Have you heard of the position of trans advisor?

That鈥檚 Claire Millar鈥檚 role with Boundless Belly Dance, ensuring the local dance group is inclusive of the LGBTQ+ community in its language and communication. Millar said she was involved as a dancer with the group before taking on the position in December 2018.

鈥淢y role is just to help with internal and external communications, to make sure the language is inclusionary and there were no issues,鈥� said Millar. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a good fit for me because I was involved with Boundless Belly in the first place and it was very serendipitous. I come from a very low-income background so for me, it was a flow from being sponsored for my classes to being able to help pay for my classes so to speak.鈥�

Millar identifies as part of the LGBTQ+ community and knows the power words can have, especially for groups that have long faced abuse from derogatory terms such as 鈥榝aggot鈥�.

鈥淚 think back to my youth and there was no evidence or reason for people to call me that, but I was called a faggot over and over and over,鈥� said Millar. 鈥淎nd that hurt, that hurts to this day. From the time when I was a little kid until now, and I鈥檝e been scarred by that.

鈥淪o words like that will carry their weight for as long as you remember them.鈥�

While the position is still formative, Millar says she鈥檇 like to see more companies embracing a role that has someone analyzing messaging through an inclusive LGBTQ+ lens. Eventually she鈥檇 like to expand her services to help other local companies identify gaps in their messaging and provide a secondary perspective.

鈥淚t鈥檚 to make sure that nobody is overlooked,鈥� said Millar. 鈥淲ith Boundless I really don鈥檛 see that because Keisha McLean (founder) is very socially conscious herself. But I think she wanted another lens to look through to make sure she wasn鈥檛 missing anything.鈥�

Millar said she can see companies are trying to better identify with their customers and referenced the recent Gillette commercial that address toxic masculinity.

鈥淚t of course had a huge uproar - but they were kind of on that good side. But there are so many companies that only represent the nuclear families, like husband and wife and two and a half kids,鈥� said Millar. 鈥淚t鈥檚 still very prevalent, and in today鈥檚 day and age how many people even get married anymore? We don鈥檛 have that nuclear family so much.

鈥�(For example) there are gay couples adopting children or having children naturally through in vitro fertilization or surrogacy. There鈥檚 just so many other ways to include the title family.鈥�

Millar said it鈥檚 important for everyone to see themselves represented in the media, as it helps shape a person鈥檚 identity.

鈥淔or example in television media or fictional media that we consume, it鈥檚 okay now to have a gay character. But generally, they suffer from the trope of dying by the end so it鈥檚 this tragic kind of heroic figure that doesn鈥檛 get to have a happy ending,鈥� said Millar. 鈥淲e鈥檙e still seeing that even 30 or 40 years after it鈥檚 okay to have gay folk on television, let alone trans folk.

鈥淲e鈥檙e still seeing cases of (trans people) being misrepresented that way where you have male actors playing trans women for very high profile roles, and they win Oscars, but that opportunity would not be afforded to a trans actor.鈥�

Millar said people can take a few simple steps to ensure they are being inclusive when creating content or even in their everyday life. In a lot of cases, it鈥檚 taking a second look at language that has become common place in our society and using empathy to put yourself in another鈥檚 shoes.

鈥淚t sounds so simple, but a big thing is referring to gender-mixed folks as guys or dudes. And everybody does it but when it鈥檚 a group of all girls people still say 鈥楬ey guys鈥� when there isn鈥檛 one amongst us,鈥� said Millar. 鈥淵et if there was one guy, we鈥檇 still all be called guys and that can be problematic.

鈥淚f you turn that around, there鈥檚 always one person who says they call everybody dude and it鈥檚 like 鈥極h really, how many dudes have you slept with?鈥�. So turn it around and ask the question if you were being asked the reverse of this, would it offend me?鈥�

To report a typo, email: editor@pentictonwesternnews.com.

Jordyn Thomson | Reporter
 
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