Celebrate Pride Month 2022
Here are some ways to celebrate and support LGBTQ+ people
In June, many across Canada recognize Pride Month. It is a time when we celebrate the diversity of LGBTQ+ communities, while acknowledging their history, the hardships they have endured and the progress that has been made.
We have assembled some resources so that you can learn about, celebrate and better support LGBTQ+ people in your community.
Please note, where terms other than LGBTQ+ might be used below, we chose to keep the language of the host community or organization.
Spotlighting Saskatchewan stories
Here's what we've reported on so far this Pride. Have a story idea? Contact saskcomms@cbc.ca.
- How 2SLGBT people are reclaiming their faith and redefining their relationship with spirituality
- Kids lead Pride movement in small Sask. community of Foam Lake
- Indigenous drag artist is 1st queen from Sask. competing to be Canada's Next Drag Superstar
- Sask. government under fire for funding independent schools run by anti-LGBTQ churches
- Community says 'huge amount of progress' still needed to include LGBTQ2S+ voices in Sask.'s narrative
- How three summers of 'pandemic Pride' fostered connections in rural Saskatchewan
Get ready with Aldeneil Espanola as he shows you how he styles an outfit for Pride season:
- Regina to consider ways of making city more 2SLGBTQIAP+ friendly
- Queen City Pride celebrates 1st in-person parade since pandemic began
- People of colour say racism, exclusion, fetishization, rampant in LGBTQ+ communities
- Sask. filmmaker's short shares personal journey to queer acceptance from childhood to adulthood
Celebrate Pride
From hosting parades to leading educational opportunities, here are some Pride non-profits operating in Saskatchewan.
- Battlefords Pride
- Humboldt & Area Pride Network
- Lac La Ronge Regional Pride
- Moose Jaw Pride
- Prince Albert Pride
- Saskatoon Pride
- Southwest Saskatchewan Pride
- Queen City Pride
- Yorkton Pride
Seek resources
From employment tax assistance to an annual camp for gender and sexually diverse youth, Saskatchewan is awash with support. Here are several of those resources.
- Camp Fyrefly
- OUTSaskatoon
- Regina Public Library's programs, films and reading lists
- Saskatchewan Pride Network
- SPACE for Saskatchewan Queer and Trans Youth
- TransSask Support Services
- UR Pride
- USSU Pride Centre
Learn the history
We're fortunate that folks have dedicated time to assembling information about queer history and experiences in Saskatchewan. Happy learning!
- Pride on the Prairies: Queer History in Saskatchewan — An online exhibit by the Diefenbaker Canada Centre in partnership with the USSU Pride Centre.
- Neil Richards Collection of Sexual and Gender Diversity
- Queering the Queen City audio walking tour: Created by Evie Johnny Ruddy and co-produced with Dr. Claire Carter, this walking tour will give you a chance to learn about the history of the LGBTQ+ community in Regina.
- Gender and Sexual Diversity Video Series – Saskatchewan Voices: Using student voices to capture their experience as they explore their gender identity, this video series explores the types of support that is needed for youth to feel accepted and safe in Saskatchewan schools.
- Netflix documentary Secret Love highlights the 71-year love story of two Saskatchewan-born women, including baseball legend Terry Donahue.
Nationally
- The 200 most iconic queers in cultural history
- Queeries, a weekly column by CBC Arts producer Peter Knegt that queries LGBTQ+ art, culture and/or identity through a personal lens.
Be a better ally
By CBC Kids News: She/her, he/him and they/them. What are pronouns?
Watch with Pride
Celebrate Pride Month with movies and series telling the stories of the LGTBQ+ community on CBC Gem. Here are some highlights. More will be released throughout June.
Deep in Vogue: This film celebrates the colourful, queer, emotional and political stories of Northern Vogue and its people.
Fire Song: The film stars Andrew Martin as Shane, a bisexual Indigenous teenager. When his sister, Destiny, commits suicide just weeks before he is scheduled to leave his community to attend university, he is forced to wrestle with the decision of whether to follow his dreams or stay home to help support his family.
Keyboard Fantasies: The Beverly Glenn-Copeland: Emerging from years in isolation to an enraptured crowd, transgender musical genius Beverly Glenn-Copeland finally finds his place in the world.
Sort Of: From creators Bilal Baig (Acha Bacha) and Fab Filippo (Save Me), Sort Of is a big-hearted dramatic comedy about Sabi Mehboob (Baig), a fluid millennial who straddles various identities from sexy bartender at an LGBTQ bookstore/bar, to the youngest child in a large Pakistani family, to the de facto parent of a downtown hipster family.
Take Me to the Prom: This documentary traces the evolution of LGBTQ acceptance in society by asking a multigenerational selection of LGBTQ people to recount a story from their high school prom.
Twenties: From creator Lena Waithe, follow the adventures of Hattie (Good Trouble), a queer and aspiring screenwriter and her two straight best friends Marie (Insecure) and Nia (The Expanse) as they pursue their dreams in LA. While they live separate lives, they lean on each other for guidance as they navigate their twenties.
Women on Fire: From filmmaker Julie Sokolow (Barefoot: The Mark Baumer Story, Aspie Seeks Love) Woman on Fire follows Brooke, the first openly transgender firefighter in New York City, as she sets out to challenge perceptions of what it means to be transgender.
Reading rainbow
CBC Books has some great suggestions for adult reads by Canadian LGBTQ+ authors, as well as selections for kids and teens.
Looking for more? Here are some standout picks by Canadian LGBTQ+ writers for young adults, middle-grade students and those wanting picture books.
Rain Boy by Dylan Glynn
Ages 3-5
Rain Boy is all wet, all the time! This means he's not as popular as Sun Kidd, who brings sunny weather at all times. But Sun Kidd knows Rain Boy is special as well and invites him to her birthday party. But when the party gets all wet, everyone blames Rain Boy. But can Rain Boy learn to love his rain? This weather-themed story is about acceptance and loving to love oneself, no matter who they are.
Salma the Syrian Chef by Danny Ramadan, illustrated by Anna Bron
Ages 4-7
In Salma the Syrian Chef, Salma wants to cook a heartwarming dish to cheer up her mama, who between English classes, job interviews and missing her husband back in Syria, always seems busy or sad. Syrian culture is depicted through the meal Salma prepares and Anna Bron's vibrant illustrations, while the diverse cast of characters speaks to the power of cultivating community in challenging circumstances.
I Promise by Catherine Hernandez, illustrated by Syrus Marcus Ware
Ages 3-8
I Promise is a portrayal of all the joys and challenges of parenting and a celebration of the many different forms that loving families come in.
Shout Out edited by Andrew Wheeler
Ages 13-17
This comics anthology offers a fun and vibrant collection of fantasy and sci-fi comics featuring LGBTQ heroes, from cyberpunks to Viking lovers and demon hunters. There are 37 artists and creators from around the world featured in this book. It is edited by Toronto's Andrew Wheeler, with a forward by award-winning sci-fi writer Nalo Hopkinson.
Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me by Mariko Tamaki, illustrated by Rosemary Valero-O'Connell
Ages 14+
Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me is a graphic novel about a teenage girl named Freddy who can't seem to quit her girlfriend, the popular, enigmatic Laura Dean. Though they keep breaking up and getting back together, Freddy frets over whether to forgive Laura's many indiscretions — while taking her friendships for granted.
Listen to LGBTQ+ voices
Saskatchewan artist LJ Tyson has released a song called "Home On A Rainbow," about being Indigenous and queer on the Prairies.
Season 3 of The Village: The Montreal Murders is on CBC Listen and the podcast Le Village: meurtres, combat, fierté, on Radio-Canada OHdio. Both put the spotlight on early 1990s Montreal, where — against a backdrop of police violence and the AIDS crisis — the LGBTQ+ community is shaken to the core by the unsolved murders of 17 gay men.
In CBC Podcasts' Chosen Family, artists, activists and Black Lives Canada co-founders Syrus Marcus Ware and Rodney Diverlus join hosts Thomas and Tranna for a special conversation on the movement for racial justice within the queer community. The two friends and co-editors of the best-selling essay collection Until We Are Free share their journey and open up about what Pride means to them.
What is "gender identity"? How is it different from "gender expression"? What about "non-binary"? Join host Faith Fundal as they explore these questions in CBC Podcast's They & Us, alongside people who find themselves navigating the world of preferred pronouns, trans rights and the quest to be recognized for who they are.
CBC Music has curated this playlist to honour some of Canada's great LGBTQ+ artists, including Orville Peck, Beverly Glenn-Copeland, Peaches, James Baley, Witch Prophet and Wares.
How are you celebrating Pride Month? Have something to add? Email us at saskcomms@cbc.ca.
