Binbrook Pride takes place today, after a year of feeling both love and wrath of social media
Social Sharing
Social media has proven to be a double-edged sword for Binbrook Pride, which hosts its fifth annual pride celebration at the town's fairgrounds on Sunday.
Through platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Tiktok, the 2SLGBTQ+ organization in Hamilton has been able to reach new people and evolve from a hangout outside Tim Hortons to a vibrant Binbrook community festival.
Binbrook Pride has also used social media to find new sponsors quickly this year after some previous contributors pulled out, says Kasha Czech, a drag performer who heads up the organization.
But social media has also led to online harassment for organizers and participants after a video of a performer at last year's event went viral, Czech added. Last time she looked, the video had 17 million views across all platforms.
"It was a performer, a trans entertainer, who was revealing their scars from top surgery in the performance," said Czech.
She said the content was shared on anti-trans social media accounts and on various platforms.
The performer, 20-year-old Hamilton student Finnick Brisson, describes himself as a proud trans man, and said the performance, which happened two months after his top surgery, "went great."
Then hateful posts and messages began flooding his social media accounts the next day, and a popular YouTube channel made a reaction video making fun of him, Brisson said.
'We deserve to feel safe'
"There were a lot of anti-trans groups that started coming after me and slid into my DMs," Brisson told CBC Hamilton on Wednesday.
"Police don't do much. It was very difficult. For something that should be and is super positive to be turned into something negative, it was very painful."
The furor calmed down after a couple months, but led Brisson to face serious mental health challenges that required hospitalization, he said. It also led to some positive outcomes such as the numerous local and international artists that reached out to support him, such as Priyanka, a winner from Canada's Drag Race.
"There's beauty being different and not fitting the binary," Brisson said. "To attack humans just trying to be themselves who are no threat to anyone is saddening.
"We deserve to feel safe."
He said he is speaking out now to show people he remains proud of who he is.
Czech said the online mob also came after festival organizers, with people threatening to "dox" them. The term dox refers to the practice of searching and publishing private information, usually with malicious intent.
"We had to shut down all of our social media temporarily while it blew over," she said.
She adds that the furor has been reignited in a smaller way since they've been promoting this year's Pride online, but says organizers rely on the internet to advertise. The current political climate in the U.S., where politicians are openly targeting trans people, and people are protesting drag events, explains – but doesn't excuse – the behaviour BinBrook Pride is encountering, she said.
"'Trans' is a buzzword or 'drag' is a buzzword people can use politically, even while not having a full understanding of what trans people are, or what drag queens do," she said.
Hamilton Pride a new sponsor this year
Czech believes the political climate has also affected the sponsorship side of Binbrook Pride, which saw two of its previous sponsors, totalling about a quarter of its funding, pull out this year. Czech points to the pullback on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives happening at many American companies across the continent.
Fortunately, she said, a panicked call for new backing on social media led to several new vendors and a sponsorship agreement with Hamilton Pride, which is now a presenting sponsor alongside the Binbrook Agricultural Society.
Sunday event runs 12 to 5 p.m.
The family-friendly event takes place from 12 to 5 p.m. at the Binbrook Fairgrounds on Sunday, the day after Haldimand-Norfolk Pride kicks off Pride month in Port Dover.
The Binbrook event is hosted by Karma Kameleon and Chimaera, and includes drag shows, musicians, information booths, vendors, a scavenger hunt and comedy.
It also has a stage this year, said event co-chair Vanessa Medina, noting past years' performances happened on the grass.
"It's so important to have people who live in or around our community showing up making themselves seen," she said. "Hopefully that reduces any stigma of what people perceive a queer community to be like."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CTV News
14 minutes ago
- CTV News
‘It's a plague': Advocates renew calls for renoviction bylaw in Kitchener
Local advocates are renewing their calls for a bylaw that would prevent renters from losing their homes and protect them from bad landlords. Known as a 'renoviction,' the term refers to the practice of forcing a tenant out of a building, citing the need for extensive renovations or repairs in the unit. On Monday, more than a dozen people took their fight to Kitchener City Hall, hoping to grab the attention of councillors and city staff. 'People need a renoviction bylaw passed,' said Ryan Murdock, secretary of the Waterloo chapter of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN). 'They need it passed now. They needed it passed yesterday.' Linda Vos is one of several tenants at 250 Frederick St., who received a renoviction notice earlier this year. While her case was dismissed by the Landlord Tenant Board last week, she said other people in her building aren't as lucky. ACORN RALLY Local housing advocates are renewing their calls for a bylaw in Kitchener that would prevent renters from losing their homes and protect them from bad landlords. (Alexandra Holyk/CTV News) '(The landlords) seem to be targeting the individuals that have lower rents, that have been living in my building for decades,' said Vos. To put the problem into perspective, ACORN said it surveyed 160 tenants in Waterloo Region, with 28 per cent saying they received one or more eviction notices in the last five years. Of those, 54 per cent were notices to vacate for renovations or demolition. 'It's a plague that's really going across the country,' said Murdock. 'And that's why you see other municipalities, other regions stepping up and protecting their citizens, protecting their tenants, and that's what we need Kitchener to do here.' Back in February, city staff told council they needed time to review how similar bylaws worked in other jurisdictions like Hamilton, London and Toronto. They're expected to share their findings in a report at a committee meeting on June 16. 'There's no reason that Kitchener can't do it,' said ACORN's Ken Vogelpohl. 'All we've been hearing is excuses. What we want is some action.' But according to one city councillor, action requires resources – something the city doesn't have. 'The province hasn't provided the tools to us to do that,' said Ward 9 Councillor Debbie Chapman in an interview with CTV News. 'But the fact that these other cities are doing it, I'd love to see Kitchener follow suit.' It's still not clear when a renoviction bylaw could come into force, but advocates say they're not going anywhere until something is done. 'It's time to actually do something,' said Vogepohl. 'We're going to be here. We're going to be at the mics. We're going to be putting more pressure on council to make sure that this happens.'
CTV News
14 minutes ago
- CTV News
Electronic music festival cancelled after Cambridge council denies noise exemption
A music festival that had been scheduled to take place in Cambridge next month will not be happening after city council denied their application for a noise exemption. The Rising Tide Music and Arts Festival was supposed to take place in The Gaslight District on July 5 from 4 p.m. until 11 p.m. Afterwards, an indoor event would follow until approximately 2 a.m. In social media posts, organizers called it 'more than a party – it's a movement.' However, during a council meeting on May 27, councillors raised concerns with how loud the event would be. 'Most of us understand what that music festival is all about and the kind of noise that is going to create,' Mayor Jan Liggett said. 'We have a senior's home right next door to it; we have condos all around it – [it's] right on the river where it's going to carry across the river. That entire neighbourhood is going to be very disrupted.' Councillor Sheri Roberts also shared concerns about the level of noise the festival would generate. 'Even a regular concert that happens there, I do get a lot of complaints from neighbours and people reaching out with their concerns about the sound,' Roberts said. 'Those are events that end at 10 p.m. I just really have trouble with this one going until 2 a.m. I think that it's maybe not the right location to have an event that goes until that time, being right in the middle of the residential neighbourhood.' Ultimately, all councillors present voted to deny a noise exemption. Councillor Ross Earnshaw was not at the meeting. In a social media post on Monday, the organizers of the Rising Tide Music and Arts Festival wrote, 'With heavy hearts, we must share that Rising Tide Music & Arts Festival will not be moving forward this year. Despite our best efforts, the City Council has denied our noise exemption with no opportunity to appeal this decision.' The post said all ticket holders would receive a full refund in the coming days. 'We are devastated,' the social media post read. 'So much passion, planning, and community support has gone into bringing this event to life, and we know many of you were as exited as we were to come together in celebration this summer.' Organizers are planning to move forward with another event, Rising Tide Presents: Cloverdale, at Room 47 in Waterloo on June 13.
CTV News
14 minutes ago
- CTV News
Ontario widow initially denied $25K in late husband's life insurance policy
If you have a life insurance policy you should check to make sure it's in good standing and you're up to date on your payments. A widow from eastern Ontario says she was initially denied $25,000 laid out in her late husband's life insurance policy, after part of the terms expired three weeks before his death. 'I was really upset because they said I would get it all when he passed,' Sharon Morris, of Roslin, Ont., told CTV News. Sharon Morris said she was married to her late husband, Alex, for 54 years. In December 2024, he was diagnosed with terminal cancer. As his health deteriorated, Morris said her husband wanted to ensure his life insurance policy would be there to help his family. 'He knew he was dying and he wanted me to call (Canada Life) ahead of time and find out, so he would know I would have some money coming to me,' Morris said. They had been paying for life insurance for 43 years, Morris said, and had a base policy of $5,000 plus dividends and a term policy that would pay $25,000. Morris said she called Canada Life in January to check on their policy, and was told she would get both amounts after her husband passed. 'They said it was a whole life policy and I would get the full amount, but I needed a death certificate,' Morris said. Her husband died on Feb. 25 at the age of 75. When Morris called Canada Life back, she said she was told part of their life insurance policy expired three weeks earlier. 'They refused the $25,000 rider he had on his policy,' Morris said, noting she was only paid just over $7,000. It was Morris's understanding that the term policy had not expired and says she should have been told that before, when she called in January. 'They told me to wait until he died and then I would get the whole amount. That's why I'm terribly upset about it because they told me I was going to get it,' Morris said. In a statement to CTV News, Canada Life said: 'While we cannot comment on the specifics due to privacy, we've worked through the exceptional circumstances of this case to deliver a solution of our customer.' Canada Life paid Morris the full $25,000 in the end. 'It's a very big relief. He was so worried because I had to get that money to keep me going. I'm very grateful,' Morris said.
