A Grand Slam For Pride and Inclusion

Summer is a special time in Canada, and Canadians take it seriously. Other than camping and cottaging, one of the most quintessential activities that is synonymous with summer is baseball season. With the sun in one’s face, a cold drink and hot dog in hand, nothing beats a day out at the ballpark – cheering for the local baseball team or Canada’s beloved baseball team, the Toronto Blue Jays. Almost nothing that is, except for Pride Night at the ballpark.

On Pride Night, the music and fans are louder. The stands are awash in colour. The Pride flag takes centre stage. And, for one evening, tens of thousands of baseball fans come together to celebrate 2SLGBTQIA+ communities and the diversity that makes Toronto and Canada what it is.

For Fife House, Pride Night with the Toronto Blue Jays has become a special tradition. Each year over the past several years, Fife House staff and clients have joined other 2SLGBTQIA+ and AIDS Service Organizations on the field to carry and unveil the giant Pride Flag for the pre-game ceremony—a moment of visibility, solidarity and celebration before the first pitch.

But this year, Fife House’s participation went far beyond the field. This year, the Blue Jays invited Fife House to become part of a much bigger conversation about what inclusion really looks like—and how to make sure it doesn’t disappear when Pride Night ends.

From one night to every night

Leading up to Pride Night, Fife House was invited to facilitate an online training session for Blue Jays employees focused on 2SLGBTQIA+ inclusion and creating a welcoming environment – not just 2SLGBTQIA+ fans but also all other Blue Jays fans –  throughout the year. It was an opportunity to talk about the everyday actions, language, attitudes and practices that can make people feel welcomed and respected—and the ways organizations and frontline staff in particular can ensure inclusion is more than a passing gesture.

For Fife House, the invitation was particularly meaningful because we know that feeling safe and accepted cannot be taken for granted. Like many people in the 2SLGBTIA+ community, people living with HIV/AIDS continue to experience stigma and discrimination, while many also face poverty, housing insecurity, food insecurity, social isolation and other barriers that can make already difficult situations even harder. These experiences intersect with other forms of marginalization, creating additional challenges.

That is why creating spaces where people feel safe, respected and welcome matters. Whether that space is a supportive home, a community program—or a baseball stadium. We are incredibly grateful to the Blue Jays for inviting Fife House to share our knowledge and experience with their employees. It was a powerful opportunity to move the conversation from celebrating inclusion to practising inclusion.

Suddenly, we’re on TV

And if that wasn’t enough, things got even more exciting. The Blue Jays also invited Fife House to join them for television interviews on CP24 Breakfast and the CityTV Breakfast Show, giving us an opportunity to talk about our work with audiences far beyond our own community. For a charity like Fife House, these moments are about much more than being on television. They are opportunities to tell a story that doesn’t always get told.

HIV has changed dramatically since the early days of the epidemic in the late 80s and early 90s. While there have been incredible advances in medication that have meant that people have more ways to protect themselves against contracting HIV, and people living with HIV can lead long healthy lives, the stigma and discrimination have not completely disappeared. Neither have the social and economic barriers, and inequities to prevention and care, that can profoundly affect the lives of people living with HIV/AIDS.

Our work is about much more than providing a roof over someone’s head. It is about helping people find stability, connection, nourishment, community and the dignity that everyone deserves. Being able to share that message with a broader audience helps put a human face to issues that are too often reduced to statistics.

Lights, camera… Huntley!

And then came perhaps one of the most memorable experience of all: Sportsnet host and reporter Anna Dua, visited Fife House’s Huntley Residence to learn more about who we are and what we do. Anna asat down with Fife House’s Executive Director Carol Thames to talk about Fife House, HIV/AIDS and the realities faced by many of the people we serve. It was also a chance to show viewers something they might not ordinarily see: a Fife House home and community, and the people and programs at the heart of our work. The finished piece aired on Blue Jays Central on Sportsnet ahead of the Pride Night game.

Seeing Fife House featured on Sportsnet was exciting. But what made it especially meaningful was knowing that viewers weren’t simply seeing an organization—they were getting a glimpse into the lives of people who deserve to be seen, heard and understood.

A cheque, a flag and a whole lot of Pride

Of course, no Pride Night would be complete without returning to where it all began: the ballpark. Fife House was also honoured to be invited to represent the organizations participating in the Pride Flag ceremony to receive a ceremonial cheque – a donation – from the Blue Jays’ Jays Care Foundation, to support the work of Fife House and the other organizations involved in the ceremony.

Standing on the baseball diamond to accept that support was a special moment—not simply because of the generosity behind the donation, but because of what it represented: community, partnership, and a recognition creating a more inclusive society requires the commitment and involvement of all of us.

The real win

There is something magical about the ballpark. Baseball creates moments that bring people together. For a few hours, thousands of people cheer for the same team, experience the same pain, celebrate the same victories, and share the same space – reminding us that there are more things that bind us together, than which separates us. That makes the ballpark a pretty powerful place to have conversations about belonging. And this year’s Pride Night gave Fife House an extraordinary opportunity to do just that.

We are deeply grateful to the Toronto Blue Jays and Jays Care Foundation for welcoming Fife House into Pride Night once again—and, importantly, for inviting us to participate in ways that went well beyond the traditional Pride Flag ceremony. And we are also thankful to CP24, CityTV and Sportsnet for giving us a platform to tell our story.

Most of all, we are grateful for the opportunity to help remind people that Pride is about more than one night. It is about creating spaces where people can show up as themselves without fear. It is about challenging stigma and discrimination. It is about listening to communities and learning from their experiences. It is about dignity, respect, acceptance and equal rights.

And it is about making sure that when the Pride flags come down, the commitment to inclusion stays up.

That may be the most important win of all.