Introduction

The Wednesday Night Discussion Group has been running for over three decades! Originally, the groups offered peer support for queer and questioning individuals trying to answer questions surrounding their sexuality. Today, the Wednesday Night Discussion Groups provide an excellent opportunity to meet and socialize with a wider cross-section of the local queer community and its allies.

Despite the wider audience, the provision of peer support is still a priority for the group. The large base of experience possessed by those participating in the discussions helps provide many different perspectives to aid those in the group seeking peer support. These participants continue to benefit from the structured nature of the discussion and the promise of confidentiality.

The discussion groups follow four distinct formats which rotate on a weekly basis:

• Coming-Out & Questioning Discussions;
• Community Building Through Circle Dialogue;
• Queer Gazette Discussions; and
• Questions from a Hat (Q-Hat) Discussions.

All three groups meet at the same location- Room 5136 in the Math and Computer (MC) Building at the University of Waterloo- on Wednesday evenings. The discussions generally run from 7:15 pm to 8:15 pm, followed by approximately 15 minutes for participants to share community announcements. The only exception are the Community Building Through Circle Dialogue discussions, which run from 7:15 pm until between 8:30 pm and 8:45 pm.

Coming-Out & Questioning Discussions

Coming-Out & Questioning Discussions give participants the opportunity to discuss issues pertaining to sexuality and gender identity. Discussion topics are set in advance to help individuals gauge whether or not they would be comfortable attending the discussion.

Coming-Out and Questioning Discussions are generally held the first and fifth Wednesdays of the month.

Queer Gazette

“Queer Gazette” discussions are based on recent news articles relevant to the queer and questioning community. Participants in these discussions are encouraged to bring along their own newspaper, magazine or academic articles related to the queer community that has been published within the past month. Participants share a brief summary of the article with the group after which the group discusses the relevance and/or implications of the article to the queer community.

Queer Gazette discussions are generally held on the second Wednesday of each month.

Community Building Through Circle Dialogue

In April 2011, the lead facilitator of the WNDG had the opportunity to attend training on how to facilitate discussions “in circle”. Facilitating discussions in circles offers:

“a structured, safe and supportive environment in which to encourage the desired outcomes of honest communication, relationship development and community building.”

- (http://www.grebel.uwaterloo.ca/certificate/peacemakingcirclestraining.shtml)

The circle discussion format involves participants engaging in a sequence of activities designed to help individuals feel more comfortable participating in the circle and contributing to setting the guidelines that participants wish to follow. The order of discussion is facilitated through the passing of a talking piece that is past from participant to participant. Individuals may only speak when the talking piece is in their possession.

Community Building Through Circle Dialogue were piloted in June and August 2011 and were well received by discussion participants. While some individuals were initially wary of the more “touchy-feely” and structured approach to the discussion, the overwhelming feedback has been extremely positive with participants indicating how quickly they became comfortable with the process and how rich the discussions became. It was requested that this format become part of ther regular rotation of formats, so Community Building Through Circle Dialogue discussions will now be held on the third Wednesday of every month.

Q-Hat Discussions

Some of the shyer members of the group sometimes have difficulties asking questions in a larger group environment- and these discussions are for them! At the start of Q-Hat Discussions, participants are invited to write any questions they have for discussion on a piece of paper. These pieces of paper are placed in a hat and randomly drawn by the facilitator over the course of the evening. All questions are fair game, so long as they do not ask specific/personal questions about other participants and follow the General Discussion Group Guidelines.

Q-Hat Discussions are held on the fourth Wednesday of each month.