Rainbow’s Pride In Scarborough in the community!

By: Rainbow Coco Channel

My name is Rainbow and I’m a transgender woman with an intellectual and learning disability. I was born and raised in Scarborough and am the project manager and co-founder of Rainbow’s Pride in Scarborough.

Rainbow’s Pride in Scarborough (RPIS) is an event put together by a grassroots community collective and has been held annually for the past 6 years. The event was created when I recognized the need for positive spaces that celebrate the diversity of LGBTQ+ people in   Scarborough.

This year’s Rainbow’s Pride in Scarborough event was on Saturday, September 2^nd from 10:00 am to 3:30 pm at Access Alliance Multicultural Health and Community Services. It was an amazing day, with a drum and smudge and land acknowledgement, ten youth        performers with lived experience, prizes, lots of yummy food from Spice It Up Caribbean catering, art, and two beautiful rainbow cakes. We also hosted a resource fair that included Community Living Toronto, Toby’s Place, and The Griffin Center, among other agencies.

The event is loads of fun and grows every year. There is opportunity for people to connect with each other, have a meal together, express themselves artistically, and access community resources from different organizations.

We provide a space for people to celebrate who they are and feel like they are a part of a community. RPIS has reached many youth and adults with intellectual disabilities from diverse  communities across Scarborough. Newcomer and refugee youth spoke to their recent experiences in Toronto and gratitude for events like RPIS.

The community benefits from Rainbow’s Pride in   Scarborough because LGBTQ+ youth are often  isolated due to lack of resources and social supports in Scarborough. Most of the resources they need are downtown, and many youth struggle to get there due to distance and transportation costs. A lot of youth with disabilities who access services face discrimination within the larger LGBTQ+ community because of their disability. This event serves as a platform for these youth to not only gain resources, but create spaces of celebration.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart to everyone who supporting and contributed to another successful Rainbow’s Pride in Scarborough!

If you would like to contact me, you can email me at: rainbowcocochannel27@outlook.com

To ready the full version of this newsletter click here: Newsletter_2017_November