Conference of the research team on trans youth and their families

Morgane Gelly (she/they) is Senior Research Advisor for the ReParE Chair.

Sidonie Atgé-Delbays (she) is a doctoral candidate in applied human sciences at the Université de Montréal under the supervision of Professor Annie Pullen-Sansfaçon. She is also a research assistant at the CRC ReParE on partnership research and the empowerment of vulnerable young people. She joined the Discours (De)trans project in September 2023.

Le GRIS-Montréal (Groupe de Recherche et d'Intervention Sociale) is a non-profit community organization that demystifies sexual orientations and gender identities through testimonies. Website: https://www.gris.ca/


Amélie Charbonneau (she, feminine agreements) has been the research coordinator for GRIS-Montréal since 2013. With a background in social work, feminist studies, and communications, she particularly enjoys documenting young people's perceptions and representations of sexual and gender diversity.

Claude Amiot is the co-recipient of a research grant from the Engagement programme of the 3 Fonds de recherche du Québec. She has joined the research team as a Citizen Researcher. She is a Governor of Fondation Émergence.

Annie Pullen Sansfaçon (PhD Ethics, Social Work, DeMontfort University, UK) is a professor at the School of Social Work of the Université de Montréal and former holder of the Canada Research Chair on Transgender Children and Their Families from 2018 to 2023. Her research focuses on understanding transgender children's experiences of well-being. Rooted in anti-oppressive and trans-affirmative perspectives, she proposes interventions and methodologies that support their empowerment. She is Associate Vice-Rector for Relations with First Peoples, Co-Director of the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research on Intersectional Justice, Decolonisation and Equity and holder of the CRC ReParE Chair on partnership research and the empowerment of vulnerable young people.

Claude Amiot is the co-recipient of a research grant from the Engagement programme of the 3 Fonds de recherche du Québec. She has joined the research team as a Citizen Researcher. She is a Governor of Fondation Émergence.

Morgane Gelly (she/he) is Senior Research Advisor for the ReParE Chair.

A tool has been designed in response to a need expressed by the young people and parents interviewed as part of the Préfer study, namely to have access to a practical tool enabling them to reflect on the issues surrounding fertility preservation and to support young people's decision-making, in a free and informed manner.

The purpose of this paper is to outline the process by which this tool was created and to present a summary of its content, which incorporates various aspects of the research. In the form of a 'decision tree' accompanied by a workbook (hosted on the website: www.arbredecision.ca), the tool provides popularised content on fertility preservation for young people in NBN. The different 'branches' of the tree are accompanied by extracts from interviews with young people and parents, as well as photos taken by the young people themselves during the photovoice process. This tool was developed by the research team, in collaboration with partners, and then validated by the members of the Standing Advisory Committee (SAC) of the Research Team on Trans Youth and Their Families.

Kévin Lavoie (he, male agreements) is an associate professor at Université Laval's École de travail social et de criminologie and scientific director of the Centre de recherche Jeunes, familles et réponses sociales (JEFAR). He is also co-director of the 'Sexual diversity and gender plurality' field at the Montreal Research Centre on Social Inequalities, Discrimination and Alternative Citizenship Practices (CREMIS).

The Coalition d'aide à la diversité sexuelle de l'Abitibi-Témiscamingue ("the Coalition") commissioned cliniX (UQAM's social justice clinic) to provide them with the tools they need to inform public high school students who are subjected to situations of gender discrimination, in particular the incorrect use of pronouns and first names, and who have difficulty accessing sanitary facilities that correspond to the gender with which they identify. This presentation presents the research note that was produced in this context, outlining the extent of their rights and detailing the remedies available to ensure they are respected.

Charlotte Champagne e (Elle/She accords féminins) is a final-year law student at UQÀM who will be continuing her studies at the École du Barreau in the autumn and hopes to focus her legal career on human rights, particularly defending vulnerable people. She is currently an exchange student at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland.

School environments incorporate a system of rules and values with which each student interacts on a daily basis. This system contributes to the socio-educational environment and the academic life of young people at school. This socio-educational environment includes the school climate, which refers to the quality of the experience for students and school staff. It refers to the standards, aspirations, values, interpersonal relationships and opinions held in relation to teaching and the rules established in the environment concerning school life. Not all students will perceive their school climate in the same way. Some may feel that their environment is welcoming and safe for them, while others will have perceptions that are the opposite. In particular, many 2SLGBTQIA+ (two-spirited, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex and asexual) students, which includes a minority of trans and/or non-binary students, perceive their school as less welcoming and safe than their cisgender or heterosexual peers.In order to gain a better understanding of these phenomena, several authors have taken an interest in the specific construct of the school gender climate, which represents an important facet of a school's climate. The school gender climate refers to the general culture of gender identity and gender expression in a school. It also includes rules about how students should appear according to their biological sex, sexual orientation or gender identity. This field of research is still in its infancy, and the concept of a gendered school climate needs to be better understood in order to identify the factors that might actually contribute to young people's experience of school, particularly that of trans and/or non-binary young people.

Félix Bélanger is a doctoral student in psycho-education at the Université de Montréal. He is passionate about research with vulnerable populations, including 2SLGBTQIA+ people and young people with adjustment difficulties in the school environment. Her research projects focus on the school gender climate among cisgender, trans and non-binary young people, and the health of individuals with minority status. These projects are supported by her clinical experience as a counsellor in a number of settings, as well as an interdisciplinary theoretical framework that includes gender as a social construct, minority stress theory, and the theory of person-environment matching in a psycho-educational context.