When Collin Fletcher joined the University of Ottawa’s law program in the early 2010s, the world looked very different for the 2SLGBTQ+ community. Following the legalization of same-sex marriage across Canada in 2005, Fletcher said his generation was looking to conquer new frontiers in the fight for equality.
As a passionate young lawyer who wanted to help his community, Fletcher said he began looking for a space on uOttawa’s campus to connect with other 2SLGBTQ+ individuals.
That’s when he discovered uOttawa’s OUTLaw Students’ Association, which strives to make the legal community more inclusive for 2SLGBTQ+ students. Part of the OUTLaw initiative in North America and Europe, the organization’s name and mission have been adopted at several universities across Canada, such as uOttawa, Dalhousie University and Toronto Metropolitan University.
Among the 70 law schools across North America surveyed by the Law School Admission Council, more than 50 per cent reported that LGBTQ+ students comprised 15 per cent or more of their student populations in the 2023-24 school year.
“It was fantastic to be in a space like that,” said Fletcher, now a contract instructor at Carleton University. “I’m entering this new professional stage of my life and I can actually talk to other queer people who are in the same position as I am.
“It was very helpful to have tips as a young queer person about when you’re entering into the workforce — do you come out or not? What are the ways I should identify that I am a member of the community and in which contexts should I?”
The uOttawa OUTLaw Students’ Association is currently led by co-presidents and third-year law students Stephanie Abuan and Eleanor Wagner. They hosted a series of events this year, including a picnic, drag night and karaoke night to build community within the club.
“There’s a sense of having some social events so people gain more connection with each other, but also because of the pressures of law school. I think everybody’s still kind of driven to have fun after school’s over,” Abuan said.
With its karaoke night, the association raised funds for Egale, a Canadian organization aiming to improve the lives of 2SLGBTQ+ people through informing public policy, legal advocacy, education and research.
Supporting the 2SLGBTQ+ legal community also brings “hope to the future of social justice,” Abuan said.
The Schulich OUTLaw Society, named after their Schulich School of Law, is OUTLaw’s Dalhousie University branch in Halifax. One of the society’s main projects is a joint initiative with the Canadian Bar Association to run a mentorship program connecting OUTLaw members with queer lawyers.
“A lot of people feel like they’re somewhere on the [queer] spectrum and they don’t really know how to address both the sphere of professionalism that inherently comes with being a lawyer while staying true to their queer identity,” said Sybil Danyk-White, co-president of the Schulich OUTLaw Society.
For some queer individuals, Danyk-White said it can be “daunting” to enter professional spaces. This fear can be compounded for trans and BIPOC members of the community.
She called the current political climate “pretty scary” and said trans and gender-diverse students’ rights are under attack, both in the U.S. and in some Canadian provinces.
U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order in January that declared his government will only recognize two official genders. In Canada, the Saskatchewan government’s Parents’ Bill of Rights was enacted in 2023, requiring parental consent for a student to request a change in their preferred name, gender identity or gender expression at school.
Danyk-White said her generation’s “big questions” will centre around trans rights and gender-affirming care, which she believes OUTLaw members will advocate for professionally.
Fletcher said it can be difficult and scary to advocate for gender-diverse rights, but there’s a “civic responsibility” as lawyers to “maintain justice” and “tend to society.”
“We have to be mindful of the broader importance of what OUTLaws is,” he said.
Featured Image by Georgia Looman/the Charlatan.
