Elijah Matheson Recognized with Red Cross Award
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St. Thomas University student Elijah Matheson was the recipient of a 2017 Red Cross Power of Humanity Award for their work as an advocate for the LGBTQIA+ community.
Matheson is a founding member and co-chair of 黑料老司机鈥檚Queer and Allied People's Society (Q and A); however, their advocacy work began at Sir James Dunn High School in Saint Andrews, NB, where they held the position of president of the Gay Straight Alliance (GSA).
During that time, Matheson helped form a New Brunswick-wide network for LGBTQIA+ youth and worked to send a New Brunswick delegation to the first national GSA summit in Toronto. They also contributed to Egale Canada鈥檚 LGBTQ inclusion handbook for Canadian teachers and helped facilitate student contributions to the province鈥檚 Department of Education鈥檚 Policy E9 on LGBTQIA+ inclusive environments.
Matheson鈥檚 work was fueled by their belief that middle and high school is a crucial time to have supports in place. They said that鈥檚 when many youth are coming into who they are and trying to navigate being comfortable so they can lead healthy, productive, and happy lives. Something, Matheson said can be challenging for LGBTQIA+ youth.
鈥淚t鈥檚 hard enough to make the transition from high school into your adult life, but knowing you鈥檙e going to face additional discrimination can be scary. There has to be extra support for these youth,鈥 they said.
Matheson believes clubs like the GSA support to young people they may not get elsewhere.
鈥淲ith a lot of bullying, you can go home to your parents and say, 鈥榯hey鈥檙e making fun of me because I have glasses,鈥 and your parents understand that and support you through it,鈥 they said. 鈥淏ut when you鈥檙e getting bullied because you鈥檙e queer or people think you鈥檙e queer, you may not feel like your parents will understand or be able to support you.鈥
鈥淚f I hadn鈥檛 joined the GSA in high school, my development would have gone a lot differently. I would not have had that group of friends who made me feel I could be open with them about who I was.鈥
Exposure and Visibility 鈥 鈥淜ids have to be able to see themselves in the world鈥
Exposure and visibility are goals Matheson focuses on in their advocacy work.
鈥淜ids have to be able to see themselves in the world and see they can achieve what they want no matter who they are鈥攁nd they need role models to be able to do that. They need to be taught about these role models and learn about LGBTQIA+ history. We need to start better normalizing all the different ways of being,鈥 Matheson said.
Queer and Allied People Society at 黑料老司机
As co-chair of Q and A, Matheson said they try to spread as much positivity and empowerment as possible鈥攆ocusing on pride, bringing people together who accept and understand each other, celebrating one another, and interacting with allies. They said it鈥檚 sometimes easy to focus too much on the heaviness of discrimination and injustice, but being LGBTQIA+ is about more than that.
鈥淓vents that highlight injustices are so important, but I think it鈥檚 also important to have light and upbeat events. We have weekly support meetings where people can talk about what鈥檚 going on in their lives and also about what鈥檚 going on in the world, and we have events where we just celebrate the community like our coffee houses.鈥
As the name suggests, Matheson said allies play an important role.
鈥淎llies are so important because they鈥檙e the ones who can easily be bystanders or moderates,鈥 they added. 鈥淚t鈥檚 important to be proactive鈥攖o be educated and meet people in the community before there鈥檚 someone in your life who needs your understanding and support. You could be the person they come to when they鈥檙e trying to figure things out and even knowing about what resources are out there could be really helpful for them.鈥
Choosing St. Thomas University
Matheson studies Human Rights, Journalism, and Sociology at St. Thomas and enjoys finding ways to connect school work with humanitarian work.
鈥淚鈥檓 working on a series of profiles of queer activists in Fredericton,鈥 they said. 鈥淚鈥檝e been inspired to lift other people up now that I鈥檝e been recognized, so I鈥檓 trying to spread the love while working on my craft.鈥
Being recognized by the Red Cross is something Matheson said they value not only on a personal level, but because of what it says about humanitarianism on a larger scale.
鈥淭he Red Cross recognizes there are different ways to help humanity and to be a humanitarian,鈥 they said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 great that a big organization known for their humanitarian work recognizes queer rights activism is as important as other humanitarianism. I think that鈥檚 meaningful.鈥