Some 2SLGBTQ+ people in N.S. on edge as hateful rhetoric rises at home and abroad
CBC
Kai Skinner sometimes takes off her Pride pin and intentionally hides her queerness to avoid hate.
It's something the vice-chair of Lunenburg County Pride said no one should have to do. But a series of incidents in the past year affecting the 2SLGBTQ+ community in Nova Scotia has made Skinner feel uneasy about who she is safe with as a queer woman and where she is welcome.
"It's really hard knowing that I've done so much work to be an openly queer woman for myself, that I'm now having to go back to … pretending that I'm not part of the 2SLGBTQI [two-spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex] community in specific community spaces," Skinner said.
Last spring, a staircase painted in rainbow Pride colours at Bridgewater Town Hall was defaced with a spray-painted symbol of Diagolon — a network that's been called an ideologically motivated and violent extremist organization by a 2022 House of Commons report.
Since then, graffiti of the symbol has continued to appear in the area, according to Lunenburg County Pride, including at least 11 times on a rock face along the highway.
In 2024, CBC News reported on a document drafted by Canada's Integrated Terrorism Assessment Centre which said that "anti-2SLGBTQl+ narratives remain a common theme in violent rhetoric espoused by white nationalists, neo-Nazis … and networks such as Diagolon and QAnon."
The founder of Diagolon, Jeremy MacKenzie, has denied the group is extremist.
To Skinner, hate toward 2SLGBTQ+ people is becoming more emboldened under the current political climate.
The interview with Skinner took place next to the Bridgewater Pride staircase and was interrupted when a person from a nearby building began shouting comments out their window about drag performers, directed at the CBC News crew and Skinner.
"Are you here with the drag queens? Bridgewater loves the drag queens," the person said in a derisive tone.
In recent years, drag performers in North America have increasingly become the target of hate and, in many cases, threats of violence.
"That's the exact rhetoric that has emboldened the hate," Skinner said in response to the shouting. "That is why we have to do safety planning."
She said Lunenburg County Pride has had to alert authorities when it holds events and create security plans.
Since the Pride staircase was defaced, there has been a spate of vandalism targeting 2SLGBTQ+ businesses and people in Nova Scotia.
WARNING: This story details allegations of child abuse.
It’s been hard to keep track of how many legal challenges and active court proceedings the United Conservative government has tried to quash or pre-emptively block in the last six weeks, but let’s try to tally:
Margaret Walker, the emcee of a Waterloo vigil commemorating the victims of the Montreal massacre, doesn't feel enough is being done to reflect on the killings and address gender-based violence.
The P.E.I. Humane Society says it is doing far more fundraising than it used to, and rising expenses — including the cost of animal medications — are a big reason why.
Ottawa is staring down a court-ordered deadline to submit a new plan to reform the on-reserve child welfare system, as a group of First Nations leaders and children’s advocates prepare a competing proposal.
An underpass revitalization project that was meant to pay tribute to the people of Parkdale has instead deteriorated into “a garbage dump,” according to nearby residents.
A young man has been charged with criminal negligence causing bodily harm after a fire at a frat party near Western University that injured five sorority sisters, including two seriously, late Tuesday night.
The massive deal to combine one of Hollywood's oldest studios with a streaming giant hasn't even been approved yet, but it's already riling multiple related industries and politicians concerned about monopolies and media concentration.
Mi'kmaq chiefs and a former Nova Scotia justice minister are criticizing the provincial government for directing police to crack down on illegal cannabis, saying the order undermines relations with Indigenous Peoples.
For years, there has been “glaring inequity” in the way the province has allocated the millions of dollars in its county roads budget, according to Department of Transportation Minister Chuck Chiasson.
Six months after passing a law aimed at making it easier for new grocery stores to open, Manitoba's premier says lower grocery bills could be on the horizon.
Timothy Smith was acting in self-defence when he punched Landon Waddell, and shouldn't be found guilty of manslaughter, his lawyer says.
Thoroughbred horse racing at Vancouver’s Hastings Racecourse is ending after more than a century, with the operator announcing Friday it will no longer run a racing season at the historic facility.