Social Media and Hate: A Virtual Workshop
Thursday, May 21, 2026 · 5pm PT/ 6pm MT / 8pm ET
We’ve all seen hate show up in our social media feeds. But understanding how these messages spread online - and why they can sometimes be difficult to recognize at first - takes more than good intentions.
Join us for a virtual workshop with Hazel Woodrow, Education Program Manager at the Canadian Anti-Hate Network, as she walks us through the strategies hate movements use to spread messaging online, how those strategies affect different communities, and what each of us can do to push back.
This workshop is designed to be accessible across a wide range of experience with social media and online culture. No prior expertise is needed - and even those who spend a lot of time online may find new ways of understanding how these tactics operate at a structural level.
Registration: Pay-What-You-Can (suggested $10)
Pride, Visibility, and Nervous System Care
Wednesday, May 27, 5:30pm PT / 6:30pm MT / 8:30pm ET - Online
Pride can be a lot of things at once - joyful, exhausting, visible, vulnerable. Sometimes all in the same hour. High-visibility situations have a way of surfacing things we weren't expecting, whether we're celebrating, supporting someone we love, or just navigating a season that asks a lot of us.
Join us for this gentle, practical online session on nervous system care - what it means, why it matters during Pride season and beyond, and some simple tools to help you feel more settled in your body.
No experience is needed, and there is no pressure to move or participate in any particular way. The session is open to people of all abilities and comfort levels.
Participants will leave with simple tools and practices they can continue using at home in ways that work best for their bodies, needs, and daily lives.
This session will be facilitated by Stacey Madden (MSME/T, MBT), the founder of Mindful Somatic Wellness and a trauma-informed somatic educator, practitioner, and facilitator.
Registration: Pay-What-You-Can (suggested $10)
Queer & Faithful Friday Night Cinema
Pride Season 2026 Monthly Movies
All events are 6:30-8:30 pm PT / 7:30-9:30 pm MT
Screening of a documentary, followed by a short discussion around Queer Theological principles and ideas, and how these films might illustrate new ideas for Affirming Ministry in our communities.
May 15 - "Proper Pronouns" follows four transgender ministers in North Carolina as they fight intolerance and discrimination in the Bible Belt and battle narrow-mindedness within the religious community, fellow state natives, and their families. Register here.
June 26 - “The Iridesce Play” starts just before the United Church of Canada’s 1988 vote to welcome gay and lesbian people in membership and eligibility for ministry in the church. It respectfully dramatizes some of the struggles and challenges some in the church faced around this vote, and continues by sharing how communities of faith, church members and leaders were affected. Register here.
July 17 - “Wonderfully Made - LGBTQ+R(eligion)” is a combined fine art project and feature-length documentary that together strike at the root of anti-LGBTQ+ attitudes by exploring the challenges and aspirations of LGBTQ+ Catholics. The message, however, applies to any religious tradition that does not fully embrace our LGBTQ+ brothers and sisters. Register here.
August 7 - “A Queer's Guide to Spiritual Living” - Blending zine-inspired animation, spoken word, and poetry with insightful interview footage, this lo-fi documentary collage follows four queer people from different religious backgrounds as they explore the intersections of faith and queerness. Register here.
Queer Theology series:
Jaye Brix on Deconstructing Bad Theology
Bad theology hurts. It hurts the 2SLGBTQIAP+ community, it hurts our communities of faith, and it hurts folks who feel held down under the thumb of harmful language, tradition, and belief.
This three-week series invited us into a process of deconstructing the theologies that restrict us as we seek to expand our affirming ministry and live out faithful discipleship that celebrates diversity as sacred. We were honoured to have Jaye Brix (they/she) join us live at our third session! Jaye is an ex-pastor who uses their experience, education, and creativity to help folks on their liberation journey, leaving behind ‘church’ that hurts.
Watch all three sessions on our Vimeo channel here.
Hosted by Affirming Connections and Pacific Mountain Region Affirming Ministry.
Share your support for trans youth!
Click here to access free images of love and support for trans youth and their families.
Download one or all and share them wherever you can!
Community Safety Training
Recording available
This practical and relevant workshop (recorded from the live event on June 3, 2025) teaches ways to protect yourself and marginalized communities at protests and events, through effective de-escalation and creative nonviolence. Enhance your safety and self-defense toolbelt.
Led by experienced Community Protection Facilitator, and Head of Security at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, Aidan McKendrick!
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, Two Spirit and LGBTQIA+ 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.