Speak Up and Speak Out fights back against homophobia, transphobia

HALIFAX – About 150 people gathered in downtown Halifax Wednesday night to rally together in the fight against homophobia and transphobia.

The rally in Victoria Park was called Speak Up and Speak Out and is meant to align with the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia, which takes place on Saturday, May 17.

Event MC Rebecca Rose said the province has made strides in helping the LGBTQ community, such as financing sex reassignment surgery, but there is still a long way to go.

“I think as a province, city and community, we still need to work on trans rights,” she said.

The rally also featured Scott Jones, who made headlines last year after saying he was attacked because of his sexual orientation.

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Scott, who is now paraplegic because of the attack, is spearheading Don’t Be Afraid, a campaign against homophobia.

“This is phenomenal and it really speaks volumes of the support in Halifax,” he said looking around at the crowd. “It means more support and gives us more momentum.”

Rose said everyone needs to work together to make sure LGBTQ people feel included and wanted in the community.

“We need to work on ending transphobia and homophobia and making queer and trans members of our community feel safe in all aspects of our society, in our schools, on our streets, in our public parks sand in our hospitals.”

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified Rebecca Rose as the event organizer. The story has been updated to reflect that she was actually the event MC.