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Star Oldring (they/them) is the Rural Coordinator for Fyrefly in Schools program with the Fyrefly Institute for Gender and Sexual Diversity, as well as a parent, grandparent and avid amateur equestrian. Spend a few minutes getting to know Star.

What did you do before you started working at the Fyrefly Institute?

I have a history in human rights. I worked for the Elizabeth Fry Society for several years facilitating human rights in correctional facilities, and I also did some work with disability rights. That’s been ongoing for 30 years, that type of work. On my own personal journey, having understood that I was queer for many, many years, I also came to understand that I was trans about 10 years ago and that led me to Fyrefly.

Tell us about your role at Fyrefly.

I’m the Rural Program Coordinator, so my job is to provide education in celebration and support of queer identities around Alberta and beyond, so my role can anything from, I recently sat on a national panel regarding bodily autonomy and contributed a trans perspective from Alberta on behalf of Fyrefly, or it can be things like I go to schools in rural Alberta and facilitate professional development for teachers, how to build more inclusive practices into classrooms for queer and trans students, and to support their queer and trans colleagues better. Walking the pride parade at the º£½ÇÉçÇø and all of those things fall under my umbrella.

How do teachers respond to the kind of professional development opportunities provided by Fyrefly in Schools?

My experience with teachers is that they’re very committed to their classrooms and their students, and their purpose is to do their best by their students, so I find them very receptive. We also firmly believe that, when we build our education workshops, if we’re building inclusive practices for queer and trans students, we’re building inclusive practices for everybody. It’s a holistic approach. While we target a specific marginalized community within a classroom, these practices will serve everybody really well. And I think teachers are really receptive to that.

Do you find a difference between working in rural and urban schools?

I think the difference is that people in urban environments are more aware when they’re encountering queer and trans folks, and people in rural environments are less so, and there are a number of reasons for that. One of the statistics I present in my introductory workshop is that 13 per cent of Canadians identify as queer, and that usually comes as a surprise to people in rural environments who don’t feel they’ve encountered 13 percent of the population as openly queer. So it’s a bit of an eye-opening conversation to have just around the fact that, well, coming out as queer is a journey, and if you don’t feel safe to come out as queer or you’re not certain of who you are and you’re exploring that, you may keep that hidden to keep yourself safe. And in rural communities that can happen more for different reasons. So you do have that 13 per cent of students in the classroom who are likely queer, you just might not know it. And so that ends up being the conversation in those environments more than in urban settings.

What’s your favourite part of your job?

My favourite part of my job is the breadth of ways in which I get to engage in celebrating queer identities. As an educator, I love providing seminars for professionals in diverse fields, and also having the opportunity to guest lecture to different faculties and departments here at the º£½ÇÉçÇø or offer workshops to youth at Camp Fyrefly. In addition to the educator piece, I’m also engaged in regular community events — during Pride month this past June I was at eight events in one week alone! That was anything from Fyrefly’s Drag Show Fundraiser to St. Albert’s Pride in the Park to events in Beaumont, Vegreville, and beyond. I also get to do things like hosting the Metro Cinema’s Campus Pride Week Screening last March — it's always changing, and I love that.

What do you like to do in your spare time?

I love to ride horses, over jumps or out on trails all over Alberta. I also have a pile of rescued critters at home to hang out with and I’m raising my granddaughter who is seven years old, so that keeps me pretty busy. Come to think of it, what is this spare time of which you speak?