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About Margaret Robinson
Academic Interests
I hold a PhD from the University of St. Michael's College, at the University of Toronto. My area of specialization is sexual ethics.
My research interests include:
Health Research: LGBTTI2Q issues in health equity, the social aetiology of mental illness, the social construction of substance use, and sexual identity development.
Religion: Christian sexual ethics, religion & politics, feminist theology, postcolonial theology, gender & sexuality, religious-based prejudice (esp. anti-Judaism and homophobia), LGBTTI2Q issues in religion, critical theory & religion, queer theology, sexual ethics, and new religious movements.
Sociology/Political Science: queer studies, LGBTTI2Q issues & gender in film, identity politics, LGBTTI2Q activism and community formation, criminal subcultural identities.
Background
I
was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1973 and raised in Sheet Harbour,
a small village on the Eastern shore of Nova Scotia.
I identify as a biracial and as native. My father is Mi'kmaw (via Lennox Island) and my mother's heritage is Scottish (Clan Maclean, via Cape Breton).
I am a member of Generation X, and a third wave feminist. The year I turned sixteen also saw the fall of the Berlin Wall, the crash of the Exxon Valdez, tanks rolling over students in Tienanmen Square, and the Montreal Massacre. My first sexual education class included a discussion about AIDS.
I came out as bisexual in 1990, and emerged into a community that was very much gay and lesbian rather than queer or LGBT. For context, that year the World Health Organization removed “homosexual” from their list of diseases, Nelson Mandela was freed from prison, and the world wide web was invented. Trans-identified people were very supportive to me in my first few years, and as a result I have become a staunch trans ally.
I currently live in Toronto, at the corner of Chinatown and Kensington Market, with my partner. We have two cats named Archie and Nero. In my spare time I write fanfiction based on the USA Network television show Psych, play roleplaying games such as the original World of Darkness, Deleria, Spirit of The Century, and Kerberos Club, cook vegan food, and try to change the world.
Activist Work
I came out in Halifax in the early 1990s. My university didn't have a queer student group, so I joined the Lesbian, Gay & Bisexual Youth Project organized by Maura Donovan and (at that time) run out of the Planned Parenthood office on Quinpool Road. This group had very few bisexual members, but they showed me how to be an activist. With the Youth Project I gave day seminars on homophobia and heterosexism at high schools and universities across the province and worked on Outline, a toll-free hotline for queer youth. I later volunteered with Halifax Pride before moving to Toronto to pursue my Masters Degree.
Toronto Dyke March
Committee (1999-2002)
From 2000 until 2002 I was co-chair of the Toronto Dyke March. Our committee
created the first Dykeversity art show, and established the march as welcoming
of bisexual women and transpeople. We also wrote a manual for producing
a Dyke March. This manual has since helped to nurture marches in Buffalo
and Vancouver.
Pride Toronto
(1999-2002)
As a member of Pride Toronto I instituted volunteer training on cultural
competency, transsexual and transgender issues, and bisexuality. I fought
to get the City of Toronto to change its Pride Week announcement to include
bisexuals, transsexuals, and the transgendered. Prior to 2001 the city
announced only "Lesbian and Gay Pride Week." It took a lot of work, but
for one brief year Toronto had one of the most inclusive Pride Week announcement
in the world.
Bi Pride Planning (2000-2006)
I was a founding member of this committee, formed to address safety in
the bisexual support groups at the 519 Church Street Community Centre.
The committee now plans social and political events for bisexuals in Toronto
throughout the year, but particularly during Pride Week and Celebrate
Bisexuality Day. They also oversee the running of Bisexual
Women of Toronto, theToronto
Bisexual Network, and Bisexual Men
of Toronto.
Toronto Bisexuality Education Project (2005-present)
I am director and treasurer of the Toronto Bisexuality Education Project.
TBEP is a not-for-profit corporation dedicated to supporting the bisexual
community in Toronto. In 2006 we organized and hosted the 9th
International Conference on Bisexuality, Sexuality and Gender Diversity.
In 2007 we gave grants to the Toronto Bisexual Network. In 2011 we provided
financial and logistical support to Rainbow Health Ontario and CAMH's
Re:searching for LGBT Health team for their production of a series of
posters addressing biphobia in LGBT communities and health services.
