Queer Orientation Week Mix & Mingle 2025
Join us at the Queer Orientation Mix & Mingle Event on Wednesday, September 17th 2025 from 4:00 pm to 7:00pm ✨
Paint terra cotta pots (there will be succulents!) 🪴🎨, engage in activities and enjoy free food 🧋🍽️ on UTSC's campus. Make new friends, learn about relevant services and have fun 🌈☀️!
There will also be 30-minute Acts of Resistance self-defence workshop facilitated by Shaiden Keaney for interested participants. During the workshop, other stations and activities will be happening as well.
Registration is required for the Mix & Mingle Event. Please register with your U of T e-mail to receive additional details about this event: uoft.me/mixandmingle (Location will be sent to registrants)
Where: Outdoors at UTSC (in case of rain ☔️, we will relocate indoors)
When: September 17, 2025, at 4:00 pm to 7:00 pm
Who: New and returning students, faculty, staff and librarians
This is an 2SLGBTQIA+* centered event and an opportunity for queer and trans community members to connect and build community. That said, everyone is welcome! We ask that you are respectful of the intent of this inclusive space.
*2SLGBTQIA+ is an acronym to refer to 2-spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual people and communities. The + symbol is an intentional inclusion and acknowledgement of additional gender identities and sexual orientations. The 2S placed at beginning of the acronym is to acknowledge that 2-spirit people were the first people on Turtle Island to embrace and embody expansive concepts of gender and sexuality.
Accessibility Information
Weather permitting, this event will be held outside, so please dress for the weather. There will be seating for participants. The space is wheelchair accessible. In case of rain, the event will be held indoors in a large, wheelchair accessible room (accessible by elevator or stairs).
More info about the event location will be provided upon request.
The closest gender-inclusive washroom is inside the nearest building. This is a single stall that is accessible for people with wheelchairs.
It is our goal to make this event accessible to anyone interested in attending. If you have any questions at all about accessibility or have recommendations for us to ensure your participation is comfortable and enjoyable, please contact the event coordinator (positivespace.utsc@utoronto.ca).
This event is brought to you by the Positive Space Committee, the Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Office, SCSU, the Health & Wellness Centre, Athletics & Recreation, and the Sexual Violence Prevention & Support Centre.
What to expect at the event:
At this event there will be opportunities to do an activity alongside other participants. We will be painting terra cotta pots with acrylic paint and sharing conversations with one another.
The icebreaker activities will involve verbal engagement with other guests at the event. For those with mobility concerns we will have activities where guests can remain at their tables or move around to other tables. We expect 100 or more participants at this event. Music may be played throughout the event.
There will be a 30-minute Acts of Resistance self-defence workshop facilitated by Shaiden Keane where 25 participants can opt-in to participate if they would like to attend this workshop. The other activities and stations will continue during this time as well. Please go by the Button Making Station to sign up for this workshop and/or to ask any questions about the workshop.
Acts of Resistance is a program hosted by the Sexual Violence Prevention & Support Centre for 2SLGBTQIA+ community members to heighten their sense of self-trust and awareness of their environment. This workshop offers participants an opportunity to discuss personal safety issues and to practice easy to learn, easy to remember self-defence techniques. The workshop reinforces the positive aspects of the way participants confront the threat of fear and violence in their lives.
About the Acts of Resistance Workshop Facilitator, Shaiden Keaney
Shaiden Keaney MSW, RSW (xe/she/they) works to prevent trauma and heal its impacts through self-defence and psychotherapy practices. Each participant in one of Shaiden's workshops and courses becomes part of a broader community that is healing harm in order to build more just and loving connections with each other. Shaiden is certified as a self-defence instructor with Wen-Do Women's Self-Defence and Acts of Resistance and has been practicing in this capacity since 2015.
Queer Orientation Week
This event is one of many taking place during U of T's Queer Orientation September 15-19, an annual series of 2SLGBTQ+ centred programming across all three campuses of U of T during September. Visit the Sexual & Gender Diversity Office website to learn more: https://sgdo.utoronto.ca/events/queer-orientation/