Photo: Aly Brenner Nogueira Pereira and Pax Ahimsa Gethen hold up a trans pride flag, surrounded by other attendees of the Queering Wiki conference. Pax’s spouse Ziggy stands just behind and to the left of Pax. Photo by Jack Walker, CC BY-SA 4.0.
As a transmasculine person and long-time editor of Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons, I value the volunteer-run encyclopedia highly as a repository of verified information that is a bulwark against widespread disinformation about trans and nonbinary people.
After years of online meetings, I was ready to spend time with my fellow queer and trans editors in person. I headed to San Francisco International Airport early on a mid-October morning to board a flight to Montréal, Québec, Canada, host city for Queering Wiki 2026, the first in-person global gathering of LGBTQ+ contributors to Wikipedia and related projects. The attendees reflected the many people responsible for updating and maintaining these high-visibility pages.
The hundred or so Wikimedians arrived in Montréal from 30 countries. At lunch one day, I marveled at being seated with people from six continents. Though the majority of the conference sessions were in English, the event supported French (the official language of Québec) and Spanish as well, with live translation available. Learning from trans and non-binary editors dealing with gender issues in different languages and cultures was insightful.
Aly presents at Queering Wiki. Photo by Pax Ahimsa Gethen, CC BY-SA 4.0.
One of these editors is Aly Brenner Nogueira Pereira (she/her), a Brazilian trans woman and master’s student in history at the State University of Campinas (Unicamp) in São Paulo. Coming to the university from her relatively small hometown of Campestre, Minas Gerais, she hopes to be the first openly trans person to complete this degree at Unicamp.
Aly began editing the Portuguese Wikipedia in 2022, after seeing a banner on the website that advertised an editing contest on history topics. In her presentation at Queering Wiki, Aly discussed her involvement with the “More Theory of History on Wiki” project (Projeto Mais Teoria da História na Wiki), which explores gender, sexuality and race in the Global South. She has contributed to the project both as a volunteer and intern.
As she is more interested in databases and media than in writing encyclopedia articles, Aly now edits primarily on Wikidata and Wikimedia Commons. While Aly has not personally experienced anti-trans harassment on Wikipedia, she said in an interview that she has seen another trans editor being treated with hostility. Aly also urged Brazil’s Wikimedia chapter to be more supportive of LGBT+ editors in general, given that her country is “very progressive and open” on gender and sexuality.
Aly said she has definitely felt supported by Wikimedia LGBT+, the user group that co-organized Queering Wiki. She said the conference was “truly amazing. I think it was by far my best Wiki conference. I got to know and really feel very welcome and close to a lot of people.” Aly said she was grateful to visit Canada and learn about the queer history of the region; a guided bus tour offered on the first day included a stop in Montréal’s Gay Village.
Vic Sfriso speaks at Queering Wiki. Photo by Pax Ahimsa Gethen, CC BY-SA 4.0.
One Wikimedia LGBT+ member who contributed greatly to the success of Queering Wiki is Vic Sfriso (they/them), head of programs and community engagement. A non-binary trans person whose “gender identity is quite complex because it is very LATAM [Latin America] rooted”, Vic lives in San Telmo, Buenos Aires, Argentina. They have worked with Wikimedia affiliates in community-focused roles since 2021, and are also active on Wikimedia Commons.
Asked about challenges they’ve faced as a non-binary Wikipedia editor, Vic replied, “The challenges I face are those my organizations and communities face. I mean, I face harassment when creating and organizing events for the LGBT+ community, as well as invisibilization or silencing practices. But these are just tiny situations compared to those that most LGBT+ editors face.”
In their Spanish-language presentation at Queering Wiki, Vic discussed debates over deadnaming on the Spanish Wikipedia, a topic of great interest to them. They’ve published research on the issue, and collaborated on a guide on writing biographies of LGBTQ+ subjects on Wikipedia. They’ve written a book on translation and lesbian activism as well.
Vic found Queering Wiki to be a wonderful experience. “It was definitely hard work because we are a small team at Wikimedia LGBT+ and an in-person conference for a global community takes a lot of time and effort.” But once Vic and Bisi Alimi, the user group’s executive director, saw the attendees happily gathering to eat together, “we got this wonderful feeling that all the hard work was worth it.”
In my own presentation, I shared work I’ve done to document trans people, events, and milestones in San Francisco history. During the Q/A, I was asked about transphobia, and mentioned the particularly nasty harassment I experienced on Wikipedia back in 2016, with months of deadnaming, misgendering, and sexually explicit taunting. I’d also discussed my efforts to combat harassment at a previous Wikimedia conference in Montréal.
I encourage any trans folks or allies interested in volunteer editing to visit the Wikimedia LGBT+ user group for resources and plans for future conferences. On the English language Wikipedia, WikiProject LGBTQ+ studies is another helpful resource. Let’s help keep information about our communities accurate and respectful.
Pax Ahimsa Gethen (they/them) is a queer Black trans writer and editor. They live in San Francisco with their spouse Ziggy.
