Dr. Lee Airton is an Assistant Professor of Gender and Sexuality Studies in Education at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario. As a researcher, educator, and speaker, Dr. Airton focuses on enabling individuals and institutions to welcome gender and sexual diversity in everyday life. In 2012, they founded They Is My Pronoun, a Q+A-based blog about gender-neutral pronoun usage and user support with over 30,000 unique visitors in 2017 alone. Dr. Airton is also the founder of the No Big Deal Campaign, a national social media initiative that helps people show support for transgender peoples' right to have their pronouns used. In 2021, Dr. Airton and their research team launched Gegi, the first bilingual self-advocacy resource for K-12 students who are experiencing gender expression and gender identity discrimination at school. Dr. Airton's book Gender – Your Guide: A Gender-Friendly Primer on What to Know, What to Say and What to Do in the New Gender Culture offers practical steps for welcoming gender diversity in all areas of everyday life. With Dr. Susan Woolley, they are the editor of Teaching About Gender Diversity: Teacher-Tested Lesson Plans for K-12 Classrooms.

As a university-based teacher educator for over ten years, Dr. Airton has worked with hundreds of new teachers to widen the circle of belonging and participation for people of all genders and sexualities in schools. Dr. Airton's research program on gender diversity, human rights, policy, law, teaching, and learning is funded by the Social Sciences and Research Council of Canada. Their research explores how the Ontario K-12 education system is responding to the inclusion of gender identity and gender expression protections in human rights legislation, and how to make the collection of gender-based data in large studies more reflective of how gender is read and negotiated. Dr. Airton also leads an action research project in the Faculty of Education at Queen’s University, collaborating with staff to remove barriers for transgender and/or gender non-conforming teacher candidates.

Externally to Queen's, Dr. Airton supports school boards, independent schools, private sector and public sector organizations across Canada and internationally in building the capacity to offer a climate free from gender identity and gender expression discrimination of all kinds. Dr. Airton is a frequent speaker and media commentator, and has been interviewed over 65 times in nationally and internationally on topics related to their areas of expertise. Their scholarly publications have appeared in Gender and Education, Sex Education, Curriculum Inquiry, Teachers College Record, the Canadian Journal of Education, and the Journal of Education Policy, and their editorials have been published in The Globe and Mail and The Toronto Star. (Photo: Bernard Clark)