The message to queer youth at a Sunday morning rally was as clear as the blue sky above: “You are not alone.”
That’s what drag queen and transgender man Leada Stray wanted young LGBTQ people to hear at a rally in support of SOGI (sexual orientation and gender identity) education materials and inclusive policies in B.C. schools.
Stray told a personal story of growing up trans.
“In Grade 10, when I was bullied on every side and I was suicidal, a teacher saved my life by saying nothing more than ‘You are OK.’ And so today, right now, I want to thank the teachers that are standing here because the message that you are sending to these kids will save lives.”
Lida Stray to #LGBTQ youth: “You are not alone.” #bced #SOGI pic.twitter.com/N6TBunT8Zn
— KelvinGawley (@KelvinGawley) October 14, 2018
Stray was one of several speakers who spoke in front of roughly 100 people gathered at Burnaby Civic Square in Metrotown. A trans flag draped over steps in the square was emblazoned with the phrase: "I will not censor myself to comfort your ignorance."
The Show Up for SOGI Education rally was organized to counter a recent flare-up of opposition to SOGI policies in the municipal election. Two candidates for trustee in Burnaby have come out against SOGI (Laura-Lynn Tyler Thompson and Jimmy Zhao).
“Because that rhetoric has been so prevalent in this election, this was just an opportunity for community members, young people, parents, families, service providers to get together to very vocally and very candidly show our support and highlight the importance of SOGI education in schools,” Evelyn McGowan, a coordinator with Burnaby Youth Hub, told the NOW earlier this week.
Local teacher Donna Morgan told the crowd her story of slowly coming out at work as a lesbian. She said it took many years before she felt comfortable putting a picture of her family in her classroom.
She also said she knew older LGBTQ teachers who never mentioned their partners “because they had so much fear of losing their jobs.”
“I have lived to see it get better,” Morgan said.
Morgan addressed some of the rhetoric coming from SOGI opponents during an interview with the NOW following her speech.
“This idea that teachers can somehow indoctrinate kids – If we do indoctrinate them, it's towards love and acceptance, not towards changing who their essential self is,” she said.
Sabia Hurley, a 2012 Cariboo Hill Secondary graduate, explained the reality of not conforming to the gender binary of men and women.
“I felt cornered into choosing sides in a binary that I realize now wasn't built for me,” they said. (Hurley uses they/them pronouns.)
“If kids saw people who looked like me in books, if they were given the education and knowledge to understand what people like me felt like, I don't think I would feel like I was walking on eggshells through the world today,” Hurley said.
