Islanders gather at Rainbow Week of Action rally to combat homophobia

About 150 people gathered in downtown Charlottetown on Friday as part of a national movement urging governments to take action against rising hate toward the 2SLGBTQ+ community.

"It was nice to see so many Islanders coming out, to stand with the queer community and to show that there's no place for hate on P.E.I.," said Anastasia Preston, one of the organizers and the trans community outreach co-ordinator at PEERS Alliance.

The National Rainbow Week of Action involves dozens of demonstrations in cities across Canada. The rally on P.E.I. was the first public call to action since last fall, when the community held a rally in Charlottetown response to a protest over school policies endorsing 2SLGBTQ+ rights.

Preston said she was glad not to see any counter-protesters at the rally on Friday.

"We had probably one of the most violent protests that P.E.I. has ever had here last fall," she said. "So this was really important for us to come out and stand against homophobia and transphobia and biphobia and to bring our LGBTQ community together."

Friday was also the National Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia, and Preston said the repeals of guidelines around gender-inclusive education elsewhere in Canada in the past year have been concerning for her.

"We see it in school systems; we see it in legislation. Most notably would be in New Brunswick, in Alberta and in Saskatchewan," she said.

In one example, New Brunswick parents must now grant consent before school staff can use a student's chosen names and pronouns if the child is under the age of 16.

Preston said she'd like to see the P.E.I. government enshrine trans-inclusive education guidelines in legislation, and expand gender-diverse health care throughout the Island.

"There's over 400 Islanders that identify as trans as of the last census, and those Islanders that live in rural areas are currently being underserved," she said. "They have to drive sometimes two hours into Charlottetown in order to get an appointment, and even within Charlottetown, the clinic has limited service hours."

High school student Michael Brazil was at the rally Friday, and said it was almost shocking to see how much support there was.

"It feels great. We're a really small province, so you never really think there's going to be that many people," he said.

Brazil said he's seen increasing support for the queer community, but he has also seen anti-LGBTQ hate getting louder, especially when it comes to youth.

"They view gay people as automatically sexual, even if they're children," he said. "People saying, 'Oh, don't teach about this in schools' because they view it as disgusting or perverted."