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The founders of a summer camp for 2SLGBTQ+ youth are speaking out against both the Conservatives and their leader in the weeks leading up to the federal election.
In a Facebook post from earlier this week, Welcome Friend Association’s Rainbow Camp co-founders Harry Stewart and Chris Southin petitioned the public to “take a stand” at the polls.
Rainbow Camp, located outside of Echo Bay, is described as a camp for youth ages 12 to 17 who are “two-spirited, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer questioning and allied youth, their siblings and children in queer families,” according to the camp’s website.
“We don’t need political leaders telling our trans community that they don’t belong,” Stewart and Southin said in the social media post.
“We already lose far too many 2SLGBTQ+ kids to suicide — young people who believe their lives will never get better. That’s the heartbreaking reality we’re fighting to change every day at Rainbow Camp.
“Pierre Poilievre has called 2SLGBTQ+ rights ‘woke ideology.’ His comments on change rooms and gender-affirming care for youth don’t just spread misinformation — they actively villainize trans people. Queer advocates across the country are sounding the alarm: a Conservative government led by Poilievre would be dangerous for 2SLGBTQ+ Canadians.”
Speaking to SooToday Friday, Stewart said Poilievre makes the Rainbow Camp founders “think of their campers if the Conservatives were to gain power in Parliament,” after the response to Poilievre’s ‘Canada First’ rally at The Machine Shop in Sault Ste. Marie on Tuesday night.
“That’s when it hit me, that this is a possibility," Stewart added.
“These kids have a hard enough time feeling safe as it is, and when there’s threats of what can happen to the community in general—as we see what’s happening with Trump — it’s an issue.”
Poilievre has made some controversial comments dating back to last year, stating that he opposed puberty blockers, transgender women in female bathrooms and that he is only aware of two genders — male and female.
Stewart said all of that gives the impression the 2SLGBTQ+ community “may not be safe” under a Conservative government, and wondered how Sault Ste. Marie-Algoma Conservative candidate and former Sault Police chief Hugh Stevenson would “make our trans community and our 2SLGBTQ community safe,” if elected as a Member of Parliament for the region.
“What’s his plan? Or, does he just plan on isolating them, and making them feel less than who they are?” Stewart said.
Stevenson did not respond to a request for comment made by SooToday Friday.
