PEERS Alliance aims to connect the P.E.I. LGBTQ community, online and off

PEERS Alliance is looking for new ways to connect the LGBTQ community across P.E.I.

The organization is hoping to create a hub for P.E.I.'s LGBTQ community both online and off as part of their latest initiative called Linking Together 2.0.

A website for LGBTQ community members on the Island could help them connect, says Rebekah Condon, interim executive director of PEERS Alliance.

"A social media hub, so a website that allows people from one end of the Island to the other to connect. We want people to see themselves reflected regardless of who they are and where they are," she said.

Condon said creating a website is just the first step in connecting the community. It's about accessibility, she said, because so much of the population lives in rural P.E.I.

"A website allows for accessibility for those who may not have the means to get to Charlottetown," she said.

"We have to start somewhere and this is a means of allowing people to connect in a virtual way."

Condon said one of the most commonthings she hears from people is that they feel isolated.

"If you are living in a rural community and you don't know if you are the only person who feels the way thatyou do, or identifies the way that you do, this is a way to connect with the community," she said.

The organization is also looking at how they could create a LGBTQ community centre in the future.

Linking together

Starting next week, the organization is holding meetings across the province to get feedback from different communities.

The idea came about when PEERS Alliance held an event called Linking Together: Community Centre for a Day.

"It was an opportunity to bring the 2SLGBTQ community together and remind themselves what could be, in terms of a community centre,"Condon said.

The centre could provide services such as workshops, a kids play place, hosting events and building community, she said.

'The next step'

The first community meeting is 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 5 at the Summerside Rotary Library.

The group is trying to reach every part of the province.

"We're also trying to reach the French community as well as the different cultural groups in the province," Condon said.

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