Wisdom to Action (W2A) is a queer consulting firm with a social enterprise commitment that works with government and nonprofit organizations as well as other businesses to facilitate positive change and strengthen communities. The Society of Queer Momentum (hereafter, Momentum) is a non-profit organization with a mandate to accelerate social and gender justice for 2SLGBTQIA+ people. Since its launch in 2023, Momentum has been involved with several advocacy campaigns in response to the rise in anti-2SLGBTQIA+ hate. Momentum and W2A in collaboration with LGBT+ Rights Ghana and the Centre for Engagement and Girls Interaction (Malawi) have partnered on a project entitled “Preventing and Addressing Gender-Based Violence (GBV) against 2SLGBTQIA+ Youth using Arts-based Activism”. The project is funded by Global Affairs Canada through the Act Together for Inclusion Fund (ACTIF) managed by Equitas.* The project is focused on youth empowerment through arts-based activism. Throughout our work on this project, we have learned a lot about engaging with queer and trans youth around the world in order to bring awareness to the prevalence of GBV. By offering youth leadership roles in organizing this project we learned a lot about what public engagement could look like when we do work by community, for community.
The project was created to help prevent and address GBV against 2SLGBTQIA+ youth through arts-based activism. Through the collaboration, the project has sought to create networks of solidarity between young people and organizations in Canada and the Global South. Working with international organizations was an important aspect of this project, as Ghanaian and Malawian law still criminalizes same-sex activity to this day (ILGA, 2020). Youth social exclusion and inequality including based on gender, alongside sexual abuse and exploitation, have been key vulnerabilities in Ghana. Despite pressures from Malawian human rights organizations, the impacts of the 2017 Malawi Human Rights Commission study on the lived realities of LGBT and intersex people is unknown, with reports that LGBTQ+ discrimination and routine violence against LGBTQ+ people continues. While Canada decriminalized consensual same-sex activity in 1969, and has made progress on behalf of 2SLGBTQIA+ through marriage equality and other measures, Canadian 2SLGBTQIA+ young people continue to experience GBV. In 2019, 63% of trans and non-binary youth experienced sexual harassment. In 2021, 77% of 2SLGBTQ Indigenous students reported experiencing harassment at school, while 30% of 2SLGBTQ youth had been victims of cyberbullying, compared to 8% of cisgender heterosexual youth (SAFER Project, n.d.).
One of the project activities was a collaboratively organized youth summit in Toronto, in July 2025. The summit brought together 2SLGBTQ+ youth from Canada and Ghana to learn from each other and other facilitators and artists. The summit was organized by a 2SLGBTQIA+ youth advisory committee (YAC), in the spirit of ‘by queer and trans youth, for queer and trans youth’, and highlighting the importance of collective action in marginalized communities. We learned a lot about public engagement through this process, and what stood out for us was the ways in which the youth involved in organizing the summit were able to take up leadership roles and share their wisdom with their community.
By letting the YAC take the lead, they developed their skills to benefit other queer and trans youth, including the international queer and trans youth who were part of the project and attended the conference. They brought forward important issues they felt should be part of the summit that enhanced its offerings. As young people who understand GBV within their communities, they worked hard to ensure that the summit addressed contextually relevant issues. By working on this project, the YAC emphasized the importance of using art to bring people together and act as a catalyst for healing.
So what did we learn from this experience about what public engagement could look like? ‘By community, for community’ spaces help strengthen community and create inclusivity. When community is centered in the work, we are able to create stronger and more supportive relationships with one another. Ultimately, by allowing the YAC to organize and lead the summit, we witnessed queer joy throughout the event, and that joy was shared amongst local and international queer and trans youth. This experience reminded us of the importance of queer joy being a driving force of our public engagement work. It also reminded us of the value and essential need for global solidarity and collective liberation in doing social justice work. This project would not have been possible without collaboration and solidarity with our international partners, and the work we produced together benefited the youth who led and attended the summit. This collaboration has taught us a lot and we will continue to put what we learned into practice in future projects.
*We use the acronym “2SLGBTQIA+” in Canada to recognize the evolution of language and reflect the diversity that exists here, however, in other contexts, authors use different contextually-relevant terminology. We’ve referenced their terms where relevant without intending to erase anyone’s identity or experiences.
Ari Para (they/them) is a project officer with Wisdom2Action, based in Scarborough on the traditional territory of many nations, including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee and the Wendat peoples. Ari is a Queer and Trans second generation Eelam Tamil (Sri-Lankan Tamil). They consider themselves an artivist, finding ways to combine their love for art with their love for social justice and education. Their work spans multiple fields as a qualitative researcher, academic, hot yoga teacher, community organizer and beadwork artist.
Dennis Stuebing (he/him) is Executive Director and Co-Owner of Wisdom2Action based on the traditional and unceded territory of the Mi’kmaq in Kentville, Nova Scotia. Dennis is an experienced project manager and policy analyst and has worked in government and civil society organizations. His work, in Canada and abroad, has focused on children’s rights, child protection, international development and humanitarian assistance.
References
Malawi: Letter to human rights commission re public inquiry into LGBTI rights. Human Rights Watch. (2020, October 28).
State-sponsored homophobia report. ILGA World. (2020).
Being Safe Being Me (2019) and Still in Every Class In Every School (2021) as quoted in the SAFER Project. (n.d.).