Awareness
Trey Anthony
Trey Anthony identifies as an open and gay Black womyn. She is of Jamaican descent and was raised in Canada. She is an award-winning playwright, performer, and producer best known for her television series and play Da Kink in My Hair. She is the first Black woman in Canada to create and produce a tv program for a major network in prime time.
Dr. OmiSoore Dryden
Dr. OmiSoore Dryden, PhD is the fourth James R. Johnston Chair in Black Canadian Studies and the first queer person to occupy the position. Dr. Dryden is a staunch advocate and the creator of the research project #GotBlood2Give, which aims to identify the challenges that Black homosexual, bisexual, and trans males face while trying to donate blood in the Canadian blood system.
Nalo Hopkinson
Canadian novelist Nalo Hopkinson, who was born in Jamaica, is well-known for her science fiction and fantasy works. Nalo is the first author to win the Sunburst Award twice. Her work frequently draws on Caribbean language, history, and tradition. Nalo has won numerous awards and accolades, including the Prix Aurora Award (Canada’s reader-voted award for science fiction and fantasy) and the Sunburst Award for Canadian Literature of the Fantastic.
Walter Borden
Actor, poet, and writer – Walter Borden has performed on stages all around Canada. One of the first plays in the annals of Black Canadian literature to openly address issues of male homosexuality was the autobiographical piece Tightrope Time: Ain’t Nuthin’ More Than Some Itty Bitty Madness Between Twilight and Dawn, which he wrote and performed.
Douglas Stewart
Douglas is a gay rights activist who has dedicated his life to fighting for gay awareness and rights in the Black community. He was a founding member of Zami, Toronto’s first GSRD group for people of colour, in 1984. In the 1980s, Zami was established to address problems brought on by “queer establishments.” He also served as the Black Coalition for AIDS Prevention’s first Executive Director. In his capacity, he campaigned in the 1980s to raise HIV/AIDS awareness within the black queer community.
Courtnay McFarlane
Most of his poetry, which has appeared in various African Canadian and Queer anthologies, is what makes him a famous gay visual artist and poet. He participates actively in volunteer work for groups serving the Black and GSRD communities, including Inside Out and the Black Coalition for AIDS Prevention. He shares Black GSRD tales via his craft in a profound yet sympathetic way. He is actively working to remove the obstacles that members of the underserved community must overcome in order to receive medical care.
Cicely Belle Blain
Blain is the CEO of Bakau Consulting Inc. and a non-binary writer. The business provides consultancy services on equity, inclusiveness, and anti-racism. They were also a founding member of Vancouver’s Black Lives Matter movement. They have been spreading awareness and promoting more inclusivity within Pride for the past few years. Their novel Burning Sugar is listed among the best GSRD books for Canadians to read.
