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Queer Momentum
May 11-17, 2024 is National Rainbow Week of Action!
We all deserve the freedom to be our true selves, to be safe in our communities, and treated with dignity.
Queer and trans people are our friends, family, neighbours and coworkers. Just like everyone in Canada, queer and trans people deserve the freedom to be ourselves, to be safe in our communities, and treated with dignity. Through a National Rainbow Week of Action from May 11th to 17th 2024, we are lifting up our voices to urge governments and elected officials at every level to take action for Rainbow Equality and address rising hate.
Right now, hate is on the rise, powered by far-right groups and opportunistic politicians who are scapegoating 2SLGBTQ+ people for political gain. Instead of addressing the housing crisis, fixing our healthcare system or supporting fair wages, they're trying to distract and divide by taking cheap shots at a vulnerable community. Underneath their pretty slogans is an insidious agenda - an effort to restrict our freedoms, control our bodies and sow division. But we reject their agenda - we choose unity, love and a better Canada for all our families instead.
That's why we are speaking up for the free, equal, and socially just future we all deserve - for a Canada where all our families are safe and supported.
Join us for a week celebrating the kind of Canada we want: one where everyone feels safe and is free to be their true selves. Where we aren't divided by our differences but united in our diversity. Where politicians deal with the big issues facing our communities, instead of sowing division and fear to gain power.
Together, we can speak up for the kind of Canada all our families deserve. Ultimately, that's what #RainbowEquality is all about. Join us - attend a rally in your community, send your MP a letter, and lift up your voice for a more free and equal future for all our families.
For more information:
https://www.momentumcanada.net/
https://www.rainbowequality.ca/
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International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia | Stand up against hate. At GECO, we stand up against hate and discrimination every day. | | | |
What can you do to help?
The National Rainbow Week of Action kicks off in just a few days. Thanks to an amazing response from people across the country there are now 19 rallies planned, and more than 30 letter writing events!
Today I am writing to ask you to do a few things to keep building the hype and engagement:
1.Please add your name and send a letter to your MP and the Prime Minister about Rainbow Week of Action.
2.If you’ve already sent a letter, please share the digital letter writing campaign with other people who may be interested. You can use this graphic for social media.
3.RSVP and plan to attend a rally or letter writing event near you.
4.Plan to attend Momentum’s webinar “Understanding and Addressing Anti-2SLGBTQIA+ Hate” on May 13 at 6:00 pm EST. Register here.
Together, we are building the largest queer and trans mobilization since marriage equality. Please take action today to speak out against rising hate, and for a more equal and free Canada for everyone.
In Solidarity,
Fae Johnstone, Executive Director
Society of Queer Momentum
Momentum Canada
https://www.momentumcanada.net/
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Red Dress Day honours the memories of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls across Canada. Métis artist Jaime Black helped inspire the red dress movement, where red dresses are hung from windows and trees to represent the pain and loss felt by loved ones and survivors. | |
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Red Dress Day
May 5, 2024 was National Day of Awareness for missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and two-spirited people.
Red Dress Day is observed on May 5 each year to raise awareness of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and Two Spirit+ people in Canada. This annual remembrance traces its roots back to the REDress Project initiated by Métis artist Jamie Black in 2010. Since then, it has evolved into a nationwide movement to signify awareness of the number of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and two-spirited people.
This is completely unacceptable. It is shameful. We need to call for an end to the acceptance of the fact that Indigenous girls, women, and two-spirited people can go missing or get murdered and this does not result in national outcry.
If a non-Indigenous person goes missing, there is a nation-wide Canadian search. Why is this different for the Indigenous community? A person is a person. We all deserve the same dignity and human respect.
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How Mother's Day Went From Being an Empowering Feminist Movement to a Capitalist Sales Pitch - the whorticulturalist | How a radical holiday celebrating the greater role of women got watered down to a marketing opportunity. | | | |
Mothers Day!
Mother's Day was first proposed by Anna Reeves Jarvis, a social activist and community organizer through the civil war era, and it was definitely not to celebrate the domestic roles mothers played. In fact, she wanted Mother’s Day to celebrate women's roles outside of the home, and how mothers had extremely important roles as social organizers. They didn't just raise their own children, but their raised the entire community. The first forms of Mother’s Day that Jarvis organized were in 1858 West Virginia to help improve sanitation in the Appalachian mountains. Her organizationational efforts also helped provide medical services to soldiers and civilians during the Civil War, and afterwards, the mother members helped former combatants set aside their animosities and hatred and form new social and political alliances. It was never about what these mothers were doing at home for their children, but what they were doing in their communities for everybody.
Business owners, and capitalists recognized the power that was in appreciating women as essential to building and caring for communities, and strove to erase it until we only defined motherhood, and mothers, as being isolated and singular members of family, and not public protectors.
This minimization also went hand in hand with the commercialization of the holiday. Originally, carnations were given on the day because they were cheap to purchase, which meant that every mother could be celebrated. But within years, stores began preparing elaborate window displays full of lush boxes of chocolates, expensive jewelry, or clothing, touting them as the only acceptable ways to appreciate your mother’s labour. Motherhood, which had been seen as a social and political duty to literally 'mother' the community as a whole through activism and reform, was privatized and limited just to the domestic sphere; cheapened with generic cards filled with terrible poetry, or wilted, overpriced flowers, which is how we celebrate it today.
https://www.thewhorticulturalist.com/read/how-mothers-day-went-from-being-an-empowering-feminist-movement-to-a-capitalist-scam
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RAINBOW CONNECTIONS
GECO is working with RAINBOW OPTIMIST on a United Way grant to provide safe community spaces for trans and 2SLGBTQIA+ youth.
To learn more, or become involved in this exciting project, follow us on socials or connect with us via email or through our webpage.
ENTER our Rainbow Connections LOGO DESIGN to win $500.00. Submit a logo design for Rainbow connections by May 15, 2024.
Submissions to be sent to: azgendereqcoalition@gmail.com
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CONNECT HER: WOMEN IN SKILLED TRADES
GECO is working with Fanshawe College CTS and other organizations across Canada on a project called Connect HER. The Goal of this project is to facilitate the sharing of knowledge, education, connections, and knowledge related to creating and fostering a more supportive workplace for women and gender diverse people in skilled trades.
Stay tuned for more information related to this project.
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GECO is heading to the CCWESTT conference in Victoria, BC to present on the award-winning model igniteHER: Women in Technology and on the project that we are currently working on called Connect HER: Women in skilled trades. We are presenting on both topics and talking about how the future of women in trade is related to the fifth wave of feminism! | | |
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Want to join the 5th wave of feminism?
At GECO, we have recently introduced a new membership model. If you sign up to be a member of GECO, you receive access to exclusive educational tools and resources in addition to access to all our events (speakers series) and conferences.
Membership prices are available on our webpage.
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GECO has a new WEBSITE!
Scan the QR code to visit our new website, or click below.
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Activism - Queer Momentum
This month, and every month, GECO will continue to fight transphobia and hate by taking part in local activism and counter protests related to trans hate. This is an important part of our work. GECO advocates for equality for all genders. Too often, trans and queer folks and communities feel left out of gender and feminist movements because of a history of exclusion. We are fighting for the fifth wave of feminism, one that is intentionally inclusive of all genders, sexes, and sexualities.
To learn more follow or support Queer Momentum.
LINK to Queer Momentum
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If not YOU, then WHO?
Do you want to live in a more equitable and just society? Do you believe that we should have gender equality in our community? If so, please consider joining the Gender Equality Coalition of Ontario as a member. We have a new membership model that includes member benefits such as a GECO resource hub, special access and pricing for events, advocacy work, an invitation to be part of committee work, and an acknowledgement of your commitment to achieve gender justice.
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