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FAQ

Frequently Answered Questions

What does LGBTQ mean?

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer. We also mean anyone who identifies within the ‘rainbow’ communities in general; such as folks who ID as genderqueer, intersex, gender variant, Two Spirit, butch, femme, polyamorous, bi-gendered, androgynous, etc. We just didn’t want to get carried away with all the letters.

Why LGBTQ and not just poor folks?

The more barriers people face, the more likely they are to fall through the cracks of society.

Living in poverty is a barrier to health care, food, shelter, education and more. The first rule of good health is to not to be poor. For women, the barriers increase. (Women are the poorest people, living in more poverty than children throughout the world.) Queer and trans folks have more barriers again. According to the Canadian Jewish Congress, queers are the most oppressed people in the world. In the mainstream population, and even within the LGBTQ communities, trans people are also amongst the most marginalized. For queer and trans people of colour, more systems fail to help. As multiple barriers pile up, it becomes harder and harder to survive.

What if I know someone (or everyone) on the selection committee and feel awkward applying?

We are serious about confidentiality and would never disclose or discuss someone’s application outside of the committee. That being said, in order to keep the process fair and accountable, we have implemented a few things that should help with this.

  1. No names will ever be made public. All personal information will be destroyed after the decisions have been made, except for the loans and the signature page of each application for legal reasons.
  2. We will have an ‘alternate’ selection committee of 1-2 folks that are outside of the LGBTQ communities (but are allies) that we will ask to step in if one of us knows one of the applicants. These will be folks who are experienced individuals that are used to respecting and upholding confidentiality, they will likely be folks who knew Catherine in her professional life.
  3. We realize this is a small community; this fund is done in the spirit of Catherine and the strict boundaries she kept between her personal and work life, and we will keep the same high standards of confidentiality that Catherine did.