If you live in North America, June is Pride Month in many places. If you live in Toronto, this week is Pride Week – culminating in three parades on the weekend: the trans march, the dyke march and the Pride parade. Depending on your social location, this could mean a great deal to you, nothing …
LGBTQ
Now that Pride is over…
If you live in Toronto, Pride week is over, and Pride month will end in a few days. But no matter where you live, if Pride is celebrated, here is some food for thought for after the parade is done. What happens now? Where do all the rainbows go? The stickers, the flags, the sentiment? What …
Day of Pink 2019
It’s Day of Pink tomorrow, April 11, 2019. I have seen the rows of pink shirts on display at my daughter’s school, with words of encouragement and advice on how to be more caring. I hope that these are words that go beyond the assignment and the t-shirt slogan, and show up out loud on the …
The Gay Glass Ceiling
If you live in Toronto or another city celebrating this month, Happy Pride! It’s Pride week here and all month rainbow flags have been waving all over the city. In fact, Scotiabank has PROUD in large letters outside their plaza. I walked by it the other day, remembering a time not too long ago …
“No Homo”…?!
I recently participated in a city tour of Toronto run by Peter Odle – a friend and colleague of mine (check out UrbanExpeditions.com). It was fabulous and I saw parts of the city I have never seen before, in addition to learning a lot about the city’s history. (By the way, Peter and I are running an …
Intersectionality and LGBTQ+ Inclusion
Last week I was honoured to be part of the Pride@Work Workplace Summit 2018. Pride@Work is an organization dedicated to “building a nation where LGBTQ+ Canadians can achieve their full potential at work.” Why is Intersectionality Important? At the Summit, I moderated a panel about …
Action – Part 4 of “How to be an Ally”
Welcome to week 4. Happy Eid to all of our Muslim brothers and sisters! Ramadan ended last night, and today is the first day of Eid Al-Fitr, which means ‘festival to break the fast’. It will continue until Tuesday, June 27th at sundown. And if you’re (also) part of the LGBTQ community in …
Recognize Privilege – Part 2 of “How to be an Ally”
Welcome to week 2! An ally is someone who supports someone else. In the context of social justice, allies support people and communities who are marginalized, in their struggle for equity, human rights, justice, etc. An ally is not a member of the group they are allied with. Last week, we …
[Continue reading] Recognize Privilege – Part 2 of “How to be an Ally”
Day of Pink – April 12
This Wednesday April 12th is Day of Pink – the international day against bullying, discrimination, homophobia, transphobia and transmysogyny. An act of support It didn’t start out meaning to be a day recognized around the world; it started as an act meant to support one person. Jadrien Cota – …
What Happens When Black Lives Matter
This past Tuesday, at the Pride Toronto AGM, members voted to uphold the demands of Black Lives Matter made last summer at the Pride parade. One of those demands was the removal of police floats from the Parade. Police spokesperson Mark Pugash expressed disappointment, and is quoted in the …