It’s been fifteen years since the SU Centre for Sexual & Gender Diversity, also known as the Q Centre, first opened its doors—but its story really starts in 2009, when students began exploring ways to better support the University of Calgary’s 2SLGBTQIA+ community. Stephen Rudolf, the SU’s Faculty of Nursing Representative at the time, created the idea of a dedicated space with the student club Queers for Campus. SU President Charlotte Kingston quickly agreed that Mac Hall needed a place where queer and questioning students could feel safe, supported, and understood, and the vision became a reality in November 2010.
From the very beginning, the Q Centre was built on one simple belief: the space should always be shaped by students, for students. What started as an idea shared around meeting tables, in hallways, and in conversations between students became the foundation that the Q Centre’s team of student leaders uses each year. All of this hard work has led to fifteen years of community building, joy, challenges, and constant growth.
From “The Closet” to Home
Promotional photograph of the original Q Centre (2010). Pictured outside its door is then-VP Student Life, Jennifer Abbott, and Kris Schmidt, then-Q Coordinator.
When the Q Centre first opened in November 2010, it was a tiny room in the Volunteer Services office (so small that early volunteers jokingly called it “the closet”). But regardless of how cramped it was, it was also well loved: students studied, chatted, sought peer support, and met others who understood what it was like to be a queer student on campus.
In 2014, the Q Centre moved to its current location in MacEwan Student Centre, and was able to create a space tailored to community needs with the support of Quality Money funding. This move was initiated by students’ need for visibility, sunlight, event space, and a place that could welcome newcomers more easily. With the Students’ Union and Quality Money’s support, the Q Centre’s new space was able to include a library, group seating, a peer support pod, and more programs than ever before.
Jason Morgan, the Students’ Union’s General Manager (who helped initiate building the Q Centre) described how meaningful that move was: the new space made it possible for programming to grow, and it made discussion groups, peer support sessions, queer events, panel talks, and social gatherings more accessible. The move truly helped to make the Q Centre a part of everyday campus life.
The Q Centre has changed a lot over the past fifteen years: the space now has a safe-space pod, has introduced quiet hours, expanded its 2SLGBTQIA+ library and resources, grown its social media platform, and has established itself as a place both for communities and individuals to spend time in.
Q Volunteers: Here’s To You
With all of these exciting developments, one thing remains the same: none of them could have happened without the Q Centre volunteers.
In the early years, the volunteer team was small. But as the Q grew, so did the volunteer team. It wasn’t long until the training nights hosted 20, 30, even 40 volunteers. Peer support workshops were offered through the Wellness Centre to equip volunteers with more tools to help the community. It’s thanks to the volunteers and the work they do that the Q Centre continues to serve the community in the impactful way that it does. Q Centre’s birthdays, movie nights, queer history walks, discussion nights, peer support sessions, cross-campus collaborations, art projects, resource fairs, online programming, and events all became parts of Q’s calendar throughout the years because volunteers made them happen.
Fifteen Years of Programming
Cupcake tray at the 2014 Grand Opening of the Q Centre’s permanent location.
One of the most special things about the Q Centre is that its programming changes as community needs evolve. Some projects have lasted for many years, like the discussion night series, queer mentoring, and our annual collaborative event series with the University of Calgary, Sexual and Gender Wellness Week (Sex Week), while other projects worked for a time before changing alongside our community. Each piece of programming that we develop is specifically designed for the needs of our community, and we are delighted to be continuing this journey with you all. Over the years, programming has included:
- Discussion groups on identities, relationships, culture, intersectionality, gender, and activism,
- Queer art events, film nights, and documentary screenings,
- The Diversity Panel series with Dr. Dawn Johnston,
- Mental-health focused “Monthly Mindfulness” sessions,
- Queer UofC partnerships and cross-Calgary collaborations,
- The Trans Friendly Clothing Swap,
- Career preparation events for queer students,
- Queer history walks and educational presentations,
- Resource fairs, tabling at Pride, and outreach both on and off campus,
- Sex Week events,
- The Queer Mentoring program,
- The SU Pride Scholarship,
- …plus so much more!
(…And That’s Not All)
While the Q Centre is the SU’s flagship 2SLGBTQIA+ initiative, it wasn’t the first project the SU undertook to support the community and its allies, nor will it be the last. Highlights from over the years include inviting notable 2SLGBTQIA+ rights activist Harold Call to deliver a talk on campus in 1969, jointly launching the University’s anti-discrimination ‘Positive Space’ campaign (with a talk from Olympian Mark Tewksbury!) in 2000, and securing the right for students to use their preferred name in their University records in 2023. Off campus, the Q Centre has also marched in Calgary Pride since 2012.
Community and Care
The Q Centre has supported so many students with coming out, identity exploration, loneliness, joy, burnout, and healing. It has been a place to make friends, meet mentors, cry in private, laugh loudly, study quietly, and feel understood. And, above all else, it’s a space where queer and questioning students can show up exactly as they are.
Lila Webb, former Q Centre Coordinator and now Students’ Union Coordinator of Volunteer Services, says: “Everybody who walks into Q should know that everything they say and do in this space matters… The people I’ve met here over the years are amazing… If you have an idea, we want to hear it. You will always find a place in Q, and we are always here to help you get where you want to go.”
Going Forward
As the Q Centre celebrates its 15th anniversary, it remains a strong example of student-led community work on campus. It has supported thousands of students, trained hundreds of volunteers, and created programming that has shaped lives in ways that cannot always be measured.
The next fifteen years may bring new challenges, but it will also bring so many new opportunities. The queer community continues to grow and change, and so will the needs of students. From the tiny first room known as “the closet” to the bright, open space it is today, the Q Centre has become a trusted resource for so many. We are a safe space made by and for students. We are there for anyone who comes through our doors, and for anyone hoping to visit us soon.