{"id":26741,"date":"2020-06-11T23:55:32","date_gmt":"2020-06-12T03:55:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=26741"},"modified":"2020-06-12T00:04:53","modified_gmt":"2020-06-12T04:04:53","slug":"sexual-health-and-harm-reduction-in-focus-for-pride-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/sexual-health-and-harm-reduction-in-focus-for-pride-month\/","title":{"rendered":"Sexual health and harm reduction in focus for Pride Month"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Many things have been paused or stopped all together as a\nresult of COVID-19, but sex isn\u2019t one of them, according to CAYR Community\nConnections, formerly the AIDS Committee of York Region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And this is an issue that will be tackled head-on by CAYR\nand the Aurora Public Library next week to mark Pride Month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Friday, June 19, the CAYR and the APL will host\nQ&Gay: A Pride-inspired sexual health event on safe sex and harm reduction\nas it relates to communities in York Region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two sessions, one for youth between the ages of 12 and\n16, and one for those 17 years-of-age or older, will offer each demographic the\nchance to ask questions in a safe virtual space moderated by CAYR.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is a safe space where folks will be able to\ncelebrate who they are, ask questions about queer life, about sexual health,\ntheir physical health, and it will be an outlet to allow the community to come\ntogether again,\u201d says CAYR\u2019s Lorcan O\u2019Donnell, who says it has been a challenge\nto find spaces online and otherwise that are affirming to York Region\u2019s 2SLGBTQ\ncommunity. \u201cPride is one of those one weeks of the year where folks get to\nreally be themselves, be celebrated and recognized as the vibrant and beautiful\ncommunity we are. We want to make sure there was still a space to celebrate\nthat this year, even though it would not be happening in the traditional\nsense.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The APL has long been such an affirming space, with\nevents and initiatives for the 2SLGBTQ+ community a regular feature of Pride\nmonth and all year round. Before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the APL was set to\nhost a record number of events, but the ongoing health emergency forced a\nsignificant re-think.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe had to think about how we could pivot some of our\nprograms for an online experience where everybody could both celebrate, learn\nand remember,\u201d says Reccia Mandelcorn, Manager of Community Collaboration for\nthe APL. \u201cConversations went back and forth and, thanks to our partners who\nhave the knowledge, they came up with this idea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe totally ran with it because we especially love that\nin involves two demographics because we know there are different questions they\nwill have, different conversations. We did our part with posters and marketing,\nwe talked about content, but we\u2019re giving it over to the experts and we\u2019re so\ndelighted to be allowed to be part of this celebration with our partners.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Promoting sexual health and harm reduction has been a key\nmandate of CAYR Community Connections since its inception for both men and\nwomen. It is a matter of education, says Mr. O\u2019Donnell, and addresses gaps in\neducation that can be found elsewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen Queer folks in particular are growing up, they\ndon\u2019t get the same type of\u2026safe sex education like a lot of the general\npopulation,\u201d he says. \u201cA lot of it is focused on men and women having sex and\nprocreating to have a baby when there isn\u2019t a lot of time given over to the\nintricacies of Queer sex and how Queer people are disproportionately\nrepresented in terms of HIV rates and substance abuse. We\u2019re trying to bridge\nthe gap so they are informed about their sex life and able to make empowered\ndecisions about the sex that they want.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the June 19 event was announced last week, question\nfrom both age groups have been rolling in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Safety is a key aspect, say organizers, as are questions\nabout relationships and intimacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDay in and day out, young people in particular are\nasking about consent, which is a big issue,\u201d says Mr. O\u2019Donnell. \u201cPeople are\nasking about navigating online spaces and navigating hookup apps, navigating\nsocial media and just general safe sex questions about accessing things like\nPrEP for folks that are trying to avoid contracting HIV.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Harm reduction is also a particular focus. Given the\ngeographic and demographic diversity of York Region, reaching out to the\ncommunity as a whole in this regard hasn\u2019t always been easy. Before the\npandemic, people would come to the CAYR office for harm reduction supplies like\ncondoms, needles and meth smoking kits. While these items, of course, can\u2019t be\nhanded out in a virtual setting, the new format allows CAYR to reach wide\ngroups and, given the fact one can turn off their camera before coming into the\nvirtual session, create a safe and, if needed, anonymous space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAfter finishing these talks, there is a huge sense that\nthe work we are doing is really important and the work that we\u2019re doing isn\u2019t\nbeing done by other organizations and we\u2019re really filling a space here where\nyoung folks in particular are in need of non-judgemental spaces,\nnon-judgemental and open conversations where they feel comfortable enough to\nmaybe ask questions they haven\u2019t been able to ask before. When you provide a\nspace where people are feeling comfortable, you really do come away with a sense\nthat the work is really worth doing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a sentiment to which Ms. Mandelcorn agrees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe went online because we didn\u2019t have a choice because\nof the current pandemic, but I think for some people this will actually be a\ngood thing because you can be seen or not seen, you don\u2019t have to come out, and\nyou can ask in a non-judgemental space and get important answers,\u201d she says.\n\u201cIn some ways, I would like to see even when we\u2019re back in \u2018real people time\u2019 I\nwould love to see some of these things continue online because I think there\nare people who need this online in the safety of their own homes as well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q&Gay: A Pride-Inspired Sexual Health Event will take place Friday, June 19. Session 1 for individuals 17-years-of-age or older, will take place from 12 noon to 1.30 p.m. Register at bit.ly\/2XnuqkG. Session 2, for individuals between the ages of 12 and 16, will take place from 4 \u2013 5.30 p.m. Register at bit.ly\/2BUKD4. Questions can also be submitted anonymously at bit.ly\/2XntKf8. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Many things have been paused or stopped all together as a result of COVID-19, but sex isn\u2019t one of them, according to CAYR Community Connections, formerly the AIDS Committee of York Region. And this is an issue that will be tackled head-on by CAYR and the Aurora Public Library next week to mark Pride Month. […]<\/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-26741","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\/p3D2k4-6Xj","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-22 19:25:46","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\/26741","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=26741"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26741\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}