The Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Community (“SOGIC”) Section is an active and growing community of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer, Two-Spirit, and Intersex+ (“LGBTQ2SI+”) and allied lawyers. We invite all members of the CBABC to engage with us in our work, which focuses in three key areas:

Education: We are a leading provider of professional development in LGBTQ2SI+ law, which is critical to improving lawyers’ abilities to understand the legal issues and meet the needs of their clients. Our programming this year will include a three-part webinar series covering LGBTQ2SI+ Law 101, A Focus on Trans Legal Issues, and Emerging Issues in LGBTQ2SI+ Law.  We also have several joint meetings in the works that will address issues relevant to discrete practice areas.

Advocacy: We have several ongoing projects to improve the law, access to justice, and the legal profession for members of LGBTQ2SI+ communities. In addition to training initiatives, these include commenting on law and policy reforms, addressing the overuse and misuse of gendered language throughout the legal system, and advocating for improved identity data collection.

Community Building: This year, we began to formalise our mentorship connections with the LGBTQ2SI+ student groups at BC’s three law schools. We hope this will assist students through law school and in establishing their careers. We will also continue to host virtual social events and represent lawyers at Pride events wherever possible. In the long term, our goal is to ensure that our profession is welcoming and reflective of BC’s diverse LGBTQ2SI+ communities.

We are also always open to new initiatives and collaboration, so please feel free to reach out to our executive with your ideas or concerns. Personally, I look forward to welcoming as many of my CBABC colleagues to our events this year as possible and to meeting new members.