“How am I going to put together an outfit in time?” was Teddy Syrette’s reaction just 17 hours before Toronto’s Gay Pride Parade on Sunday.
That was when Syrette got confirmation that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau would be walking in the parade with members of a Human Rights Panel (Trans Rights in the New Generation) he is a member of.
Syrette's second thought was, “I want to get him to do a duck-lips selfie with me.”
The outfit Syrette managed to 'pull together' included an impeccable purple dress with a stylish orange bag.
During a pause in parading, Syrette saw an opportunity to talk to the Prime Minister and he took it - along with his smart phone.
“I introduced myself, told him a bit about who I am, why I was there, and asked if I could get a selfie with him,” Syrette said. “I don’t think he heard me ask him if he would do duck lips with me because, when I looked at the picture, he wasn’t doing duck lips.”
But the PM was smiling and Syrette is happy with the picture.
“He was having a gay old time,” Syrette said.
Syrette, a two-spirited Anishinaabe whose gender is fluid, hails from Batchewana First Nation and is no stranger to Sault Ste. Marie media.
A few months ago he moved to Toronto to work and has been immersing himself in the LGBTQ community and it’s lobby groups in order to build a good foundation of knowledge and experience for an effort he would like to continue back in the Sault.
“There is a lot of work to be done,” Syrette said. “Even in something as simple as pronoun usage.”
When people talk to Syrette about LGBTQ rights they sometimes become impatient with Syrette’s use of the pronoun 'they' to describe themselves, saying it’s grammatically incorrect.
But Syrette insists people use the pronoun a subject person uses to describe him/her/them selves.
“It can provide so much support and create opportunities to promote an environment of inclusion,” they said.
“Not using it is disrespectful.”
It's more than disrespectful, it's harmful and discourages LGBTQ people from talking about their issues, it robs them of their voices, Syrette added.
“Once, when I was doing an intake, I asked the person I was speaking with what pronoun that person preferred I use,” Syrette said. “They said they preferred the pronoun 'they' and then they broke down a little.”
“I was afraid I’d said or done something wrong but they told me they were just so moved and relieved that I took the time to ask rather than just assign them my definition of their gender.”
And that definition of gender is based on how a person identifies, not what their genitalia is, Syrette said.
The use of 'they', 'their' and 'them' as gender-neutral, singular pronouns is becoming more accepted; as is the acceptance of the fact that people define their own genders, they said.
"In this province we have rights," Syrette said. "Like it or not; agree or not; we have a right to define our own genders and what that means to us."
That's why Syrette was at Toronto Pridefest and participating in the Pride Parade with Prime Minister Trudeau in an impeccable purple dress.
Syrette says they will be back in the Sault for the local Pridefest, taking place from July 23 to 30, which will also include a Pride Walk.