Having celebrated Pride Month with Pride Toronto, Fierte in Montreal and now looking towards an exciting Capital Pride in Ottawa, I found myself sitting down to ask myself what Pride means to me in the world we live today. Yes it’s a lot of fun and can make for fabulous memories with queer people around the world, but there is also a weight to that question that should be acknowledge. So let’s take a minute to chat about that together in hopes of sparking conversations and moving the world forward instead of backwards.
For those of you who follow Julio & I on social media, you would have seen these two posts (here and here) which although triggering to share and challenging to talk about, are important to acknowledge in 2022. The world is hard and many of us face moments like this and moments of hate all the time – most of us without a platform like the one I have.
And while those things are heavy and hard to understand I do want to celebrate the positives that Pride can mean to so many of us. The importance of safe spaces and celebrations. I want to make room for those fellow 2SLGBTQIA+ peoples in the world to feel heard, understood, supported and celebrated.
So in hopes of making those people smile, I wanted to share some positive news thanks to my friends at Trojan and some interesting facts. Let’s talk about sex baby!
I recently learned that LGBTQ+ Canadians have been having better, more communicative, and more open-minded sex and relationships for decades. No shock there in my opinion, but it’s nice to hear since our community is often reduced to hedonistic stereotypes that can be harmful.
- The Sex Information and Education Council of Canada (SIECCAN) and TROJAN® Condoms asked 1,500 Canadian 20-something students about their sexual health and well-being. Over a quarter (26%) identified as members of the LGBTQ+ communities. Despite the last two years of lockdowns, over 80% are happy in their sexual lives and relationships.
- A summary of survey results is attached / pasted below and can be downloaded via sieccan.org.
The team at Trojan created the infographic below that I loved reading through. It took me a long time to be open and communicate my needs and wants sexually with partners over the years. In my twenties (and based on my learned experiences) it wasn’t something you talked about outside the bedroom. I stumbled into my exploration of many likes and dislikes – the “into” conversation often leading to confusing situations.
Knowing that today more members of the community are having better sex means and being more communicative makes me hopeful for our community both in our bedrooms around the world, and seen visibly around the world in a better way.
It is important to celebrate the wins like this one, to continue having conversations to normalize the subject matter around sex, and to ensure that the younger queer community knows it is important to be open, to be communicative, and to celebrate themselves. I appreciate the work that Trojan Canada continues to do for the community not only during Pride, but all year long. If you’re reading this and work for a corporation who celebrates Pride month with us, I suggest you take a note from their page. Because allyship is bestowed upon brands by us, not self-proclaimed.
Just a friendly reminder.
Come along with Julio & I if you aren’t following us yet at @dothedaniel & @fashionights on all platforms
Photos: Daniel Reyes Cocka and aforementioned participating brands
Don’t forget to be kind & laugh a little more this year
*Please note that this may be a sponsored post and promotional consideration may have been offered by participating brands – our disclosure can be found at all times by clicking here.