Hello, my name is Matt Tallon. I am a queer student of sociology and activist. Currently I attend Trent University in Peterborough Ontario. Originally I'm from a small city in north-western Ontario called Thunder Bay. In 2009 the queer community of Thunder Bay was rocked by a brutal attack against Jake Raynard, a gay man who now lives in Toronto but was attacked while visiting his and my hometown. The community of my city was galvanised into action in response to this hate crime and staged a rally of support a week after the attack which happened in the beginning of September. Unfortunately, this rally in support of Jake and change for the hate that we see in our community was only to be met with the relative inaction of our police service which claimed in a press release that the crime against Jake was not hate related. This is hard to believe for our community specifically because it happened outside the only known queer-"friendly" bar in our city, was extremely violent and started with the yelling of homophobic slurs. That said, I feel it is time that the queer community of my city "upped the ante" with a larger protest wherein people would not feel as if they need to respond to violence to show that they are proud of who they are and that they deserve respect.

It is for this reason that I am starting to plan a Pride Day in my city. This is exciting because it will be the first event of its kind in the expansive region between Winnipeg and Toronto. So far, I have a group of people with me willing to help me plan this as well as connections to performers and artists elsewhere in Canada to make this a truly fun and unforgettable event that cannot be ignored by our media, our police service, our province, and our larger community.

Since I have at my fingertips ample public space in my city to be used, as well as speakers, performance artists and people to make this event a success the only problem I continue to face in meeting this goal is a lack of help from organisations such as yours as well as funding. This is the reason I am writing this message. If there is any help or funding you can provide me to meet this truly needed end it would be extremely appreciated. Furthermore, it must be noted that I am not simply asking for help and money just to have help and money. I understand that help and money does not come for free thus I do plan to ask all those in attendance at this event to make donations, some of which will come back to you for your efforts. Likewise I plan to advertise, for free, all businesses and organisations that support us.

The primary goal I wish to achieve with this funding is to have advertisements for this event in towns and cities outside of Thunder Bay to assure that this event will be the biggest possible for an area like ours. Also, I will need to pay the performers at this event, especially those who need to travel, and the hotel that I will book in advance for them. Paying for the lodging of the performers should not be too costly as I will assure them free advertising during the event, in posters and in print for any and all of the media that will attend this ground breaking event as well.

Please take this request for help into consideration as I do feel that my city really needs an event such as this.

Best,

Matt