Long road for gay rights
Woman who overcame homophobia and bullying shares inspiring story
Myles Dolphin
Northern News Services
Published Monday, March 3, 2014
IQALUIT
It was the late 1980s when Sky Aurora, a teenager living in Rankin Inlet, first heard about the possibility that two women could be in a relationship together.
Iqaluit resident Sky Aurora says Nunavummiut have come a long way toward accepting people who adopt different lifestyles. - Myles Dolphin/NNSL photo |
"It was always referred to as 'gross' by others," she said.
"Kids would joke about it at school."
In 1988 her father, former politician Jack Anawak, became a Member of Parliament and the family moved to a house near Ottawa, Ont., where Aurora enrolled in a much larger school.
It was around this time she felt different about her sexual orientation but concealed her feelings in fear of the reaction it would cause both in Ontario and Nunavut.
A few years later she moved to Montreal, where the burgeoning gay and lesbian community had long been established in the accepting climate of Quebec, and she was able to meet like-minded individuals through the Friendship Centre.
"I felt a lot more open and accepted there," she said.
"Montreal was such a free-spirited place. No one would ever question your sexual orientation."
It was only around the age of 20, when she finally told someone about her attraction to women, that she could truly experience the relief and emancipation she'd been longing for.
"It felt like a tonne of bricks off my shoulders," she said.
"I was constantly lying to people, who would ask about my relationship status, whenever I went back to Ottawa. It was so heavy on my conscience."
Despite the numerous obstacles she'd already overcome, Aurora would face more homophobia upon her return to Rankin Inlet in 1996, when the family moved back to Nunavut.
Intoxicated people would often make hateful comments to her because of her different lifestyle, one that wasn't traditionally accepted among Inuit.
In 1999, after being encouraged by a friend, Aurora moved to Yellowknife and attended school there.
One night, she was physically assaulted by a group of women who had been following her around for some time.
"I finally decided that I wasn't going to be afraid of them anymore," she said, "so I went to a bar and sat by myself."
"They showed up and we began arguing; they were kicked out by the bouncer and although there were three other ways out of the bar, I was escorted out the main door, where the girls were waiting for me."
One of them pulled out a beer bottle and smashed it on Aurora's face, causing a gash above her upper lip where a slight scar remains today.
"There was blood everywhere," she said, pointing to the spot where she was struck.
"When I named the witnesses to the crime, none of them spoke up for me."
In 2000, Aurora moved to Iqaluit and immediately befriended Alison Brewer, who was part of the small gay and lesbian community.
One day in the spring of 2001, while hanging out at the Frobisher Racquet Club with friends, they decided to create a group that would promote LGBT rights.
The group organized annual picnics for a number of years, held at Sylvia Grinnell Territorial Park, and also attended Pride parades in Toronto.
Aurora said Nunavummiut have come a long way toward accepting people for who they are, and was thrilled when she heard members of Iqaluit city council raised the rainbow flag near its corporate office on Feb. 10.
The move, a show of support for gay rights during the Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, was met with criticism the following night during a regular meeting.
Councillor Simon Nattaq said he was told homosexuality was not an Inuit custom.
"People here are definitely more open now than they were 10 years ago," Aurora said, "but to say that certain traditions don't exist within Inuit culture, I don't agree with that.
"Your next-door neighbor could be doing things that you don't know about. In this day and age it's ridiculous to judge people. We're far beyond that ... at least I'd hoped so. I don't push my lifestyle on other people."
Aurora recently created a Facebook page, called Nunavut Same Sex Group, where members can comment and vent anonymously about the challenges they face.
She said the message for Nunavummiut is that they're not alone.
"There will always be people with traditional mindsets," she said.
"There is a lot of support for people out there. There are people you can talk to."
According to the 2012 Forum Research poll, five per cent of Canadians - or roughly 1.74 million people - identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.
