A new organization, Queer Joy, is running events across Brantford and Brant County designed to bring together and celebrate the 2SLGBTQIA+ community.
Since starting in 2023, their events have included game nights, bike rides, and a popular weekly Queeraoke.
The organization was founded by Reba Joy, who has lived in Brantford for two years. The name ‘Queer Joy’ came from Reba Joy’s last name, as well as their desire to focus on the 2SLGBTQIA+ community’s happiness and sharing that with others.
“We can face hard times, and we can get stuck in the negative and how people are judging you,” Joy said. They wanted to show that “there’s a lot to us… other people can join in on that, and even if they’re not in the LGBQT community, everyone wants that space where they can express their joy and express themselves.”
Allies are welcome at any events, Joy notes, “as long as they’re respectful of what the space is focused on… having allies at an event just creates a stronger community.”
Joy has previously lived in Toronto, Kitchener, and Waterloo. After moving to Brantford in 2022 and getting to know the community, they felt there was room for an organization to host events for the queer community.
“There are so many different people doing really cool stuff [here],” Joy said. “There’s a few people I met earlier on that were very encouraging and very much of the mindset of, if it’s not here and we want it, we’re going to build it. And so I took that with me a lot, and it kind of planted a seed in my head…. I want to do something.”
Their first event was a queer game night in June 2023. Since then, they’ve tried to run one event per month. They’ve run a comedy night at Paris Beer Co, a park day at Lions Park with backyard games and pickleball, and a euchre night at Temptation Kitchen. Some businesses have even reached out to them, including Conquer Climbing Centre, which led to a rock-climbing event last June. Joy estimates that between 20-30 people show up to each event.
In winter 2023, they started running Queeraoke at Dog Eared Café, which has been a consistent event ever since.
“Those have brought me a lot of joy and a lot of happiness,” Joy said. Often, they’ll run karaoke with a theme, such as a musical night or Disney night. There’s a consistent core group of people who come every time, Joy said, but there’s also brand-new people every time.
“There’s people who go from being shy or not talking to anyone to asking people to do a group song with them,” Joy said. “It’s been very sweet, very heart-warming. I get sappy texts from people sometimes and save them on my phone to look at later… people that grew up in Paris and Brantford that didn’t always feel safe here and now getting the opportunity to kind of breathe easier in a space.”
While Joy has felt strong support from the community, they’re also motivated in part by the hate that they do see and hear, “like seeing the vandalism of any queer art or the picnic table in Mohawk Park that got vandalized. So it’s definitely there,” Joy said. “Knowing that we need to create these spaces and show that joyful representation just felt extra important.”
Joy’s friend, Chris MacPherson, has been a huge support of Queer Joy events, and co-hosts the karaoke each month with Joy.
When Joy moved to Brantford and expressed their interest in hosting events, MacPherson thought it was “awesome.”
“Having grown up in Paris, there’s been nothing my entire life,” MacPherson said. “I tried to support them in any way I could, because it felt nice to help create a space like that.”
Having gone to almost every event Queer Joy has run, MacPherson said the organization has created an environment that’s made him feel “less judged for just expressing who I am through clothing or makeup or even just the way I interact with people.”
“What Reba has been able to do, it’s really made a lot of people more comfortable living in Paris, which I think is pretty awesome,” MacPherson said. “It’s also allowed people to connect with each other, and I don’t think they would have been able to without that kind of space.”
Looking ahead to 2025, Queer Joy is planning to keep on growing. Queeraoke will continue, of course. They’ve also been asked by Brantford Pride to organize the Pride After Party in June.
Other events Joy is looking at running include Saturday Strolls, which would start or end at Altitude Coffee and take people for a walk by the river; Beers with Queers, where they’d explore different breweries; and a bi-weekly group at the climbing gym. “I want this to be a nice variety of events,” Joy said. “I don’t want all of them to be drinking focused or at a bar. I want to have some dry events, some crafts, some coffee, so that it can appeal to a wide range of people.”
Joy said they’re also happy to support any other groups or events happening for the queer community in Brantford and Brant County.
“It’s been really great in the queer event community, the support that’s there,” Joy said. “If there’s anyone doing cool things that they want to share, I’m happy to share them all… create this hub of grassroots organizations that are doing fun stuff. I’d love to see that continue to grow here and see how I can support that.”