York festivities show pride also alive in the 905

CP24.com
June 22, 2014
Joshua Freeman,

It's a bright Saturday the day after WorldPride has officially kicked off. Rainbow flags are flying, roads are closed off, a slew of groups are sporting slogan-clad tshirts and the LGBT community is on the march along Yonge Street.

Only this isn't a Toronto Pride event, or even Toronto.

This pride parade is taking place in the 905, about 10 kilometres north of the city's border. This is regional pride and yes, such a thing exists.

Though often obscured by the gravitational pull of Toronto's LGBT life and services, other parts of the GTA have been making a concerted effort to try and show that one need not venture to downtown Toronto to feel accepted and understood.

"The main issue for LGBT in the 905 area is the fact that they don't understand that we have all the resources and the parade here and they feel they have to go down to Toronto," says Jacob Gal, the event and media coordinator for York Pride Fest.

He lists off a string of organizations from PFLAG York Region to trans support groups to MyHouse, a resource centre in Richmond Hill that services the LGBT community in York Region.

While Gal, a 19-year-old Newmarket resident, is enthusiastic, organizers concede it's a challenge to draw together the community in a visible way.

"One small organization organized Pride up until 2005 and then they folded and there was nothing at all that happened in 2006," says Dave Williams, a longtime volunteer who runs gayyorkregion.com. "Then in 2007 because of that a consortium of community groups and NGOs decided to come together and create something called York Pride Fest."

Until 2012, the group's signature event was an annual BBQ. This year marks just the second time an actual parade has been held by the group, with a full closure of Yonge Street from Major Mackenzie Drive to the Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts. While still small, Gal says attendance increased to about 350 this year.

A far cry from the sort of open revelry associated with Toronto Pride, York Pride Fest is advertised as a nudity-free family event where spectators are more-likely to see kids on rollerblades than thongs and feathers.

While the event may be toned down a few notches for the family-oriented community, Gal says regional governments are making an effort to show LGBT residents that there's a place for them outside Toronto.

"Wherever you go - whether it's Newmarket, Richmond Hill, Woodbridge, or Markham, we've got LGBT people living everywhere," Gal says. "The question is, who's out."

Other regional pride events include the annual Durham Pride Parade in Oshawa as well as Pride Week events in Peel Region.

However a survey of the scene in Richmond Hill indicates that there is still work to be done. While a small, enthusiastic group are visible at the main event, some of the most vocal participants are in fact visitors from south of Steeles.

Stefonknee Wolscht is one of them.

Sporting bright blonde hair, decked out in a pink and white outfit and carrying a sign advocating trans rights, Wolscht is hard to miss.

Identifying as trans, Wolscht, 51, was married to a woman for 23 years and lived in Georgina up until 2009 when her wife asked her to stop being trans. Wolscht refused and eventually split from her partner and moved to Toronto.

Gesturing toward a nearby church where she was married years ago, she says she feels a responsibility to come back for events such as Pride Fest.

"I believe that if I"m up here supporting our neighbours to the north where I used to live, perhaps the world will be a better place for young LGBT people," Wolscht says.

"I think once you go north of Bloor, it"s hard," Wolscht says of being LGBT in York Region.
She adds that being trans even further complicates daily life.

Though Wolscht ultimately felt it was best to move to Toronto, other trans people continue to work and live in the 905, sometimes in the face of discrimination.

"Here there are a lot of different cultural groups and some of them are very conservative," says Xeph Kalma, a 31-year-old Richmond Hill resident who identifies as trans.

Kalma recalls one incident where she was publicly ridiculed for her appearance.

"I was at a restaurant just eating a poutine like a normal person does and I sat next to this couple," Kalma says. "The boyfriend apparently took issue with how I looked and became vocal about it even though I was within earshot.

"He was talking to his girlfriend about it and she got really angry at him actually and kind of just yelled at him a bit it and then stood up and walked away."

While Kalma says the encounter was uncomfortable, she says such incidents are not as common as one might expect.

"It's not that bad. It could be worse. It could be much worse," she says of living openly as a trans person in York Region.

However that's not to say there aren't day-to-day challenges.

"In terms of finding physicians and the help you need, it's really hard," Kalma says "I've approached a few physicians and asked if they'd take me on as a patient and I still have yet to find one because they usually deny me."

A quick Internet search for LGBT-friendly doctors in York Region turns up a short list.

For that reason alone, Kalma says she may eventually move south of Steeles despite the fact the move would take her farther away from her job doing software quality assurance.

Despite the challenges, most participants on the street say things appear to be looking up in terms of life for LGBT people in the 905. Wolscht points out that PFLAG York Region, has been receiving more and more requests for presentations at schools across the municipality. She adds that while Toronto usually gets credit for being the most gay-friendly spot in the region, the city currently stands apart in having a mayor who refuses to attend pride events.

"This is the second parade (in York Region)," Wolscht says "They've closed the street down -- obviously the town has said 'we're going to support you.'

"If you think back to Stonewall (riots) and the bathhouse raids, everything starts small. Next week there are going to be two million people in Toronto for World Pride; it started out like this. You nurture this and it turns into something beautiful."