Courage Persists: Nonviolent Strategies for 2SLGBTQ Rights
April 22, 29, May 6, 13, 2025
This practical 4-week series welcomes all allies and 2SLGBTQIA+ community members who want to oppose hate and double down on courage, love, and bold support for our beloved queer communities.
We'll focus on creative defiance and various ways to oppose, resist, defy, and refuse to serve hate and discrimination, and explore time-tested nonviolent strategies to take action in adverse conditions. We’ll learn how to leverage privilege to mobilize allies into communities of safety, and take empowered, honest, and transformative action.
Facilitated by award-winning activist and trainer, Rivera Sun, these four 1.5-hour sessions will utilize stories, exercises, videos, discussion, and role-play, to give us tools to resist, and boost our courage to persist!
In each action, conversation, sign, and encounter, our movement can conduct itself in ways that dispel misperceptions and show the beauty and power of 2SLGBTQIA+ celebration.
TICKETS:
$60 (includes all four sessions)
Sessions will be recorded and available for two weeks to all registered attendees.
SESSIONS AND DATES:
APRIL 22 - Session 1: Love Rises
APRIL 29 - Session 2: Refuse to Obey Hate Laws
MAY 6 - Session 3: Pivot & Shift
MAY 13 - Session 4: Lead With Love
5pm-6:30pm PT / 6pm-7:30pm MT / 7pm-8:30pm CT / 8pm-9:30pm ET / 9pm-10:30pm AT
Sessions cannot be sold separately. If you would like to attend but need a partially or fully subsidized ticket, please get in touch with us here and we will take care of you.
This series is proudly co-presented by Affirming Connections and McKillop United, an Affirming Ministry.
Speak up for trans youth!
The majority of Canadians agree that ALL people deserve access to healthcare, education, safety, and respect, including trans youth. Freedom is an illusion unless it also means freedom for everyone, and freedom from discrimination.
Let's grab the megaphone, spread love, and show that the Canada we envision is a place where everyone is welcome to be who they are, without fear.
Click here to download MY CANADA and MY ALBERTA images and sign up for our newsletter at the bottom of our website to stay in touch!
For a list of topical resources on the latest 2SLGBTQ+ issues in Canada, click here!
Queer Interfaith Coalition
The Queer Interfaith Coalition (QIC) and its Affirming allies are reclaiming the religious voice from those who have sought to weaponize faith. We believe that all 2SLGBTQIA+ individuals are created in the Divine Image and that advocacy for their human rights is not antithetical to faith, but a central tenet of our religious faiths.
To learn more and sign onto our open letter, visit our page here.
Join our United Against Hate campaign!
Affirming Connections stands in support of drag performers, trans, gender diverse, and 2SLGBTQ+ communities across Canada.
We have seen an apparent rise in malicious misinformation, conspiracy theories, threats, and violence that target drag performers, and the queer and trans communities. In 2023 alone, hate crimes against the queer community rose by 69%, and this number continues to increase.
Add your name to this letter with 400+ others show your public support for 2SLGBTQ+ people who have been facing the brunt of this targeted discrimination. Your voice on this issue truly matters.
Drag FAQ’s Answered
Affirming Connections started the United Against Hate campaign to address the surge in misinformation, disinformation, and violence targeting drag performers and trans people. We compiled a list of the most frequently asked questions we encounter, then asked experts from a variety of fields—including affirming faith leaders, drag performers, educators, academics and researchers—to answer them.