2019 PRIDE GUIDE
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Pride Week: AUG 4 - 10
IN THIS GUIDE
Greetings from the Board 2
About Fogo Island Pride 3
Meet the Committee 4
Pride Week Events 5
Queer Icons & Events: Past & Present 9
Insights 13
LGBTQ2+ Terms & Definitions 19
Thanks to our Sponsors 25
Contact Us 26
Greetings from the Board!
Welcome to Pride on Fogo Island!
A week long series of events celebrating the LGBTQ2+ community on Fogo Island and throughout rural Newfoundland and Labrador. In this guide you will find details regarding our community events, information on our committee, and various educational resources. Consider this your “one-stop shop” to the exciting events taking place throughout our Island from August 4th to August 10th!
Fogo Island Pride was founded with the purpose of building a com- munity. Having lived and worked in rural and remote locations for the better part of our professional lives, we know the isolation members of the Queer community face in the far flung tickles, coves and inlets of this great province. The feeling you are all alone. The feeling that you need to leave.
This needs to change. Indeed, it is our duty to ensure that it does.
Whether you live in outport Newfoundland, the coast of Labrador, or downtown St. John’s, you deserve respect, acceptance and kindness. To be seen. To be heard. To be loved. No one should feel they need to leave their home to find acceptance - a common experience for many queer youth throughout our province.
It is our sincerest hope that our efforts create a culture which cele- brates our differences. One where, regardless of “how queer…” you may be, you will be welcomed with open arms.
We would also like to address that none of this would be possible without the tireless efforts of our amazing committee. Their dedica- tion and commitment to our community is second to none and we will be forever grateful for their contributions.
Happy Pride on Fogo Island! Go out and have some fun!
Trevor Taylor & Evan Parsons Directors - Fogo Island Pride 2 FOGO ISLAND PRIDE - ABOUT US
Fogo Island Pride is a registered nonprofit organization that organizes and implements educational forums, festivals, physical and mental health activities, events, and other shared community experiences.
Founded by Trevor Taylor and Evan Parsons, Fogo Island Pride strives to advocate for and promote the inclusion of the LGBTQ2+ community and otherwise marginalized groups on Fogo Island and throughout rural Newfoundland and Labrador.
Our Mandate:
• To broaden knowledge of LGBTQ2+ issues in rural Newfound- land and Labrador.
• To fight against prejudice and discrimination of marginalized groups.
• To advocate for members of the LGBTQ2+ community and other marginalized groups.
• To promote acceptance and understanding by providing expe- riences emphasizing the benefits of diversity and inclusion.
Our Motto: Celebrating Diversity
It is our belief that each and every community member should not only feel safe and included, but accepted by their fellow citizens. Whether you live in outport Newfoundland, the coast of Labra- dor, or downtown St. John’s, all residents of this great province, no matter how diverse, deserve respect, acceptance and kind- ness. To be seen. To be heard. To be loved. 3 MEET THE COMMITTEE
Trevor Taylor Evan Parsons Co-Director Co-Director
Caitlyn Tery Emily Gorner Bruce Pashak Marketing + Social Media Member at Promotions Large
Cindy Wells Jake Decker Member at Member at Large Large
4 PRIDE WEEK EVENTS SUN AUG 4
Flag Raising + Community BBQ
11:30 AM - 1 PM
Iceberg Arena, Centre Island
All ages welcome
MON AUG 5
Meet + Greet Mixer featuring Haus of Trout
7 PM - 11 PM
Scoff Restaurant, Joe Batt’s Arm
19+ Registration on eventbright.ca required. 6 TUES AUG 6
“Queer-e-oke” Music Night
7 PM - 10 PM
The Tilting Cup, Tilting
Bring your own instrument
WED AUG 7
Film Screening: Love, Simon
7 PM - 10 PM
Bangbelly Café, Fogo
All ages welcome
Doors: 7 PM Screening: 7:30 PM 7 THURS AUG 8 Reading + Family Beach Party! Activities Refreshments provided by FIP
3 PM 7 PM - 11 PM
Fogo Island Public Library, Sandy Cove Beach, Tilting Centre Island
All ages All ages welcome welcome
FRI AUG 9
PRIDE WALK Part of Folk Alliance Motorcade
3 PM
Starting at Country Road, Fogo
All ages welcome to participate!
Come dressed in your most colourful clothing. Meet at the starting point. 8 QUEER ICONS + EVENTS
PAST & PRESENT GEORGE HISLOP (June 3rd, 1927 - October 8th, 2005)
One of Canada’s most influential gay activists, Hislop was the first openly gay candidate to run for political office and was a key figure in the early development of Toronto’s Gay Community.
Throughout the 1970’s and 1980’s, Hislop played a significant role in the pursuit of equality for Canada’s LGBTQ2+ community. Co- founding the Community Homophile Association of Toronto and organizing We Demand, the first gay-rights demonstration on Parliament Hill, Hislop became known as the unofficial mayor of gay Toronto. Following the Bathhouse Raids of 1981, Hislop ran again for political office - clinching nearly 10% of the vote –cementing the voices of the Queer community in municipal politics for years to come.
Awards and Nominations: • Order of Ontario (nominated) - 2003 • International Lesbian and Gay Law Association’s Karl Heinrich Ulrichs Award - 2005 • Jonathan R. Steinert and Fernando G. Ferreiro Award (posthumous) - 2005
10 THE BATHHOUSE RAIDS CANADA’S STONEWALL (February 5th, 1981)
The 1981 Bathhouse Raids, codenamed Operation Soap by law enforcement, are often considered to be Canada’s equivalent to the Stonewall Riots of the United States.
Preceding the raids, a highly sensationalized news story emphasized the participation of gay men in the brutal assault and murder of a young man, Emanuel Jaques, in a Toronto massage parlour. This new coverage, in conjunction with the deteriorating relationship between bathhouse owners, and the Metropolitan Toronto Police Force, led to a series of small raids beginning in December of 1978.
On February 5, 1981, during the Operation Soap Raids, police targeted four bathhouses, culminating in the arrest of over 300 members of the queer community. This is considered to be one of the largest mass arrests in Canada’s history and is a turning point in Canadian LGBTQ2+ history.
Following that February night, large protests and rallies denouncing the incident gripped Toronto - Queer community members were outraged by what they perceived as discriminatory targeting of queer spaces and businesses. While many of the charges laid were later dropped, many people’s lives were ruined under the spectacle of the raids, as well as by the subsequent fines and arrests.
In 2016, Toronto police chief Mark Saunders expressed deep regret over the treatment of the queer community during this time. While many within the community do not regard his statement as an “apology”, it is seen as a big step toward healing the divide between the Queer community and law enforcement.
11 GEMMA HICKEY
Gemma Hickey is an LGBTQ2+ activist and author living in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador. They became one of the first people in Canada to receive a gender-neutral birth certificate, as well as a gender-neutral passport. They also founded The Pathways Foundation, an organization for victims of abuse by clergy.
Non-binary birth certificate On December 14, 2017, Gemma Hickey became the first person in Newfoundland and Labrador, and one of the first in Canada, to receive a non-binary birth certificate. Their application was initially rejected because The Vital Statistics Act, the applicable legislation in the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador, limited gender designation on the application form to male and female only. In response to the rejection, Hickey filed an application to the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador to challenge the constitutionality of the law. The province changed the legislation before the court proceedings concluded. The space for ‘gender’ on Hickey’s birth certificate is marked with ‘X’ instead of a ‘M’ or ‘F’
Non-binary passport Canada introduced non-binary passports in August 2017, becoming the first country in North and South America to allow its citizens to use ‘X’ in the gender category. Hickey applied and received one of the first issued, and used the passport to travel to Germany to visit a memorial to gay people persecuted by the Nazis. Hickey then traveled to Japan to speak about LGBTQ2+ issues, attend a screening of their documentary, and read from their autobiography, Almost Feral. 12 INSIGHTS MOMENTOUS & MUNDANE
By Trevor Taylor
You don’t “come out” once. You have to do it again and again.
The first time I came out I was clicking away at keys feverishly – writing some long-forgotten narrative to my best friend over MSN messenger. My heart boomed in my chest. Blood rushed to ears. I could barely breathe.
I came out again when my mother found me crying in my bedroom – distraught over my first real breakup. A boy I naively believed, as all teenagers do, would be the only one.
Next came walking hand-in-hand with my boyfriend down the sidewalks of my hometown. Through furrowed brows and awkward glances children, teenagers and adults alike expressed their obvious disapproval.
14 Now I am a teacher.
Pictures of my partner and I hang on the wall behind my desk and I frequently talk about my partner Evan. My students, with a boldness only found in youth, question me on when I am getting married or if I plan to have kids. They are passionate and accepting, caring and inquisitive. They are the proof that being the out teacher was the right decision.
No doubt I have forgotten many moments - each and every one becoming easier and less consequential than the last. What once took four years to barely whisper is now easily disclosed amid idle chatter at the post office or grocery store. I have become an expert at using phrases such as “my partner and I…” or simply using the pronoun “he” at a convenient moment. What was once momentous has now become perfectly mundane.
The postmaster. The lady in the grocery store. That is the reality.
My best friend. My mother. My hometown. My students.
These are the stories I tell.
15 SALAAM BY’ BUILDING COMMUNITIES OF KINDNESS
By Aatif Baskanderi
My name is Aatif and I’m a Muslim Newfoundlander. I come from a place where few people look like me, or believe in the same things as me.
In spite of those differences, the people in this place always accepted and encouraged me. I feel an unwavering belonging to Newfoundland. This place carries a level of sincerity, respect and appreciation within its character. Such a character held within this community has the ability to create great change in the world.
The communities across this province helped form me to serve humanity through technological and social innovation, and I have been struggling to do this ever since.
My wife, Nazia, and I launched a documentary film, “Salaam B’y - A Story of a Muslim Newfoundlander”, and associated kindness campaign to share my story for everyone today who feels different, sometimes anxious, and highlight how Newfoundland showed me and others a way to build communities of love and respect that can build people up in great ways.
The film and story has been welcome by a fantastic reception from across Canada, the United States and internationally as being one of two Muslim-Canadian films selected to screen in numerous countries through the United Nations Global Migration Film Festival.
People in many communities resonate with the feeling of to treat others and how they are treated. As much as we were always told to forget about differences and focus on 16 commonalities, whose to say there is anything wrong with being different than one another. Don’t we all deserve kindness, regardless of having little to no commonality with someone else?
Nazia and I asked this question across Canada on our recent Creating Communities of Kindness Tour.
We visited Saskatchewan, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and, of course, Newfoundland (unfortunately we did not make it to Labrador).
Aatif Baskanderi
What we found was that communities, especially youth from high school down to grade 3 all were interested in diving into this question.
We were welcomed to these communities with open arms and it showed us that people feel the need to highlight kindness and go beyond the fluffy feeling into how it is a great tool for community building.
Not only did we talk to the general public, but governments, 17 companies and professional associations were also participating in the discussion!
We developed the Companion Guide for the film with some great people, including a wonderful teacher from Fogo Island, Trevor Taylor.
We felt honoured that Trevor saw value in the story and preemptively went ahead and started to engage classrooms with critical thinking activities on social inclusion.
We continued his work in the Companion Guide to deal with the root causes of bias and discrimination to construct a way that teachers can engage with these issues in the classroom.
We are happy to say that schools across the country are picking this up. To show our appreciation, we delivered the final show of our Atlantic Tour in Fogo Island with Fogo Island Pride co-founders Trevor Taylor and Evan Parsons to talk about what being welcome in a community actually looks like and it’s broader impact on both individuals and society.
We have learned a lot on this tour and look forward to continuing this work across Canada and internationally.
I would like to end with a quote from the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), “be kind, for whenever kindness becomes part of something, it beautifies it.”
18 LGBTQ2+ TERMS SELECTED TERMS & DEFINITIONS
The Canadian Centre for Gender & Sexual Diversity
ASEXUAL (adjective) A term used to describe a person who either: 1. Does not experience sexual attraction 2. Does not experience a desire for sex, or 3. Experiences these to a lesser degree than most
ASSIGNED SEX (noun) Assigned sex is the classification of a person as male, female or intersex based on biological characteristics, including chromosomes, hormones, external genitalia and reproductive organs, often at birth. We say assigned sex versus biological sex to acknowledge that sex is often a value assigned by medical professionals to newborns based on visual assessment of external genitalia.
20 BISEXUAL (adjective) A term used to describe those who experience sexual or sexual and romantic attraction to two genders, not necessarily to the same extent.
CISGENDER (adjective) A term used to describe people for whom their gender identity and assigned sex match, and who fit the societal expectations surrounding their birth-assigned sex. It is the opposite of transgender.
GAY (adjective) A term used to describe self-identified men who are romantically/sexually attracted to other self-identified men. It has also been used as an umbrella term for everyone who has same-gender attraction. Although it is most commonly used for men, “Gay” can refer to men or women, or more generally, the entire rainbow community. It should be noted that this term, when used for the whole community, excludes, silences, and further marginalizes the rest of the rainbow community.
GENDER (noun) Gender is a system that operates in a social context to classify people. In many Western contexts this takes the form of a binary “man” or “woman” classification, although many are beginning to recognize a broader spectrum. An individual’s gender is comprised of both their gender identity and their gender expression
GENDER EXPRESSION (noun) How a person outwardly expresses their gender identity, whether through behaviour, clothing, hairstyles, voice, or body modifications. A person’s gender expression may not always be stereotypically congruent 20 with their gender identity, and any mismatch 21 does not invalidate their identity
GENDER FLUID (adjective) Gender fluidity conveys a wider, more flexible range of gender expression, with interests and behaviors that may change from day to day. Gender fluid people do not feel confined by restrictive boundaries of stereotypical expectations of women or men. In other words, they may feel they are a woman some days and a man on others, or possibly feel that neither term describes them accurately.
GENDER IDENTITY (noun) A person’s individual experience of gender. It is their internal sense of being a man, a woman, or any other gender. Often, gender identity corresponds with an individual’s assigned sex at birth, but sometimes it does not. Gender identity, which is internal and is not visible to others, is one of two aspects that make up gender as a whole.
HOMOSEXUAL (noun or adjective) A term used to describe someone who is sexually attracted to those who identify as the same gender, or a gender similar to, the one they do. However, this term has a history of medicalization and 30 criminalization, and should not be used for someone without their consent.
INTERSEX (adjective) A term used to describe people who are born with anatomy or chromosome patterns that do not fit typical definitions of male or female. Intersex persons are often subjected to surgical intervention at birth, with or without parental consent or even knowledge.
22 LESBIAN (noun) A term used to describe self-identified women who are romantically/sexually attracted to other self- identified women.
NON-BINARY or NONBINARY (adjective) An umbrella term to describe gender identities that do not fit within the gender binary system of man/woman. It is important to note that some non-binary identities are culturally specific, and that some people may use the term itself as a specific identity. Identities that may fall under this umbrella include but are not limited to: agender, bigender, genderfluid, and genderqueer.
PANSEXUAL (adjective) A term for someone who experiences just physical or physical and emotional attraction to a person regardless of gender or sex.
QUEER (adjective) An umbrella term for a social/intellectual/ political movement that seeks to encompass a broad range of sexual identities, behaviours, and expressions. It has also been reclaimed as a personal identity for some, after its historical use as a homophobic and transphobic slur. However, not all individuals are comfortable with the reclamation of the word, and it should not be used to describe someone without their consent. It is sometimes used as a catch-all for the rainbow community, and may or may not be seen to include trans people.
SEXUAL ORIENTATION (noun) A term used to describe the direction of a person’s physical attraction. It is not a set of absolute categories, but commonly used terms include Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Asexual, and Pansexual orientations, 23 among others.
TRANSGENDER (adjective) A person who identifies either fully or in part with a gender other than the gender associated with their birth-assigned sex--often used as an umbrella term to represent a wide range of gender identities and expressions. Transgender people, like cisgender people, can claim any identity in relation to their sexual/romantic orientation.
TRANSSEXUAL (noun or adjective) An older term for those who medically transition or seek to medically transition with Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT), surgeries, and/or other procedures. However, like homosexual, this term has a history of medicalization and still carries a clinical connotation, and therefore should not be used for people without their consent.
TWO-SPIRIT (adjective) a.k.a. 2-Spirit or Two-Spirited A term coined at the third annual intertribal Native American/ First Nations Gay and Lesbian Conference in Winnipeg in 1990 which is used by Indigenous members of the LGBTQ2+ community. It is often described as meaning people who possess both masculine and feminine spirits, however it is used across Turtle Island to distinguish the Indigenous views of gender and sexuality from the Western gender binary, violently imposed on Indigenous communities through colonialism. It should be noted that Two-Spirit is not a catch-all term for Indigenous people in the LGBTQ2+ community, they must choose to adopt the term for themselves.
24 THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS
PLATINUM
GOLD
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BRONZE fogoislandpride.org
@fogoislepride
@fogoislandpride
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