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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
An organization offering support to queer youth in the city has been ramping up presentations in schools in an effort to bring awareness and sensitivity to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues.

Jacq Brasseur gives a workshop on gender play and cross-dressing, and deconstructing social norms around stereotypical 'male' and 'female' clothing, during NWT Pride at the Folk on the Rocks beer garden this past September. - NNSL file photo

Run by co-chairs Jacq Brasseur and Nicole Garbutt, It Gets Better Yellowknife is starting to make its presence known in the community.

"There's a list of workshops on the website and schools can approach us and ask us to come in," said Brasseur. "We're volunteer-run but we're more than happy to come in and talk to students."

The list of workshops includes those available for high school students. While the workshops are planned and written out, Brasseur said there's a lot of flexibility based on what the students want to talk about and the questions they ask.

"It helps that (Garbutt) and I are young, we're not there to preach to them. We're making jokes and laughing. We try to make it as relevant as we can," she said.

Both Brasseur and Garbutt grew up and attended high school in Yellowknife, which Brasseur said helps them understand and identify with the issues.

Brasseur keeps the topics as open as possible, focusing not only on students who are part of the queer community but everyone in the room.

"Language is important. A lot of people have called something 'gay' or said 'no homo' without realizing the impact it can have on someone next to them," she said. "We try to make it as relevant as we can."

While no times are booked for public workshops in the new year, It Gets Better Yellowknife is still looking to the future. They're presenting a workshop at the OUTshine Gay Straight Alliance (GSA) Summit in Toronto in May.

"We're still working on insurance but we're looking for a few kids to join us," said Brasseur.

Eventually, Brasseur would like to see GSAs in each middle school and high school in Yellowknife, but understands that might be a few years off.

"We've been around for around a year-and-a-half, maybe two years," said Brasseur. "When we first started, we did get a few e-mails from youth in the community. We kind of mentored them one-on-one through e-mails. Now we're getting more involved in schools and we're ecstatic. The teachers love it and the kids remember me when they see me on the street. If we change one kid's life through 10 presentations that's great."

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