{"id":25878,"date":"2020-02-07T12:33:47","date_gmt":"2020-02-07T17:33:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=25878"},"modified":"2020-02-07T12:33:56","modified_gmt":"2020-02-07T17:33:56","slug":"valentines-dance-a-source-of-pride-for-lgbtq2s-teens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/valentines-dance-a-source-of-pride-for-lgbtq2s-teens\/","title":{"rendered":"Valentine\u2019s Dance a source of \u201cPride\u201d for LGBTQ2S+ teens"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As Valentine\u2019s Day approaches, people across York Region\nare thinking about how they can do something special for the one they love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maybe it\u2019s a bouquet of flowers and a box of chocolates.\nMaybe it\u2019s a nice romantic meal. Maybe it\u2019s a dance with other couples looking\nto mark the day in a special way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For young members of the local LGBTQ2S+, however, options\ncan sometimes feel limited as societal pressures make them feel they need to\nmark the day in private rather than with a more public display of their\naffection, but next week community groups will come together to provide a safe\nand welcoming environment for teens to celebrate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next Friday, February 7, from 7 \u2013 10 p.m., teens are\ninvited to enjoy the #LoveisLove 2SLGBTQ+ Teen Valentine\u2019s Day Dance at the\nNewmarket Community Centre & Lions Hall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The dance, now in its second year, is hosted in\npartnership with the York Regional Police\u2019s Chief\u2019s 2SLGBTQ+ Community\nConsultative Roundtable, which includes Pflag York Region, the York Region\nDistrict School Board, York Pride, and the AIDS Committee of York Region. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It will be an evening of \u201cdancing, food and fun.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although he wasn\u2019t able to attend last year\u2019s inaugural\nevent, Pflag York Region president Tristan Coolman says he is looking forward\nto this year\u2019s dance, particularly after hearing so many positive success\nstories coming out of the 2019 event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLast year, I heard very good feedback about the\nattendance,\u201d says Mr. Coolman. \u201cI believe there were at least 50 to 60 kids who\nattended, which, for an event that was put together on short notice, and the\nfirst annual event of its kind, also being in the northern area of York Region,\nit was really well attended. \u201cAt this point, it is a matter of getting the word\nout there. Every high school student or teen in York Region knows it is\navailable to them \u2013 it is for them, free to attend, so come out and have a free\nslice of pizza, mingle with friends, the more the merrier!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Chief\u2019s 2SLGBTQ+ Community Consultative Roundtable\nbrings together a number of different groups looking to provide support and\nopportunities for the queer community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThrough the roundtable, Police thought it would be a\ngreat idea to facilitate a dance for teens in a safe environment to have\nofficers there for the teens to interact with if they like,\u201d Mr. Coolman\nexplains. \u201cIf they just want to show up and dance and eat some pizza, that\u2019s\nfine too. It\u2019s a way for York Regional Police to break down barriers and to\nkind of get out into the communities. It is not just the community reaching out\nto the Police it is the police reaching out to the community. I think that\u2019s\nwhat one of the big messages is with the event and when YRP puts on events like\nthis, or the We Belong pride breakfast, the various days of remembrance and\nflag raising ceremonies they have put on in the last few years, their efforts\nto try and reach out to the community, recognizing the work they need to do to\nreally dispel and work through the negative perception that there is.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEvents [like the February 7 dance] are huge because when\nI was younger \u2013 and generations older than I am \u2013 almost any interaction you\nwould have with Police or any stories that kind of came your way, they were\nkind of negative from the queer lived experience. It is not just hearing Police\nsay, \u2018We\u2019re working on a few things here and there,\u2019 but to see that work in\nmotion and be a participant in it, I don\u2019t think you can really put a value on\nit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is just incredible work and it is an incredible\nopportunity from the PFLAG perspective. This is something we have been working\non for more than 25 years. Marilyn Byers, one of our first presidents, was\nfirst approached by YRP and was talking with one of the Deputy Chiefs at the\ntime and she was told blatantly, \u2018There are no gay people in York Region,\u2019 and\nwe have gone from that 25 years ago to the Police holding a dance for teens. It\nis quite incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more information on the #LoveisLove 2SLGBTQ+ Teen Valentine\u2019s Day Dance, and to RSVP, email pride@yrp.ca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir <\/strong><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As Valentine\u2019s Day approaches, people across York Region are thinking about how they can do something special for the one they love. Maybe it\u2019s a bouquet of flowers and a box of chocolates. Maybe it\u2019s a nice romantic meal. Maybe it\u2019s a dance with other couples looking to mark the day in a special way. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_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}},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-6Jo","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-01 14:02:26","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\/25878","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=25878"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25878\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}