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Hamilton Spectator

A great day to battle bigotry in Kahnawake

It would have been difficult to ask for a nicer day for an event than last Friday's sunny summer-like weather, making it the perfect day for Kahnawake Shakotiia'takehnhas Community Services (KSCS) to host its International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, and Transphobia (IDAHOBIT) outside the Service Complex. 'Today is such an awesome day. It's been a great turnout. We have beautiful weather, we have music, we have food. Everyone seems to be in very good spirits. I think it's been a wonderful event,' said Kyla Jacobs, KSCS's team leader of primary prevention. While IDAHOBIT was on Saturday, May 17, Jacobs said the event was on the Friday to allow schools to come by the event. Along with the Rezican truck, hot dogs, and drinks, were cookies that were LGBTQ+ themed, including different Pride flags, trans rainbows, and more – and all free of charge. There was also an educational component to the event, with KSCS booths that engaged with LGBTQ+ topics through games and trivia, as well as booths run by community groups from outside the community, including Jeunes Adultes Gai.e.s (JAG) and Project 10. Dawson Horne, a KSCS prevention worker, was in charge of coordinating the yearly event this year, doing so for the first time. 'As someone who is a part of the LGBTQ+ community, it means so much to me that there's representation for Indigenous people who are part of this community,' said Horne. 'It warms my heart to see the amount of allies come out and to show their support in such a big way. It just means so much to me and to other people in this community.' Jacobs echoed Horne's sentiment in seeing the growth of support for LGBTQ+ events - and community members - in town. 'We have seen a lot of progress, but there still is work to be done, and we want to ensure that they feel recognized and included and supported,' said Jacobs. 'Kahnawake is a small community, but over the years, we've seen more and more support, and more and more people are attending events such as these. I just feel like it's such a great thing. We want to ensure a healthy community, and that includes everybody.' Horne said having outside resources come to Kahnawake to do some outreach was important for the event, to show community members who may need help that these organizations exist. 'We want to bridge the gap between the city and someone living across the Mercier Bridge, to make it a little bit easier for them to not only get knowledge, but to get services,' said Horne. Raphaël Leblanc ran the booth for JAG at the event, and they explained that while there are several different LGBTQ+ organizations in Montreal, that is not the case in Monteregie - it's just JAG, which has offices in Longueuil and St-Hyacinthe. They also said that outreach is important for JAG, as they are less known than other, larger Montreal-based organizations, and that JAG is not just for homosexual men. 'It's very, very important for us to so that we are known and people know that we exist and that we do so many different things,' said Leblanc. They said that that help includes referring people to other organizations if needed, or resources in their area that could help them on the South Shore instead of on-island, for example. Leblanc said that staying informed and well educated on LGBTQ+ rights and happenings remains very important, as bigotry continues to be on the rise in 2025, particularly online but also politically in places like the United States. 'One of the things that's been obvious is the rise in homophobia and transphobia, especially within younger men, and it often comes from these echo chambers online and this bubble of misinformation and disinformation. 'I just think it's important for us to have proper discussions on what is fact and what is feeling. Because I feel like today, we mix one with the other. We should be able to discuss it and to not have to debate if LGBTQ+ people exist,' they said, giving as an example the erasure and persecution of trans people in the United States and the United Kingdom. Horne said that no matter what, LGBTQ+ people are not going away, nor should they be forced to hide themselves. 'I just want to continue to reiterate that whatever is going on politically, whether it's good or bad, the LGBTQ+ community will never go away, and we're always going to be strong, we're always going to be loud, and we're always going to continue to love, because at the end of the day, that's all, that's all we want,' said Horne. 'We just want acceptance. We want people to see us as regular human beings that just exist in this society. We want equality.' olivier@ Olivier Cadotte, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter