Festival right time to come out for some
Kids Help Phone only a call away for youths seeking counselling
With Windsor’s Pride Parade a week away, a phone counselling service for youth is offering help to teens nervous about attending the LGBTQ spectacle for the first time.
“Excitement, fear, uncertainty of what’s going to happen,” are some of the emotions young people may feel as they ponder whether to come out as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer and participate at this very public event, said Shannon, a veteran counsellor at Kids Help Phone, a crisis and support line for Canadian children ages five to 20. Staffed by professionally trained counsellors, 16 per cent of the kids who call are LGTBQ, she said. And they often have lots of questions about how to come out.
“We talk to kids all the time about the possibility of coming out, how they think about that, who they think about coming out to, is this the right time to come out in their lives?”
And for some youth, the Pride Parade feels like the “right time” to do it.
“They’re a lot of fun, they’re a way for anyone to connect with the LGBTQ community,” said Shannon, who did not give her surname due to the anonymous nature of the service. The toll-free number is 1-800-668-6868.
“You don’t have to be out of the closet to go to Pride, but it may be an impetus, a reason for them to come out to their family and friends.”
Windsor’s 24th annual Pride Fest Parade is Sunday, Aug. 7, starting at 11 a.m. and going north on Ouellette Avenue from Elliot Street to the Riverfront Festival Plaza. It’s the culmination of Windsor-Essex Pride Fest, a five-day celebration that typically attracts 4,000 to 5,000 people. It starts with a city hall flag raising on Wednesday.
Pride Fest president David Lenz said many people do come out during Pride Fest.
“I think it’s a very comfortable place to be because there’s people there to help you,” he said. “When I came out, I surrounded myself with people like me and I think that’s what the Pride Fest provides, to be with people who are just like you.”
That doesn’t mean you have to be LGBTQ to attend, he added. “You could be an ally, a friend, a supporter. It doesn’t matter who you are. Our whole tag line is ‘Come one, come all.’ ”
He said it can be scary when you first come out because you don’t know how people will react.
Shannon said young people are sometimes really worried about their parents kicking them out of the house or being beat up.
She said the question she’s asked the most is: “What if somebody who doesn’t know I’m LGBTQ sees me?” Some also worry about encountering haters. But they should keep in mind they ’ll be surrounded by similar-minded people and they can rely on the crowd to support them, she said.
A non-profit charity started in 1989, Kids Help Phone is available 24/7 to talk anonymously with youth “about anything that might be on their minds,” Shannon said.