Egale Canada is issuing a rallying cry during Pride Month, raising awareness about a disturbing trend that not many Canadians have noticed: There is, once again, a “rising tide” of hatred toward 2SLGBTQ+ people across the country.

While Pride is often seen as a time of celebration in the community, this year’s campaign from Egale, titled “My Pride Won’t Unravel,” delivers a more sobering message. Developed with creative agency partners Taxi, the advocacy organization is anchoring the initiative around a stunning visual: a pride flag that has been stripped of one thread for each of the almost 6,500 incidences of anti-2SLGBTQ+ hate the organization has tracked in Canada through just the first three months of 2023. Had it removed one for every incident through May, the flag would have been gone completely.

“What we found in our research is a lot of people – even myself, a queer individual – don’t realize this is going on in Canada as well, because the perception is that we’re a welcoming and tolerant society,” explains Allen Kwong, group creative director at the agency. “Every June, every brand out there is going to be painting their logos, storefronts and ads in rainbow colours with happy, smiling faces and ‘Love is Love’ celebration messages, but there is still a crazy undercurrent of hate that is very shocking in our society.”

The incidences of hate range in severity, but include everything from vandalism of Pride flags in peoples’ homes to organized protests of events celebrating major milestones for the community. In Montreal, protests of drag storytelling events became so severe that they had to be relocated, while a local advocacy organization converted signs with hateful messages into a rallying cry for local members of the community.

These incidences aren’t isolated, nor the work of just one small group of individuals. In some cases, they have been systemic, such as in Norwich, Ont., where Pride and other flags have been forbidden from township properties, or the York District Catholic School Board, which has taken similar action and given rise to student walkouts that have themselves been hijacked by violent counterprotesters who shouted homophobic slurs.

Egale and Taxi chose to visualize those incidences of hatred by taking a symbol that is iconic within the community – “a rallying symbol, a celebration, representative of the community,” says Kwong – and tear away at it.

“It demonstrates how much hate there truly is,” he explains. “A number on its own isn’t as impactful, because we deal with numbers all day long. As a data visualization to show all of the hate we’re facing and what it’s doing to our community, we knew we were on to something disruptive, that could say to the community and Canadians at large that we need to stand up against the hate – to do something about it.”

“It immediately says to me that we’re under attack,” Kwong adds.

The campaign includes a 60-second film featuring prominent drag queen and activist Scarlett BoBo and trans comedian Al Val. It is running across TV, OLV and radio, with OOH and digital support.

Egale is also providing shareable social assets through its campaign microsite, and encouraging Canadians to download and circulate them in support of the campaign, using the hashtag “#MyPrideWontUnravel.” The unraveled flag will be displayed at events throughout Toronto, beginning with Toronto’s Labour of Love on June 10th, while a copy of Egale’s report on the rising incidences of hatred can be downloaded from the aforementioned microsite.

“It’s gut-wrenching, and it’s hard to read,” says Kwong. “People are feeling more empowered to be open about their hate right now.”