Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR) was started in 1999 by transgender advocate Gwendolyn Ann Smith as a vigil to honor the memory of Rita Hester, a transgender woman who was killed in 1998. The vigil commemorated all the transgender people lost to violence since Rita Hester's death, and began an important tradition that has become the annual Transgender Day of Remembrance.

"Transgender Day of Remembrance seeks to highlight the losses we face due to anti-transgender bigotry and violence. I am no stranger to the need to fight for our rights, and the right to simply exist is first and foremost. With so many seeking to erase transgender people -- sometimes in the most brutal ways possible -- it is vitally important that those we lose are remembered, and that we continue to fight for justice." -Transgender Day of Remembrance founder Gwendolyn Ann Smith

Reposted From: GLAAD: Transgender Day of Remembrance
Image Credit: https://www.glaad.org/tdor

TDOR 2020: Open to Expression
Nov. 20 @ 4pm (Yukon Time)
Hosted by: UBC Okanagan
​
Open to Expression is focused on community, resilience, and the exploration of gender and identity through diverse expressions of art. Drawing from our local context on the unceded, traditional territory of the Syilx Peoples, TDOR kick off the event with a discussion on art as a medium for gender expression and the exploration of resilience, pain, and joy. The discussion will be followed by an open mic where individuals can choose to read poetry, essays and short stories, perform a music, drag, and spoken word piece, and/ or create a live visual art piece.

Trans Day of Remembrance Online Vigil
Fri. Nov. 20 @ 12pm (Yukon Time)
Facilitated by Victoria Bucholtz
Hosted by Queer Education Foundation (Calgary)

Watch online (Facebook Live) at: ​https://www.facebook.com/Queer-Education-Foundation-112014950656968

TDOR 2020: 2Spirit Transgender Day of Remembrance
Fri. Nov. 20, 2020 @ 6:30pm (YUKON TIME)

Sacred Fire
Invocation
Calling of Names

Sponsored by Two-Spirited People of Manitoba Inc. and Manitoba Moon Voices Inc.

Register by email at: awmbizon@mymts.net

Join Queer Yukon Society for our upcoming Annual General Meeting. Find out about all of the exciting things we've been working on over the past year, including the Yukon Pride Festival and the Yukon Pride Centre. 

Meeting happening on:

​Tues. Nov. 17, 2020 @ 7pm.
Being Held via Zoom

Immediately before the AGM starts, we plan to hold a Special General Meeting of members to vote on:

1. Motion to Waive the Membership Fee for the 2020 AGM
2. Special Resolution to Waive the Financial Review for 2019-2020 

What does the Special Resolution Mean?
The Societies Act says that Queer Yukon does not have to have a financial review if the members agree not to have one. In past years, members have agreed not to have one.

We plan to have a financial review done by a professional accountant, but it takes a long time to prepare and won't be ready in time for the AGM. This is the first year we are doing a financial review.

This motion says that:

• we won't have a financial review this fiscal year in time for this year's AGM 
• our accounts have been prepared by a bookkeeper
• we will have a financial review of the 2019-2020 accounts that will be ready after the AGM.

We will share the financial review with members once it is finished.

The full agenda for the upcoming Special General Meeting is attached below.

The QYS board is committed to hearing from our members. In order to add an item to the AGM agenda, QYS strongly encourages members to contact the board by Tues. Nov. 3, 2020 @ 11:59pm to give the QYS board enough time to provide the required notice to members in advance of the Annual General Meeting.

Items submitted after Nov. 3, 2020 can still be discussed at the AGM, but according to our bylaws, resolutions submitted after this date cannot be voted on by members at this meeting. 

You can contact QYS using the contact form on this website or by emailing: info@queeryukon.com

The QYS board is committed to transparency in the proceedings for the upcoming AGM. Items submitted for the AGM Agenda by members will either be:

1. Added to the AGM Agenda OR; 

2. Identified and communicated to members as not being on the AGM Agenda. Items not placed on the agenda will include the board's rationale for not including that item (e.g. trans/homo/biphobic requests, items proposed "in bad faith", items requiring an additional special general meeting of members).

The AGM agenda will be sent out to members in advance of the meeting. At the AGM itself, the AGM agenda can be confirmed or amended by a simple majority vote of members. However, items submitted to QYS after Nov. 3, 2020 cannot be voted on at the AGM, as it does not allow us enough time to provide notice to members.

Queer Yukon Society bylaws are largely identical to the default bylaws outlined in the Societies Act. The only difference is that a motion was passed at the 2018 AGM limiting the number of board members to 8. The bylaws can be found here, starting on page 13:
https://legislation.yukon.ca/regs/oic1988_124.pdf

The AGM will be followed by Drag Bingo featuring guest host, Jolene Queen!

​Play a free round of bingo on us and you could win one of several amazing prizes! You must have have an internet connection to play and must be present on the zoom call to win. We will send all players the link to play during the call.

We encourage you to treat this free Bingo as any other entertainment activity. To learn more about how to recognize if your Bingo play is becoming anything other than the game it should be, read Learn the Facts: Keep it a Game.

​July 31, 2020  
 
The murder of George Floyd by police, caught on camera, was the catalyst for protests against police brutality around the world. But police have a long history of violence against Black, Indigenous and People of Colour, in Canada and elsewhere. In recent months, Indigenous, Black and Persons of Colour who have died during interactions with the police include Chantel Moore, Rodney Levi and Ejaz Ahmed Choudry.  

We also remember the violent and discriminatory history of police in dealing with queer and trans people. Too often, we have been disproportionately targeted for enforcement activities, and our experiences of homophobic and transphobic harassment and violence ignored or downplayed. Police continue to overpolice and under-protect many segments of Canadian society, including Indigenous and Black people, People of Colour, trans people, sex workers, people who use drugs  and others.  
 
In solidarity with  Black, Indigenous, People of Colour, and members of the LGBTQ2S+ community who are protesting police brutality and systemic racism, we are joining other Pride festivals across Canada by announcing that any visible police presence is not welcome at the Yukon Pride festival. This means:  
 

• Uniformed police or members of the police force who are part of an organized police presence are not welcome to march in a Pride Parade or participate in any other elements of the festival.   
• Symbols associated with the RCMP or other police forces are also not welcome at any Pride events. 

• Members of the police force who are part of the LGBTQ2S+ community or allies are, as always, welcome to participate in Pride events as civilians.  

  
Although there is no planned police involvement in the 2020 Yukon Pride Festival to this point, this decision will stand for future years. As an organization, Queer Yukon Society prioritizes marginalized people’s safety over privileged people’s comfort. We will continue to listen to, and take direction from, our community members on this issue, and in particular queer and trans Indigenous, Black and people of colour. We have communicated this decision to the RCMP. We continue to call for police accountability on these issues, as well as comprehensive reforms to end violent and discriminatory police practices and institutionalized racism in Canada and around the world. 
 
In Pride & Solidarity,
​
Queer Yukon Society Board of Directors  ​

Summary

Queer Yukon Society is offering funding to Black, Indigenous, People of Colour* who want to organize QTBIPOC-focused events for the 2020 Yukon Pride Festival happening from August 1 – 9. Please contact us at pride@queeryukon.com no later than  July 9, 2020  to tell us you’re interested and a brief idea of the event you would like to organize!
 
*We recognize that the labels we have listed here do not work for everyone.

The Details

Who: We are seeking Queer and Trans folks who are Black, Indigenous, People of Colour (QTBIPOC) who are living in (or recently left) the Yukon to help organize events for the 2020 Yukon Pride Festival. 
 
What: QTBIPOC people are invited to plan and organize the events they would like to see for Yukon Pride 2020. Organizers will receive event planning support from the Pride Planning Committee. Our goal is to make space for the QTBIPOC community to create the events they want to see. Queer Yukon has up to $5,000 available for this initiative which can include honoraria of up to $500 for event organizers. While we seek to fund as many projects as possible, we cannot guarantee that every project idea will be funded
 
Where: Events can be held online or, if held in-person, must follow the Yukon health’s COVID-19-related guidelines. Both online and in-person events should focus on the Yukon community. In-person events must be held in Yukon, but do not have to take place in Whitehorse.
 
When: Events will ideally take place between August 1 – 9, 2020 as part of Yukon Pride Festival. Potential event organizers are asked to express interest before July 9, 2020.
 
Why: Community members have helped Queer Yukon Society see the gaps in our 2020 Yukon Pride Festival line-up and that we need to improve the way we engage QTBIPOC community members. We are working to ensure QTBIPOC people feel safe, heard and well-represented in our organization. We are committed to continuing to identify ways our organization can support QTBIPOC community members.
 
How: Send an email to Emily Tredger at: pride@queeryukon.com to say you’re interested in organizing an event and your general idea. No experience as an event organizer required. Our Pride Planning team will support you in developping your event.
 
Community Safety: We understand that QTBIPOC community members experience racism and homo/bi/transphobia within broader society as well as within the LGBTQ2S+ community. Queer Yukon Society will not tolerate racism, homo/bi/transphobia, harassment or discrimination of any kind at our events and will not hesitate to remove people from our community spaces and online events. To ensure the basic safety of our QTBIPOC organizers and performers, we are developing a clear anti-harassment policy, a code of conduct, complaint procedures, and an online moderation plan for this year's Pride events. ​