Many gay and lesbian youth from the wider Ottawa area are seeking support in Centretown because resources aren’t available in their own communities, says Jeremy Dias, founder of Jer’s Vision, an organization that makes school presentations tackling bullying and homophobia.
Rising demand for such outreach activities has several Centretown groups ramping up initiatives to support GLBTQ youth.
Dias’s group hosts many social events for queer youth in Centretown, including dances, field trips and roundtable discussions – one with Ottawa Centre MPP Yasir Naqvi among the scheduled guests. He says these events are becoming increasingly popular.
“Kids are coming to these events because they don’t feel safe in their own communities. They’re facing all kinds of discrimination,” Dias says.
“These events are the first time they feel like they can be themselves. They get to share their experiences, good and bad,” he adds. “One kid told me it was the first time he got to feel normal.”
Jer’s Vision isn’t the only group expanding its initiatives for GLBTQ youth.
Pink Triangle, another advocacy group in downtown Ottawa, has been operating Canada’s oldest queer youth group for 27 years.
Pink Triangle is adding to its youth services because of a steady increase in demand, says Claudia Van den Heuvel, the organization’s executive director.
“One client told me that if it wasn’t for our program, they might not be here today,” she said. “I think that speaks to how important it is that we run these programs.”
Teens come from all over Ottawa and from as far away as Pembroke to attend the weekly meetings, Van den Heuvel says.
“They’re very thankful that something like this is available. They say they wish there was something like that in their own community,” she says. “If it’s their parents bringing them in, they’re the lucky ones. Some kids might not even be out to their parents. They can’t tell their parents why they’re coming to downtown Ottawa,” she says.
Resources for teens who haven’t come out are also available.
The Ottawa Public Library offers GLBTQ resources that are easily accessible to all young people, including those who are questioning their sexuality, says Allison Hall-Murphy, the library’s teen co-ordinator.
She says the resources are especially important for youth who are not openly gay, because they can easily access them without identifying themselves as GLBTQ.
“We don’t censor anything about being gay or sexuality,” she adds.
“We really try to have a lot of books for questioning teens,” she adds, including published material “that’s directly about what it means to be gay, non-fiction books about coming out and exploring your sexuality (and) other books where the character is gay and it’s just incidental.”
Hall-Murphy says an increasing number of young readers are accessing GLBTQ books and resources at the library.