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www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Friday, August 21, 2015 | 6 Last weekend's 16th annual Halton Pride event, held this year in Burlington's Central Park, was far more than a celebration. It was a celebration of life -- and of saving lives. According to Marcus Logan, a longtime advocate of the LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgendered and queer) communities and current supervisor of the Positive Space Network (PSN), which provides LGBTQ+ family support, the network is doing just that in Halton. "The work we do saves lives," Logan said. "I have no problem saying that." In the 16 years since the rst Halton Pride event, Logan says there's been a dramatic change in attitude among parents of children who've come out. "When I started this kind of work, parents would come to me and say, their kid just came out, x him," Logan said. "Now, there has been this amazing shift. Parents come to me and say, their kid said they were transgender. What does that mean? How do I help him? Do you have a group for him?" More engaged parents, greater acceptance by faithbased organizations and a greater understanding within school communities that bullying someone for being different is unacceptable, are combining to eliminate the isolation that drives young people to drugs, mental collapse and thoughts of suicide. "We meet kids in hospital after a suicide attempt or a mental health breakdown and they change. We provide them with a really amazing safe youth centre space, where they are allowed to be who they are. They spend a couple of hours. They make friends and they realize they're not alone anymore," according to Logan. Still, despite this societal shift toward greater acceptance, young people still slip through the cracks. This year's Halton Pride event was dedicated to Peter Drozdiuk and Jacob Vandecamp, both of whom passed away from accidental drug overdoses. Earlier this year, close friend Vanessa Rago, 19, helped organize a fundraising party to celebrate their lives. It resulted in $2,600 being presented to PSN for its ROCK (Reach Out Centre for Kids) program. "They were amazing, talented and very sociable people... who just got mixed up with drugs," said Rago. A four-year, Ontario Trillium Foundation grant, aimed at engaging queer and trans youths in Halton, led to this year's Halton Pride event being mostly organized by the Youth Action Committee (YAC), a group of 16 young people from the region. Logan believes this year's event demonstrates how involved Halton youths are becoming at emancipating others from their feelings of isolation. He is not alone. "Halton is a very traditional, family-oriented area. So, having an event that celebrates queer and trans youth also makes them feel they have a place to celebrate their lives so they don't feel as if they're alone," said Alyy Patel, 18, a member of the Youth Action Committee that organized Halton Pride. With a new school year just weeks away, Halton Pride reminds us not only of the good work being done by our young people, but of the importance of carrying the event's message into all aspects of community life. Halton Pride helps remove the fear Editorial T U R K E Y V U L T U R E "Connected to your Community" V I S I T S 5046 Mainway, Unit 2, Burlington ON L7L 5Z1 General Inquiries: (905) 845-3824 Classi ed Advertising: (905) 632-4440 Circulation: 5300 Harvester Rd., Burlington (905) 631-6095 Volume 53 | Number 67 The Oakville Beaver is a division of Editorial and advertising content of the Oakville Beaver is protected by copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited. Vice­President and Group Publisher of Metroland West Regional General Manager Halton Region Editor in Chief Advertising Director NEIL OLIVER DAVID HARVEY JILL DAVIS DANIEL BAIRD Managing Editor ANGELA BLACKBURN RIZIERO VERTOLLI Photography Director Business Manager Director of Production SANDY PARE MARK DILLS MANUEL GARCIA Production Manager Oakville resident Brett Fong sent the Oakville Beaver photos of what appears to be a turkey vulture in north Oakville Monday afternoon. According to Fong, the bird had its eyes on a dead squirrel on a residential road near Upper Middle and Trafalgar roads. That had local residents' turning heads with eyes on the bird and many stopped to take photos. | photo by Brett Fong Director of Distribution CHARLENE HALL KIM MOSSMAN Circulation Manager Proud Official Media Sponsor For: Canadian Circulations Audit Board Member Resident, too, feels `The Lakeshore Roar' Like some of your readers, I, too, have the misfortune to live in a comfortable home, which backs onto a major road, speci cally Lakeshore Road West in the area between Third Line and East Street. This has become a motorbike race track, both eastbound and westbound, during summer weekends and public holidays. The noise, at times, requires my wife and I to shout at each other when we sit on our patio which, regrettably, faces the highway. Unmuf ed motorbike engines and `soupedup' sports cars are endlessly revved as they go by this residential area, which includes single houses, apartment blocks, townhouses, a seniors' residence and the Bronte Athletic Field. Letter to the Editor Recognized for Excellence by Ontario Community Newspapers Association Canadian Community Newspapers Association Oakville Transit also adds to the cacophony of noise as its poorly-used diesel buses drop a lone passenger and then accelerate away from the bus stop. Thoughtless people who delight in revving noisy engines, while playing radios at full volume, have made our precious summer weekend evenings a misery. It appears that no laws or regulations about public noise are enforceable here, but I wonder if one of `Oakville's Finest' could check this out one Saturday or Sunday evening to see if we have valid complaints that might be referred to Town council. Peter Allen, Oakville Proud Official Media Sponsor For: OPC Ontario Press Council Defending principles to inspire public trust The Oakville Beaver welcomes letters from its readers. Letters will be edited for clarity, length, legal considerations and grammar. In order to be published all letters must contain the name, address and phone number of the author. Letters should be addressed to: The Editor, Oakville Beaver, 5046 Mainway, Unit 2, Burlington ON L7L 5Z1 or via email to ablackburn@oakvillebeaver.com. The Beaver reserves the right to refuse to publish a letter. The Oakville Beaver is a member of the Ontario Press Council. The council is located at 80 Gould St., Suite 206, Toronto, Ont., M5B 2M7. Phone 416-340-1981. Advertising is accepted on the condition that, in the event of a typographical error, that portion of advertising space occupied by the erroneous item, together with a reasonable allowance for signature, will not be charged for, but the balance of the advertisement will be paid for at the applicable rate. The publisher reserves the right to categorize advertisements or decline.