Vancouver seen as a safe haven for LGBTQ people from around the world

FromJuly 26-30, tune in to CBC Radio One'sThe Early Editionat7:10 a.m.forAll Out Vancouvera new special series produced by CBC'sKiran Singhthat explores how the city of Vancouver supports its LGBTQ residents, many of whom seek refuge in the city because ofits reputation as a safe haven.

People from around the world haveimmigratedto Vancouver for thequality of life andscenic beauty for years.But for some members of the LGBTQ community, Vancouver is alsowhere they've foundachance at a dignified life.

Members of this community have been shunned in their birthplacesfor wanting to express their authentic selvesand seekingmarriage equality. While Canadaprovidesthem with a place where they can marry their same-sex partner, Vancouver can providethem with a community that not only accepts them, but celebratesthem.

The option to have a family

Saattvic, who goes by his first name alone,isa gay man whomoved to Vancouver from India to be with his partner in 2020.

"We don't have the right to marry, and simple things like having a family, marrying the person you love, settling down. Things that most people just take for granted," said Saattvic, explainingthat theseoptions aren't available to him in India.

He is currently a petitioner in the High Court ofDelhi seeking marriage equality in India.

India's Supreme Court legalized consensual gay sex in 2018, changing a law thatpreviously categorized it asan"unnatural offence." ButSaattviccalls that move'step zero' in the gay rights movement in thatcountry.

Walking down the street can be dangerous

Norma Lize isa transgenderactivist who moved to Vancouver from Lebanon as a refugee in 2018.

"Being a trans person, a trans activist in the Middle East, I was putting my life at risk every time I would goout ... every time I would post something on Facebook," said Lize, adding shefelt unsafe walking down the street.

Lizesays she decided to move to Vancouver as a refugee so that she could helpother trans women. "To provide safety for someone else, I need to support myself."

Not a new phenomenon

Mary-Ev Anderson identifies as a lesbian and she moved to Vancouver in 1985.

"When I was in Ottawa, I was terrified of being fired, of being evicted.... I really lived in fear," said Anderson.

She recalls "a mass exodus of lesbians from Ottawa" around 1985 because they felt a deeper sense of community and safety here.

By 1993, Forbidden Love: The Unashamed Stories of Lesbian Lives' was showing in regular cinemas,something the lesbian community celebrated at the time.

"Us seeing ourselves on the screen wasastonishing," Andersonrecalled.

No place is perfect

Lize, who lives in the heart of the West End,says sheexperienced racism aftermovingto Vancouver.

"I was on the dating apps when I moved here, I felt that the community here is very white, white-oriented. If you are not as white as everyone else, you will always be 'othered,' " Lizesaid.

That meant she was perceived as someone who didn't understandCanadian culture, someone who was not born hereor someone to be exoticised, she says.

"We left our country for a reason, so let's not bring the hard times we went through to this city."

She's hoping Vancouver can become evenmore inclusive and more tolerant of diversity.