Supporting the Rainbow community

Michael Gillis is the point man for LGBTQ people on campus. (Nick Pearce Photo)

Michael Gillis’s first term at Dal back in 1999 wasn’t a happy time. Just out of high school, and just starting to come out as a gay man, he took a room in an all-male residence.

“It was very isolating for me. It created a lot of stress in my studies. I lost a renewable scholarship.”  He lasted for three months in residence. “I gave it a shot and tried to be optimistic. I just didn’t feel safe while trying to explore my sexual identity.”

His concern that other students might experience the same kind of isolation led him to his current role as the Dal Ally peer advisor.

He’s the point man for LGBTQ—lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, queer, questioning—persons on campus. Under the direction of the Allies at Dalhousie steering committee, Mr. Gillis acts as a campus resource, providing information, confidential support and referrals to members of the Rainbow community. He also develops and presents information workshops to the wider public. 

A master’s of social work student, Mr. Gillis has a broad background in diversity and human rights issues.  “Being a Rainbow community member means I bring experiential knowledge to my role as peer advisor,” he says.  “I provide education on campus facilitated through circumstances I’ve lived through as a gay man.” 

'Not just simply exist'

The first year of university is and exciting time for students tasting independence for the first time, says Mr. Gillis. But he says this phase of life can feel exclusionary to LGBTQ students.

“There are lots of assumptions people make about sexual identity and gender identity.” Such heterosexism, he says, can cause LGBTQ students to “retreat into the gendered roles of boys and girls.” He believes all students should have the opportunity to be fully involved in campus life “where they can be themselves and enjoy themselves, not just simply exist.”

That conviction is shared by Allies at Dalhousie, the umbrella program for the Dal Ally peer advisor. The program focuses on making campus an open and welcoming place for the Rainbow Community, which includes students, staff and faculty. This is accomplished in part by encouraging people from all segments of the Dalhousie community to become “allies.” An ally is someone committed to providing confidential, positive, supportive listening to members of the Dal Rainbow community. An ally can also be an advocate for friends and classmates. 

“If you identify yourself as an ally, it means you want to be part of making whatever space you’re in a safer space, using whatever skills you have. If you’re comfortable speaking out publicly when you think something is homophobic, do that,” says Mr. Gillis. Efforts of this sort have a direct positive benefit, he adds. “People feel comforted knowing there are allies on campus.”

Allies at Dal also addresses problems that exist largely unnoticed outside the Rainbow community, such as the availability of gender-neutral washrooms on campus. By posting the locations of such facilities at Dalhousie, Allies at Dal hopes to make campus more inclusive for people identifying as transgendered. Allies at Dal also holds information sessions and workshops throughout the year. Plans are currently in the works to bring in Mark Tewksbury, the Olympic Gold medalist and president of the first World Outgames in Montreal in 2006, as a guest speaker.

In spite of the “incredible work” being done by Allies at Dal, Mr. Gillis thinks the Dal community and the wider world still has a long way to go. “We still accept that people can be in the closet. We need to deconstruct that. We need to find ways for people to never have to be in the closet.”

Dal Ally Peer Advisor Michael Gillis has an office in Student Services at ground level of the Killam Library. He holds office hours on Mondays from 5 to 7 p.m. and Tuesdays from 6 to 8 p.m. Drop-ins are welcome or make an appointment by contacting peerally@dal.ca.