Promoting inclusion for the 2SLGBTQIA+ community is a cause that Trevor Fairlie (JD ’19) has devoted a lot of time and energy into. However, with recent changes in the social and political spheres, this cause has faced a new challenge; one that Trevor hopes to meet head on.
Trevor is a lawyer and the former chair for Start Proud, a national non-profit organization that provides support for 2SLGBTQIA+ students during the early stages of their career. The organization had an enormous impact on his young career, and he was determined that the next generation of students would benefit from the same networking and career growth opportunities that he had.
“I have a pretty long history with Start Proud,” says Trevor, who is currently an active board member with the organization, having wrapped up his term as chair in 2025. “I started out volunteering as a campus ambassador at Osgoode Hall and then worked as a marketing associate. I returned as a board member in May of 2022 and became the chair later in November 2022.”
During the same year, he also co-founded the Canadian Association of LGBTQ2S+ Lawyers (Call-Acal), a national association of legal professionals dedicated to developing an inclusive, innovative and representative bar in Canada. The organization got its start from a conversation that Trevor had with his friend Lucas Kilravey, who is now the current Call-Acal president and chair.
“Lucas and I were sitting in his apartment, and we looked around the legal profession and saw a lot of affinity-seeking organizations, such as the Indigenous Bar Association and the Canadian Association of Black Lawyers. While there was excellent work being done by SAGDA at the Ontario Bar Association and nationally, we realized there was no similar organization for our community,” says Trevor. “So, we decided to do it ourselves.”
Since its inception, the organization has started two mentorship programs, one for students and, in collaboration with the International Association of LGBTQ+ Judges, another for lawyers who aspire to be judges and has hosted “firm hops” across Canada, bringing students firm-to-firm for recruitment opportunities in major markets. Their annual Prisme conference brings members of the community from across Canada together every year. Speakers at the conference have included former Calgary mayor Jyoti Gondek, former Canadian Bar Association president Steeves Bujold, and Anya-Lynn Alesker, executive director of the American LGBTQ+ Bar Association, among many other eminent leaders.
“Prisme combines networking and business development opportunities with meaningful substantive discussions on legal issues facing our community in Canada and around the world,” says Trevor. “We want to ensure all our attendees leave informed and engaged and hopefully ready to use their legal skills to help out community organizations that might be working on these issues.”
However, recent shifts in the North American political landscape have created new challenges for advocates like Trevor to continue their pursuit of equality.
“We are seeing some firms in North America cut back on DEI programs, and some employee resource group budgets are being trimmed,” says Trevor.
“I think generally there’s an acceptance in the 2SLGBTQIA+ community that the social tide has shifted, and that institutional and public support has, in many instances, become more fragile now.”
These recent trends highlight the importance of advocates like Trevor and his colleagues at Start Proud and Call-Acal who will continue to make the case for inclusion.
“It’s a battle that we thought we had already won, but we’re ready to make the case that inclusion in law and business is both the right thing to do and good for business,” says Trevor. “It feels like it’s a step back and we’re seeing those gains and the acceptance roll back a little bit. For me combatting that trend is a key challenge; we don’t want to move back.”