Content
Skip to Main ContentAccessibility Help
Prince Edward Island Community·EAST COAST PRIDE

Pride P.E.I. - Through My Lens

Queer photographer Hannah Jay captures Pride P.E.I. Through Her Lens.

Photographer finds acceptance and love after coming out in her first "Through My Lens" article

Hannah Jay · Contributor ·

Published by CBC Communications

Woman wearing a ball cap backwards, glasses, a gray t-shirt and flower-patterned skirt, waving a Pride flag. She is also sporting a pair of wings. She's in a Pride parade and going by a building that says, "Confederation Centre for the Arts" in black lettering on the side of the building.
(Hannah Jay for CBC)

Standing on Grafton Street with what felt like all of Charlottetown, it seemed like the parade was never going to end. 

There were more floats than the year before, more people who joined at the end, and more smiles.

Pride Week in Charlottetown had been a major success. 

One year ago, I was sitting here writing what would be my coming out article to my family. It was the story that accompanied my first Through My Lens photographs for CBC, after last year's Pride P.E.I. parade.

A drag queen in along flowing purple gown with white applique standing in a jeep during a Pride parade.
(Hannah Jay for CBC)
I never doubted their love and support for me, but every time I thought about doing so, I was all of a sudden 12 years old and back in a church pew. 


When I got home from the parade last year, I sat down with my mind racing and my heart finally ready. 

I waited for the article to be published before sending it to my parents saying, "This comes from the heart."

Today I get home, sunburnt and overwhelmed once again by the love and joy experienced by everyone. I find myself thinking about what it feels like to have a community where I belong. 

My phone rings. It's my mother. She has church tomorrow. But today she holds up a bisexual flag she crocheted, wanting to know if she got the colours right.

More of Pride P.E.I. through Hannah Jay's lens

A woman lays on a street donning knee pads and roller skates, black shorts and t-shirt while another woman wearing roller skaters, pink helmet and blue shirts, white t-shirt and sunglasses jumps over her during the Pride Parade.
(Hannah Jay for CBC)
A woman wearing a cap of blues and purples, green framed sunglasses and purple lenses, waves a pride flag, a girl behind her has a red patterned kerchief and tie-dyed shirt. In the right hand of the photo is a big Pride flag in the rainbow colours.
(Hannah Jay for CBC)
A trans man with beard, heavy makeup and shoulder length brown hair in a red dress with spaghetti straps. And long red earrings. Sitting in a convertible in the Pride P.E.I. Parade.
(Hannah Jay for CBC)
Pride parade participants one girl with long red heair and a black helmet in black t-shirt and shorts with tattoos on her legs and another woman wearing a black t-shirt with the words "Being Straight Was My Phase" in rainbow colours with a ballcap on backwards. There is a crowd of other participants and spectators in the background.
(Hannah Jay for CBC)
A large marching band carrying flags with a red maple leaf on them walk in a Pride Parade.
(Hannah Jay for CBC)
A person with red pants, purple jacket, wearing a pink, purple, blue and green backpack, and rainbow coloured hat and carrying two large Pride flags. Photo taken from the back.
(Hannah Jay for CBC)
A drag queen with long brown hair smiles as she walks in the Pride P.E.i. parade. She's wearing a tie-dye like printed dress, short in the front with a longer train in the back. It has pinks, yellows, purples, teal blue, orange in the print. Parade spectators are gathered along the parade route.
(Hannah Jay for CBC)
Three woman walk shoulder to shoulder carrying signs in a Pride Parade. The signs on white Bristol board read: "U ARE LOVED"; Love is Love and a blue and pink heart with "Trans rights are human rights"
(Hannah Jay for CBC)

Through My Lens is a community series that features the point-of-view stories behind photos from Atlantic Canada. For Pride celebrations this summer, we offer a peek through the lens of LGBTQ+ photographers and share their East Coast Pride.

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Hannah Jay

Contributor

Hannah Jay (she/her) is a photographer based out of Epekwitk (Prince Edward Island). Discovering her identity as a bisexual in her later teens, she turned her lens to portraiture as a way of exploring the self. Her work is inspired by the sociology of photography, through which we embrace modernity and the digital age, while paying homage to the last century of cultural momentum. Her current work is an exploration of identity between the here and there, the past and present, and defining bridges and exploring the spaces in between what was and what continues to be.

    CBC's Journalistic Standards and Practices|About CBC News
    Corrections and clarifications|Submit a news tip|