the SOCIETY RECORD - Nova Scotia Barristers' Society

ACCOLADES
Madonna Doucette is a bit like Bartholomew Cubbins of
Dr. Seuss fame … she wears a lot of hats! Madonna’s
official title is LGBTQ Educator for Cape Breton and
she is employed through the AIDS Coalition of Cape Breton. Her
Candee McCarthy &
Ann Marie MacInnes
Sampson McDougall & Nova Scotia Legal Aid
job takes her all
over the island
with the goal of
promoting good
health within
the LGBTQ community as well as educating on homophobia and
transphobia within all Cape Breton schools, from elementary to
university. In her role as LGBTQ Educator, Madonna is also an
advocate and support person for LGBTQ youth.
Madonna calls herself “the gateway drug to other help”. She is a
front-line worker in what she terms the “not-for-profit posse” of Cape
Breton Island. She works very closely with the CBVRSB (school
board’s) Cross Culture Human Rights Diversity Officer, and provides
a network for her clients to addictions services, public health, social
workers, legal aid, victims’ services and private lawyers. She provides
extra support to most of these organizations in the area of LGBTQ
issues. The people Madonna helps every day are experiencing health
concerns, mental health issues, bullying and a variety of legal issues
(including sometimes being victims of assault or harassment).
A great deal of Madonna’s work lies in educating and supporting
LGBTQ students, and she has helped start GSAs (Gay Straight
Alliances) in many Cape Breton schools. Recently, she held a “train
the trainer” seminar with the Glace Bay High GSA students, with
a goal of “empowering the students with knowledge so they can
educate their peers, including their teachers.”
Madonna views education as integral to helping her clients advocate
for and understand their own human rights.
“There is an assumption that once a person self-identifies as gay or
transgender, there is an automatic download of information,” she
says. “It is dangerous for people to assume that the intricacies of gay
rights, appropriate language and transgender issues are all suddenly
known to someone because they identify themselves as something
other than straight. It’s often new to them too. It’s important to reach
out and educate our young people so they can educate those around
them. We need to empower them with history and knowledge.”
One of the challenges Madonna faces in her work is that she is
often reaching out to what she terms an “invisible population”. She
believes there is still a prominent “don’t ask, don’t tell” mentality
throughout Cape Breton and despite the great inroads made with
GSAs in schools, there remains a very apparent passive aggressiveness
Madonna Doucette, LGBTQ Educator for Cape Breton
toward queer students. So, Madonna has used social networking and
its anonymity to spread awareness.
The AIDS Coalition of Cape Breton created a profile on the
popular dating website Plenty of Fish, with positive results. In this
way, the organization is able to reach a population that is looking
for sexual partners anonymously because they do not feel they have
the freedom to be open about it. This allows a dialogue between the
“invisible population” and knowledgeable people who have a variety
of skills, information and experience, and who can provide healthy
information that may not otherwise be accessible.
Madonna is currently working on an awareness campaign with Junior
Achievement in the Sydney Academy and Riverview high schools; it
aims to combat bullying that arises from assumptions made about
various identifiable teen social groups (jocks, skaters, metalheads,
etc). The campaign allows the participants to identify themselves on
a T-shirt. The shirts say, “I’m ___________ and I’m against bullying”
with “No Assumptions” on the back.
“The goal is to show students that although they have differences and
may not be friends, they are not enemies,” Madonna explains.
A march is planned through downtown Sydney, and she’s working
hard to ensure a large turnout from a wide variety of social groups.
She hopes the initiative will also help to raise the self-esteem of
victims of bullying.
Photo by Jason Jardine
14
The Society Record