once per month and are facilitated by both an MGH-trained staff member and representative of The 519.

The workshop educates healthcare workers on how to identify and discuss common words to express sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression in Canada, examples of homophobic, biphobic and transphobic language and behaviour, and how to make environments safe and inclusive for everyone.

“When we start to speak the language of inclusion, it opens our minds to look at how we make spaces more inclusive for everyone,” says Jeffrey, who describes the most rewarding part of training as the “aha” moments he observes in workshop participants.

“There is this light bulb moment where people actually realize they can make a monumental change in someone's life with such minimal effort,” says Jeffrey.

He offers an example of including pronouns in an email signature. Including pronouns in email signatures can help to normalize the idea that people shouldn't assume they can tell someone's pronoun based on the traditional gendering of a name.

A 2015 report from the Trans PULSE Project indicated that 58 per cent of trans Ontarians could not get academic transcripts with the correct name/pronoun. One in ten trans people who accessed an emergency room presenting in their felt gender were refused care or had care terminated prematurely because they were trans.

Among those with a family physician, approximately 40 per cent experienced discriminatory behaviour from a family doctor at least once. These experiences included refusal of care or refusal to examine specific body parts, being ridiculed, and the use of demeaning language.

“I know I have privilege as a white cis gay man and when I talk about my experience, it's very different from other members of LGBTQ+ communities – our work here is not done,” says Jeffrey, who reflects on his own experiences accessing the healthcare system.

“I've been to hospitals where providers assume that my husband and I are brothers because I took his last name when we got married.”

Jeffrey hopes the training will foster a culture of inclusive and sensitive healthcare providers: “How we live and who we love shouldn't be treated with curiosity or novelty – these are basic rights we hope get extended to us.”

Emily agrees.

“People should feel they can be their whole selves when they're at work – everyone deserves the right to feel safe,” she says.