We also host a Women, Trans and Gender Non-binary program. We call it a "program" now (instead of a "day") as part of a renewed focus on the language we use to describe it since it became the subject of an (ongoing) human rights commission complaint.

The complainant posted to an MRA reddit forum before filing the formal complaint with the HRC. The complaint has no merit, but it has certainly been a distraction and a frustration.

Our program info is here. (Anyone is welcome to copy/paste/modify/whatever from our page if you find it useful. If you note any improvements that you'd like to recommend to us as well, I'd certainly appreciate it.)

I won't go into too many specifics (unless someone wants them), but we certainly face all the same issues and questions everyone here has already brought up: should we also offer a separate program for LGBTQ? (answer: we probably would if we had the capacity, but we don't), and what kind of impact has it had on our regular public hours (answer: it's helped a bit with getting volunteers better trained and more comfortable during the program and then expanding out into helping during other times; the question of how it impacts the awareness and discourse is a fuzzier question).

From an outward view: all of the programs that we run offers something that serves different people in different ways, so that's a big driver for us. e.g. Our formal classes (as opposed to the informal drop-in times), which aren't specifically targeted, see a much higher proportion of women participants than our informal drop-in hours.


Regards,


Christopher Chan
Executive Director
Edmonton Bicycle Commuters Society

BikeWorks North • 9305 111 Ave • T5G 0A2 • 780-433-2453
BikeWorks South • 8001 102 St • T6E 4A2 • 780-433-2453
Cell • 780-756-7560
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada


On Wed, Apr 5, 2017 at 1:53 PM, Cynthia Williams <communications@bikecoop.ca> wrote:
Hey all,

I coordinate a Women & Queer Night and an LGBTQ2I Night at the Bike Kitchen (UBC) in Vancouver. I am a nonbinary queer femme.

Women's nights need to be trans inclusive because trans women are women, full stop. Not including trans women and other femme identities is exclusionary. There are also a myriad of queer identities that also tend to get marginalized in bro-y bike spaces, which is why a lot of shops do a version of a Women & Queer Night. It's about accessibility and inclusion for more identities than just cis women and cis men. 

We started the LGBTQ2I Night too because we have the capacity to hold a night that's just for queer folk. Queer folks do need their own spaces that don't have cis/het folks, and as Sunny said, we wanted to collaborate with the Pride Collective that we share a campus with.

I hope this helps.

- Cyn

Cynthia Williams 
Communications Coordinator
AMS Bike Co-op
University of British Columbia
604-822-BIKE | bikecoop.ca | @ubcbike

On Mon, Apr 3, 2017 at 1:35 PM, Matthew McMunn <matthew@therecyclery.org> wrote:
Hello All,
The Recyclery Collective in Chicago is planning a regular Women/Trans/Femme night. I think some recent developments might interest you. Chicago has a bike organization called "Women Bike Chicago." We offered a discount code to WBC for all of our classes as an attempt to promote our classes and support the women mechanics in learning and leadership in the Chicago scene. This lead to WBC offering to assist us with planning AND staffing our new program. This solves the problem of shifting our women volunteers and leaders away from our other programs, which would then likely become more male dominated. It is seriously problematic when women get saddled with the majority of the labor of working out diversity problems. I'm hopeful about the power of this new collaboration.
Matthew

On Sun, Apr 2, 2017 at 8:43 PM <christopher@holisticcycles.com> wrote:
As a CIS male instructor, I have invited women to take my classes for free if they promised to teach other women.
I taught them beside males and in women only settings. If a man went over to help a woman, I allow the additional teaching to occur, then I would tell the male to undo the procedure and let the woman do it successfully on her own. In my classes Men are allow to teach but not do. I like more people because they ask more detailed questions and make me explain more in depth in my teaching. 

Six Sigma has taught me that the bike is not the focus of the conversation in sales of service, parts, accessories, garments, or bikes. The cyclist ride experience and how to improve it, is everything. Please think about the last sentence for a few months.

Women have been my best mechanics, and believed the contrary. Men believe they know it all, and know nothing. Getting women to know they are the best mechanics, and the best sales of service is the next level of teaching. The cyclist ride experience and how to improve it, is everything. What you have between your legs, better be a bike, 

Christopher Wallace
Bicycle Guild
773 490 0683
Oak Park, IL. 60304
Chicago

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [TheThinkTank] Women, Trans, Non-binary Shop Times
From: "Tegan Moss [B!KE]" <director@communitybikeshop.org>
Date: Wed, March 29, 2017 12:07 pm
To: The Think Tank <thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org>

Hi All,

After 10 years of teaching time that serves everyone B!KE is finally endeavoring to carve out a space just for women! We have often managed to strike a pretty excellent gender balance in the shop but interestingly recent growth has the shop feeling very male dominated. We are adding a bunch of hours for the on season and planning to make some of that time specifically for women. 

As a cis-gendered female mechanic, I feel pretty confident about hosting space, and defending the need of a space, that is for women only. I know that many other shops combine their women only time with trans/non-binary/femme time and I am feeling a bit concerned about a few things. How do you addresses these things:

1) Why combine these two groups? Don't they have different needs?
2) Do trans & non-binary people get their needs met? Or are they still second to women?
3) How much time is spent explaining gender identity and pronouns to baby boomers?
4) Is it better to have a women only time that excludes trans folks OR a women, trans, non-binary night that sort of includes them all?

The language I am currently leaning toward is that this shop time is for "all women-identified people". I am curious what issues and resolutions have been found in other shops.

Please share with me about your knowledge and experience in this matter!

Best,
Tegan

--
B!KE: The Peterborough Community Bike Shop
293 George St, Peterborough ON
(705) 775-7227
communitybikeshop.org

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Matthew McMunn
-Volunteer & Outreach Coordinator-
Facebook @TheRecyclery
Twitter @RecycleryChi
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