Meet Dania McLaren

DANIA IS A NON-BINARY AND QUEER INDIVIDUAL. DANIA WORKS HARD TO ENSURE THAT LGBTQ STUDENTS HAVE A PLACE TO FEEL ACCEPTED AND SAFE IN SCHOOL.

Dania is the co-president of their school’s Gay-Straight Alliance and in this position dedicates much of their time to finding resources for its club members, inviting speakers to meetings and providing a safe space for LGBTQ youth. Dania works to foster an environment where young queer individuals can be their most authentic selves, where they can seek guidance and where they will always feel safe and accepted.

The club organizes awareness events against Homophobia and Transphobia, such as Spirit Day - a day where they encouraged students to wear purple to show their support of struggling LGBTQ students. They also set up a both in their school’s main atrium to display information on how detrimental bullying and discrimination can be to young members of the LGBTQ community, as well as gave out purple ribbons of solidarity.

Dania is a volunteer with both York Pride Fest and Pride Toronto and intends to continue to volunteer for many years to come. At York Pride Fest, Dania was able to connect with LGBTQ resources and find information to bring back to their school’s community. With Pride Toronto, Dania set up, supervised and helped to run the Trans Community Fair, meeting vendors and community resources throughout the day.

Dania will be attending Queen’s University in the fall for Gender and Sexuality studies and hopes to one day become an LGBTQ youth worker.

(This profile was written in 2017)