June is International Pride Month, and communities across Nova Scotia will be recognizing and celebrating Pride throughout the summer.
Pride is a celebration, but before that it is also an act of resistance. For generations queer people have been marching and pushing back against oppressive ideologies, systems, and actions from community and government.
Today, many people in the 2SLGTBQIA+ have unprecedented access to resources and opportunities granted to them through the fight for progress and change by queer Elders and ancestors, specifically Black, Indigenous and racialized queer and trans folx. However, today we are experiencing the rise of anti-2SLGBTQIA+ hate and extremism. Social workers have a role in addressing queer hate, and this Pride season presents an opportunity for queer and ally social workers to celebrate and take action.
Holding space
I am a queer social worker. For years I would have described myself as gay, but for most of the last 10 years I have chosen to describe myself as queer. One, to reference that my identity is interwoven within political values and beliefs, and two, to highlight that my identity and experience of it is complex and outside of the dominant norms. I often share that I believe being queer and recognizing my difference from a young age allowed me to better resist and exist beyond the dominant norms. I of course have immense privilege as a white settler in Mi’kma’ki, and many folx with intersecting identities in the 2SLGBTQIA+ community are disproportionately experiencing the rise of anti-2SLGBTQIA+ hate.
The rise of queer and trans hate is heavy on my heart. As a queer person, I am witnessing the rise of anti-2SLGBTQIA+ hate in my own family, throughout community and in society. As a social worker, I am seeing the implications within our profession. Last month a member reached out to me to highlight that the American government had opened an online reporting tool for clinicians who support or provide affirming care for trans and gender diverse service users; initially, this portal also allowed people to report Canadian care providers, though it has since been updated so that the reporting tool is only used for Americans. We are also seeing the rise of applications from US based social workers from the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, who are seeking to move to Canada. Many reach out and tell us explicitly this is due to policy choices of the current US administration.
A few weeks ago we hosted our first Queering Social Work gathering, a closed community of practice for 2SLGBTQIA+ social workers. Within 15 minutes our call was cut short after zoom bombers hijacked the session by sharing harmful content. We had twenty-two members on the call, each excited to participate in the first community of practice for 2SLGBTQIA+ social workers, and unfortunately it was disrupted by someone seeking to disrupt our plans. It is likely, but never known for sure, that our session was targeted on Eventbrite due to the fact it was explicitly for 2SLGBTQIA+ people. Thankfully we have rescheduled and will be able to offer another session with increased protections. However, it is a reminder that this work and the existence of queer people and queer social workers is inherently political given the current socio-political climate.
Gathering momentum
There is a disturbing rise in queer hate crimes, both in rates of reporting through official channels and also shared through queer community and relationships. It seems that everywhere on social media there are people whipping up moral panic about transgender and queer people. Prominent people like J.K. Rowling, Jordan Peterson, and President Trump are contributing to and resourcing political hate movements against trans and queer people. In the last Canadian federal election, many politicians and candidates on the political right were platforming and working with influences in the anti-2SLGTBQIA+ hate movement, alongside pushing policies and ideas rooted in hate. In my short 40 years I have experienced oppressive change. While we have never had more queer representation in media, I have never experienced more hate for being queer, especially online. I know this is true for many other queer people and social workers.
As a queer social worker, I believe that queering social work and addressing complex social challenges is interconnected. Pride Month and Indigenous History Month are both in June, and it helps call to mind how queerness and decolonization are interwoven. As a queer settler I feel an accountability to deepen my commitment to decolonial practice. With this lens, it is important to consider how the forces of settler colonialism contribute to the ways of knowing and being that lead to anti-2SLGBTQIA+ hate. A central belief in queer theory is moving beyond binaries. So much of the anti-2SLGBTQIA+ hate is rooted in binary thinking.
This quote from Hunt & Holmes in their article, “Everyday Decolonization: Living a Decolonizing Queer Politics,” speaks to my beliefs as a queer social worker. They write, “We view “decolonization” and “queering” as active, interconnected, critical, and everyday practices that take place within and across diverse spaces and times” (Hunt & Holmes, 2015, p. 156). Every day we have the opportunity to deconstruct the oppressive norms within us, around us, and throughout society, as we work towards more just and equitable futures. This can happen within your relationships and practice in real and tangible ways.
Stepping up
Our newly revised Code of Ethics & Standards of Practice (COE&SOP), adopted in April of 2025 and available for members later this year, deepen the NSCSW’s commitment to social justice and to preventing and addressing anti-2SLGBTQIA+ hate. Social workers in Nova Scotia will be required to uphold the rights and freedoms of 2SLGBTQIA+ communities to express their gender identity and to value the first-voice perspectives of individuals within the community. Furthermore, social workers will be required to practice in an evidence-informed way, including evidence from the 2SLGBTQIA+ communities.
Social workers are called to educate themselves, their students, and colleagues about 2SLGBTQIA+ issues and communities, while advocating for justice within community, agencies, and society. There is no greater time to begin or continue this work than Pride month, and we have resources and content available to our members and the public to support them in their learning and advocacy work.
Following through
Social workers in Nova Scotia can take action in recognition, support, and celebration of Pride 2025. Our social work code of ethics calls on us to not only value social justice, but to actively promote it — whether we are engaging in micro, mezzo, or macro practice. Our professional development standards explicitly require social workers to advocate for social justice, and pursue learning that helps them become more effective and ethical advocates.
If you are looking for learning content to deepen your knowledge, values, and skills in working with and alongside 2SLGBTQIA+ service users and communities, check out the following content:
Participate:
- Atlantic Canada Pride Festivals: There are many Pride festivals and events throughout Nova Scotia this summer, with Halifax Pride taking place July 17 – 27, 2025. Pride organizations across the world are losing corporate sponsorship so it is more important than ever to support Pride activities in your communities. Participate in workshops, attend shows and events, or dance the night away in celebration of Pride.
Watch:
- Active Hope (Part 2 of 4): Queering Climate Change: The session explores how queerness and queer theory are interconnected to issues of climate justice and adaptation. Approaching complex challenges through a queer lens can help us better understand the root issues, act, and find hope and agency.
- Understanding SOGIECE (sexual orientation and gender identity expression change efforts): This educational series intertwines first-voice lived experiences with ecological social work perspectives to inform the clinical and advocacy practices of social workers and allied professionals in Nova Scotia.
- Protecting the well-being of 2SLGBTQIA+ kids: Panelists discuss the unique social justice issues the well-being of 2SLGBTQIA+ children and youth in Nova Scotia, particularly in the schools they attend.
- Social Justice & Gender Diversity: panelists discuss the unique social justice issues related to mental health for the 2SLGBTQIA+ community.
Read:
- Looking for SOGIECE resources: A collection of resources that were also shared in the Understanding SOGIECE webinar for social workers. Resources here include infographics, peer groups, and training in support of 2SLGBTQIA+ people and communities, with specific supports for trans & queer affirming practices.
Advocate:
- We Have Power: If you want to address the growing rise of anti-2SLGBTQIA+ hate in your community or practice, review this guide and its relevant books and resources on how to have an impact and to create change. From petitioning law makers to supporting individuals, there are ways to take action using this resource as a guide.
- Moving Beyond the Binary – How to Meaningfully Include Gender Diverse People: The Legal Information Society of Nova Scotia created this guide for how to make organizations more meaningfully inclusive for Two-Spirit, trans, non-binary, and gender diverse people. It includes a self-assessment, workshops and training, policy templates, and more!
Connecting with community
Celebrating and recognizing Pride is important. More important however is the need to connect our values and beliefs around queerness to our agency as social workers. It isn’t enough to wear a rainbow or attend a drag show. We are watching in real time the erosion of hard fought for freedoms and norms due to the fear and lack of imagination of people, policy makers, and influences to see the beauty in queerness.
My hope is that people will stop trying to limit queer brilliance and magic just because they don’t understand it. Now is the time to deeper our understanding and further commit to addressing and preventing anti-2SLGBTQIA+ hate. The hate isn’t just on our doorstep, it is here. But alongside that hate there is opportunity for all of us to embrace new and incredible queer futures.
Wherever you are in Mi’kma’ki, embrace Pride Month and season as an opportunity to move beyond binary thinking, support and advocate alongside 2SLGTBQIA+ people, and celebrate the beauty and magic of queerness.
“Look closely at the present you are constructing, it should look like the future you are dreaming.”
– Alice Walker
References
Hunt, S. & Holmes, C. (2015) “Everyday Decolonization: Living a Decolonizing Queer Politics,” Journal of Lesbian Studies, 19(2), 154-172, DOI: 10.1080/10894160.2015.970975 https://www-tandfonline-com.ezproxy.library.uvic.ca/doi/full/10.1080/10894160.2015.970975
A note on the image above: this photo by Jan Budomo on Unsplash was taken at at Halifax Pride in 2022. The tote bag hanging on the rollator walker was designed by Misiksk Jadis from Abegweit First Nation; the design places the Mi’kmaw eight-pointed star over a background of birchbark and rainbow blooms.