{"id":18323,"date":"2017-09-13T16:00:03","date_gmt":"2017-09-13T20:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=18323"},"modified":"2017-09-13T16:00:03","modified_gmt":"2017-09-13T20:00:03","slug":"challenges-and-celebrations-experienced-by-lgbtq-in-focus-at-library","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/challenges-and-celebrations-experienced-by-lgbtq-in-focus-at-library\/","title":{"rendered":"Challenges and celebrations experienced by LGBTQ+ in focus at Library"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Brock Weir<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pride Month has come and gone for another year, but there is still plenty of celebration to be had for York Region\u2019s LGBTQ+ community.
\nBut challenges come with the territory as well, and both will be in focus this week as the Aurora Public Library opens its doors for LGBTQ+ In Conversation.
\nThe Library will be the scene of an evening of intimate conversation with local activists and community leaders who will be addressing the challenges and celebrations experienced by the LGBTQ+ community here at home, including issues of culture, diversity and inclusion.
\nHosted by this writer, the evening is part of the Aurora Public Library\u2019s One Book One Aurora program, which this year aims to get all of Aurora reading from \u201cNatural Order\u201d, the latest novel from Toronto writer Brian Francis.
\n\u201cNatural Order\u201d centres on a woman nearing the end of her life grappling with a difficult decision she made in her past rejecting her gay son.
\nUsing this book as a springboard, the Library has taken the themes within the book to weave a full calendar of programming.
\nWednesday night\u2019s conversation stems not only from the book but also from focus groups held earlier this year seeking input on how the Aurora Public Library can better address the needs of the LGBTQ community.
\nAccording to Reccia Mandelcorn, the Library\u2019s Manager of Community Collaboration, many of the adults and youth who participated in their demographic-specific focus groups had many questions they were hoping their library could address, from health to legal, and this conversation was the perfect venue to foster these important topics.
\nAmong the participants is Chelsea Derry, from PFLAG York Region.
\nPFLAG was founded over 40 years ago as Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays. Since its inception, it has spread across North America and engages in advocacy at local, provincial and Federal levels on a variety of issues facing the community.
\n\u201cWhen I looked at the topics we had at our focus groups, we had people saying they wanted information on how to come out to their parents, so we have Chelsea Derry from PFLAG,\u201d says Ms. Mandelcorn. \u201cWe also had people asking about health and it happens that in her other life Chelsea happens to be a health practitioner.\u201d
\nAttendees also had questions about surrogacy and marriage, so lawyer Niki Fragiadakis from the Lisa Feldstein Law Office will be on hand to field these questions. This law firm was founded from the \u201crealization that families need health law advice.\u201d
\nThe marriage aspect will also be considered through the lens of Jennifer Tyrell, another lawyer who is set to marry her fianc\u00e9e just a couple of weeks after the event.
\nThe conversation will be complete with Jacob Gal, \u201cthe energy behind York Pride\u201d who will share his insights on advocacy from a different angle.
\n\u201cHe is very young and works with teens in a very positive and joyous way,\u201d says Ms. Mandelcorn. \u201cHe will be able to talk about celebrating your identity in a very York Region-specific way.\u201d
\nThroughout the evening, information tables will be set up providing a space for community groups ranging from PFLAG, to York Pride Fest, to the AIDS Committee of York Region, My Rainbow Resources, the York Region Rainbow Umbrella, and various student groups to interact with attendees and share information.
\n\u201cI want everybody to come out on Wednesday, September 20 from 7 \u2013 8.30,\u201d says Ms. Mandelcorn. \u201cIt is for the entire community. It is not only if you are LGBTQ and want questions answered and want to participate, but I don\u2019t think there is anybody not touched by people who are along the gender spectrum and I think we all need to be educated on how to work with different aspects of our community and how our own lives and identities can be enriched.
\n\u201cIt is very much a community discussion. You will learn so much, be able to network, and take home information.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tickets for In Conversation: LGBTQ+ Culture, Diversity and Inclusion are free, but space is limited. To register, visit onebookoneaurora.com. The Conversation begins Wednesday, September 20 at 7 p.m. in the Library\u2019s Magna Room.<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pride Month has come and gone for another year, but there is still plenty of celebration to be had for York Region\u2019s LGBTQ+ community.
\nBut challenges come with the territory as well, and both will be in focus this week as the Aurora Public Library opens its doors for LGBTQ+ In Conversation. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":18302,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/2017-09-14-10.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-4Lx","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-23 15:08:32","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18323","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18323"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18323\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}