Elliot Page among 2SLGBTQ+ stars recognized at PTP Pink Awards

Actor Elliot Page and musician Rufus Wainwright were among the stars who honoured 2SLGBTQ+ charities at the inaugural PTP Pink Awards in Toronto Thursday, in the shadow of a U.S. election that has many worried about queer and trans rights.

The gala at the Globe and Mail Centre was organized by the media company Pink Triangle Press to give prominent 2SLGBTQ+ Canadians a chance to benefit a community organization of their choice. 

The 2024 Pink Awards were hosted by drag pop star Queen Priyanka, winner of the first season of Canada's Drag Race, and featured performances by Wainwright, Katie Tupper and two-time Polaris Music Prize winner Jeremy Dutcher.

Tupper told CBC News the event felt like a "breath of hope," in a time that "feels so scary and horrifying for our community, our trans friends, everyone that is going to be severely impacted by what's happening in the States and how it trickles into Canada."

Pink Triangle Press executive director and CEO David Walberg, arriving on the pink carpet, said the event was organized in response to the current politically volatile atmosphere for queer and trans people — an atmosphere that was emphasized by Tuesday's U.S. presidential election, when Donald Trump came out on top after running a campaign that promised to roll back trans rights and used anti-trans rhetoric in speeches and TV ads.

"We're seeing queer people being used as political footballs, and a lot of scapegoating of the community going on," Walberg said. "We wanted to take back our own narrative. We wanted to be able to tell our own stories." 

Page said he was grateful to highlight the work of Skipping Stone, a Calgary-based organization that works with gender diverse people, specifically highlighting its importance in light of "cruel and dehumanizing" policies recently put forward by the Alberta government.

The province introduced bills last week to prohibit minors from receiving certain types of gender-affirming care, require parents be notified when a child wants to use a different name or pronoun at school, and require that parents opt in before their children are taught about sex in class. Another bill is designed to limit the participation of transgender athletes in sport.

"I think right now what is so important is community, and coming together and being there for one another," Page said. "I do believe that in the end, queer and trans liberation and love will win."

Wainwright honoured PFLAG, a charity that helps parents accept and support their 2SLGBTQ+ children — something he said he wishes he had access to when he came out at age 13. 

"All of the people who are being honoured are really becoming so much more valuable now that Trump has won the presidency in America," he said. "We've got to get out there and support each other in the battle ahead."

Latoya Nugent, who came to Canada from Jamaica and now helps other 2SLGBTQ refugees resettle in Canada and the U.S. with the organization Rainbow Railroad, said programs that help the people she works with are under threat following Tuesday's election.

"We really don't know what will happen. But we are prepared for the worst," said Nugent, who honoured Among Friends, another organization that works with 2SLGBTQ refugee claimants.

Dutcher, the 2024 Polaris Prize winner, honoured 2-Spirited People of the 1st Nations, which works with two-spirit people in Ontario, while hockey player Marie-Philip Poulin honoured the You Can Play Project, which works for 2SLGBTQ+ inclusion in sports.