Forge partners with Volkswagen to support speqtrum Hamilton through proceeds from Pride match featuring the Pacific Football Club
The Forge Football Club hosted a Pride soccer match sponsored by Volkswagen with proceeds going to support speqtrum, a 2SLGBTQIA+ program through the Young Women’s Christian Association of Canada’s Hamilton chapter.
Focusing on community building and development, speqtrum provides services, events and skill workshops to assist queer and trans young people in Hamilton. speqtrum also offers programs such as weekly check-ins, peer support with staff to chat and provide services over online platforms.
On June 1, the team announced on Instagram post that their June 10 home game at Tim Hortons Field would be held in celebration of Pride month.
"I think it’s important for us to host [the Pride match] for a number of reasons, but the least of all just visibility and going the extra mile to prove that Tim Hortons Field is an inclusive space,” said Shannon Connolly, manager of community partnerships for Forge FC.
I think it’s important for us to host [the Pride match] for a number of reasons, but the least of all just visibility and going the extra mile to prove that Tim Hortons Field is an inclusive space.
Shannon Connolly, manager of community partnerships, Forge Football Club
The team also announced multiple promotional and merchandise opportunities through which fans could donate to the program. These include a “#BeTheChange Pride Package’’ which contained a ticket to the game, a commemorative pride Forge FC shirt, a charitable $10 donation to speqtrum and a $10 matching donation made by Volkswagen.
In addition to the package, $5 proceeds from the team’s Pride collection sales will also be donated to speqtrum for the remainder of the merchandise’s supply.
"Our mandate in our community department is always to focus on healthy, active and empowered youth . . . We immediately thought of speqtrum when we were looking for a partner for this match because they work really closely with youth and families,” said Connolly.
Our mandate in our community department is always to focus on healthy, active and empowered youth . . . We immediately thought of speqtrum when we were looking for a partner for this match because they work really closely with youth and families.
Shannon Connolly, manager of community partnerships, Forge Football Club.
The first 3,000 fans who attended the game were given a Pride Forge FC bandana as part of the team’s giveaway. Unique visual elements were present at the match, including custom corner flags as well as a rainbow-coloured armband for Kyle Bekker, the team captain for the Forge.
Per Connolly, approximately 200 tickets were donated to speqtrum on behalf of Forge and Volkswagen and given to 2SLGBTQIA+ youth from across Hamilton to attend the match.
Per Connolly, approximately 200 tickets were donated to speqtrum on behalf of Forge and Volkswagen and given to 2SLGBTQIA+ youth from across Hamilton to attend the match.
Playing against the Pacific Football Club, the Forge lost 0-1 after a late game goal by forward Djenairo Daniels. Both teams played a tightly contested game all throughout the match. After a scoreless first half, a misplay by Forge players Dom Samuel and Triston Henry allowed Pacific FC forward Daniels to notch a wide-open goal in the 85th minute of play.
Despite a 56.4 per cent possession rate for the Forge, the Pacific’s 16 shots and relentless offense managed to overpower the hometown Hammers and bring the visitors to victory. After the game, the Forge sit in third place in the Canadian Premier League standings with four wins, four draws and two losses.
The Forge continue to make donations to speqtrum with merchandise purchases from their 2023 Pride Collection along with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
New initiative by Spectrum and YWCA Hamilton helps newcomers connect with the community
C/O Calum Lewis
There is something incredibly special about cooking with someone. Many of us have happy memories associated with a certain kitchen or certain meals. For newcomers, cooking can not only be a way to stay connected to culture and something familiar in a foreign place, but it can also be the foundation for building a new community.
While building community in a new place is never easy, the pandemic has made it much harder. Noura Afify, the 2SLGBTQIA+ newcomer youth support worker at Speqtrum and YWCA Hamilton, has created an innovative solution in the form of her Food Talks series. Her goal is to help foster a sense of community for newcomers in these difficult days.
Prior to the lockdown, Afify had hoped to organize food tours to showcase businesses that carry important ingredients that many mainstream grocery stores may not and to help newcomers get oriented to Hamilton.
In its place, she has developed a wholesome series featuring conversations between herself and community members about their relationship to food.
“[Food Talks] is a space for us to talk about what food means to us as people — the emotions, the feelings, the memories, the ways that food connects us to those things and connects us to our cultures and to diasporic identities and stuff like that. But also, on the other hand, talking about how food can and has always been used to build community,” explained Afify.
“[Food Talks] is a space for us to talk about what food means to us as people — the emotions, the feelings, the memories, the ways that food connects us to those things and connects us to our cultures and to diasporic identities and stuff like that. But also, on the other hand, talking about how food can and has always been used to build community,” explained Afify.
The episodes serve as a way to introduce newcomers to members of the community and are also connected to the virtual community kitchen, Mother Tongue.
Food Talks is catered towards elders and youth. The episodes of the series are posted on both Instagram and Facebook, which Afify hopes will allow both demographics to engage with it.
So far, the series has been received warmly by both the viewers and the interviewees.
“It's been really sweet. We've been having folks leave really sweet comments. And folks who did partake in the interview said they really enjoyed it and almost everybody wanted to come and co-facilitate a community kitchen with us. It was really lovely to see that because that is my goal, to have them meet newcomers in person or virtually, so that means a lot to me. And I'm sure it will mean a lot to the newcomers to be able to make those nice affirming connections and create support systems,” said Afify.
It's very important to Afify that Food Talks fosters a sense of community for 2SLGBTQIA+ newcomers, showing them that there is a space for them in Hamilton. She hopes Food Talks will help ease some of the worries newcomers have about finding connection and community in a new place during these times.
Afify also recognizes the importance of making long-term connections, especially for newcomer students. She hopes that Food Talks will give them an opportunity to create these kinds of connections with the larger Hamilton community.
“When I was a student, I was fairly isolated and it was hard getting support only from other students because exams and everybody was so busy all the time. Whereas if you want to connect with an elder in the queer and trans community that's off-campus, they will make time for you. So you're also building connections that are going to support you for the rest of your life. You are meeting mentors, you are learning from people. Most of my learning happened from people, not from classrooms,” explained Afify.
As of publication, only two episodes of Food Talks have been released but more are in the works. Going forward, Afify also hopes to film episodes in languages other than English to help overcome any language barriers.
“This whole project is to give a warm, virtual, community hug to newcomers who are super isolated right now and are really, really struggling. It's one thing to be a newcomer, it's another thing to be a newcomer has to go through all the struggles and barriers in the middle of COVID,” said Afify.
In recent years, Hamilton’s downtown core has changed rapidly, with many businesses closing down and new ones popping up, just as fast. While some may welcome these changes, many others point to a loss for the LGBTQA2S+ community, with many popular gay bars closing down as the city evolved.
In the early 2000s, there were five major gay bars people could go to: The Werx, the Rainbow Lounge, The Embassy, M Bar and The Windsor, all of which were located in Hamilton’s downtown core. Since then, all of these bars have shut their doors.
For James Dee, a McMaster alum and Hamilton resident since 2004, bars such as the Embassy were an important aspect of their experience with Hamilton’s queer community as a place where they could go without threat of violence.
“We maybe have a little bit of drama and be kind of mean to each other….But when the lights came on at the end of the night you know everyone was checking in with each other like 'text when you get home and so I know you're safe,'” Dee said.
While Hamilton’s queer scene thrived in 2004, it was not without violence. In that same year, Hamilton Police Services, among other municipal agencies, raided the Warehouse Spa and Bath and arrested two men for indecent acts. That raid was followed by protests from Hamilton’s LGBTQA2S+ community.
“It felt a lot more dangerous to be visibly queer in 2004,” Dee said. “I think it's easy to kind of romanticize the time when we had brick and mortar spaces but it's also easy to forget why we needed those spaces so much.”
Dee believes that, to some degree, places closed down due to a decline in need, but also points to the gentrification of Hamilton as another key reason these spaces disappeared.
“It's not just the story of queer Hamilton, it's the story of Hamilton in general… a lot of the places I used to enjoy hanging out [at] are now bougie coffee shops,” Dee said.
For example, following the shuttering of the Werx’s door, the building was converted into the Spice Factory, a popular wedding venue.
“All across the board, [the gay bars] catered to people with less money,” Dee said. “They don't survive downtown anymore.”
For Sophie Geffros, another long-time Hamilton resident and McMaster graduate student, the loss of brick-and-mortar spaces has meant a segregation within the community.
Geffros, who spent their teen years in Hamilton, had many of their formative experiences at bars such as the Embassy, where they met older members of the LGBTA2S+ community in addition to those their own age.
“There is still an isolation that I think that can only be combated by in-person interaction,” Geffros said.
“We're a little more fragmented. Like if I'm going out… I'm going to be going out with people I already know who are members of the community,” they added.
For Geffros, the loss of Hamilton’s queer spaces is especially harmful, as these spaces were often the most accessible hangouts for queer people living in rural communities that lack direct bus service to Toronto.
“Those are people who are particularly isolated, who are often closeted throughout the week and would come to Hamilton on the weekend to blow off steam and be amongst themselves. That's a real loss,” Geffros said.
While there are no longer any physical LGBTQA2S+ spaces, there are opportunities for Hamilton’s queer community to converge. Dee is one of the founders of Queer Outta Hamilton, a collective that runs monthly queer pub nights, typically at Gallagher’s Pub.
In addition, there are other organizations that offer workshops and events, such as Speqtrum Hamilton, the NGen Youth Centre, Pride Hamilton, the McMaster Students Union Pride Centre and others.
There are also many LGBTQA2S+-friendly bars and clubs, such as Sous Bas, which offers queer events, typically in partnership with Queer Outta Hamilton.
While Hamilton may have lost its major physical queer spaces, the community continues to support each other the best they can.
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