Outspoken: A Queer 101 is the product of Bobby Hudon’s lived experience as a member of both indigenous and 2SLGBTQ+ communities. Over the last few months Hudon has carried the program across northern Ontario from Kenora all the way to Manitoulin Island and places in between.
Originally from Manitoba, Hudon moved to Fort Frances in 2019 and the work he’s doing now dates back to his days in Winnipeg.
“My first introduction into social work was creating safe or necessary spaces for 2SLGBTQIA people in the urban city of Winnipeg,” Hudon said. “From there I really wound up working with many different marginalized groups. Then in 2019 when I moved to Fort Frances I took all that urban experience with me and started applying it to rural communities here and based it on my own story. That is really what’s at the heart of this work.”
For a long time the term ‘queer’ was used as a pejorative, or negative term towards the 2SLGBTQ+ community. Depending on the context can still be used as such but Hudon says that the term has been reclaimed by the community.
“This is actually found right in my presentation where I discuss the language and importance of intention within our language to build and nurture relationships in a good way,” Hudon said. “The word queer absolutely was a term that was derogatory in nature that was used against 2SLGBTQIA+ people for years upon years finally what happened is a term called re-appropriation, where we as queer folks have had enough of being affected negatively by this word and so we took it an inverted it, and not it is a term that is safe to use that actually empowers us and has pride within its meaning.”
The presentation Hudon has brought to many different communities is to help those who haven’t had much exposure to the 2SLGBTQ+ community learn more about it.
“It is a presentation based around my own lived experiences and my own stories around being a proud member of the LGBTQIA+ plus community and the difficulties and challenges I have faced as a result of this, particularly in a rural environment,” Hudon says. “It’s a presentation that looks at concepts such as gender identity, sexual and romantic orientation, biological sex and gender expression. I use these lessons that I’ve picked up along the way, through my experiences within queer culture and I’m translating them into westernized culture and sometimes traditional or Anishinaabe culture. That’s really what this is about, it actually is ultimately cultural, it’s a presentation based on multiculturalism. It’s about bringing awareness to social issues that impact not only queer communities but all of us.”
Hudon has taken the presentation to the Kenora area with the Kenora Chiefs Advisory and the communities it serves, as well as doing it for indigenous groups on Manitoulin Island. He also presented during a recent PD Day for the Rainy River District School Board and at Fort Frances High School during Pride Month. Hudon also posted on facebook about doing the presentation in Sheshegwaning First Nation on Manitoulin Island as his drag alter ego Pharoah Moans.
Given the number of presentations he’s made, Hudon says he’s received much more positive reaction than he thought he would.
“I feel like I’ve been received in a lot more positive light than I had anticipated, especially thinking back at some of the spaces that I’ve been honoured to present in,” he said. “It’s a reflection of a sign of the times we are all in but I also think it’s a reflection of the content of the presentation. I think when you start to talk about the 2SLGBTQIA+ community as a culture, people’s views and relationship with the community start to shift and there’s a different kind of respect that is cultivated when we start to approach this as a culture, not simply a group of people that belong to a community that is often siloed from mainstream conversation. One of the most important messages of this presentation is that a queer issue is not a queer issue, a queer issue is actually a human issue.”
