Queer youth at Kitchener conference optimistic about the future of LGBTQ+ rights

The future of LGBTQ+ rights is looking bright for some young people who attended the OK2BME gender and sexuality alliance (GSA) conference in Kitchener.  

That includes Tor La, 14, who was one of the youth leaders at the conference held Feb. 16 at Bingemans. They expect the status quo in schools will change in the future. 

La said that when they were in Grade 8, a teacher wouldn't allow them to hold their partner's hands.  

"We should be allowed to hold hands with the same sex even if we're young because you see so many heterosexual relationships doing that and they turn a blind eye," La told CBC News.

"They don't care, but then when they see a homosexual or same sex relationship, it's much more problematic," La added.

"So I definitely think that in 10 years we're going to be more [progressive] and we're going to accept that it's possible." 

La was one of the more than 300 people who attended the annual GSA conference, which was aimed at young people in grades seven to 12 in Waterloo region.

The theme for this year's conference was "no fear to be queer" — a slogan that La thought up.  

'A lot of hope' 

Sarah Siembida, 25, who is Two Spirit Indigiqueer, said they're optimistic that queer rights will not only be maintained, but advanced over the next 10 years. 

"I have a lot of hope that things will get better," Siembida said in an interview following their keynote address. "I have a lot of hope that things will change, that more safe spaces will become accessible as in being in the downtown core."

Siembida is the Smart Waterloo Region poet laureate and was the keynote speaker at the conference. They also participated in the conference 10 years ago as an attendee.  

"Hope is something that I've learned throughout my whole life to really connect with and sit with," Siembida said.

"There were a lot of times I didn't have hope, where I felt hopeless, and during those times it was my mother who always instilled in me: There's no room to ever give up."

Erin Huston, the community engagement lead with OK2BME, said the conference was formed to foster community and connection, while providing attendees a safe space.

'People are scared'

Liv Harris, another one of the youth leaders at the conference, agreed that "sense of community" is a big draw for the conference.

However, the 16-year-old is not feeling as optimistic as the others about the future of queer rights, relating it to police brutality and the lack of progression in race relations.  

"People are scared that if queer people have the same amount of power as [cisgender heterosexual] people do, that we're going to treat them the way that they treated us, so I think that as long as people hold that fear we'll never truly be equals," Harris said.

"But I do think people need to know that we don't want to treat people the way that we're treated. We just want equality. We want to be on the same level. We don't want to be above. We don't wanna be below."