This Woman Turned a Antigay Street Preacher's Pulpit Into a Safe Space
Xtra she remembers well the day in 2013 in the Old Strathcona district of Edmonton on the corner of 104 Street and Whyte Avenue when she was verbally assaulted by a man on a pedestal spewing hate into his microphone.
She told Xtra the moment, which she captured on video, of the man declaring that her rainbow hoodie was “the devil’s way of reaching out,” left her not just frightened for herself, but also others who were struggling with their identity and who might have heard the man’s hateful rantings and, even worse, taken them seriously.
Years later in early 2020, Pearen had a conversation with Corey Wyness, the director of OUTpost which provides safe spaces and services for queer youth in downtown Edmonton.
Their conversations about the death by suicide of eight unhoused queer youth that year brought back the memories of that hateful incident on the street corner years ago.She returned to the corner that Friday which was the favored time of the notorious preacher, and claimed the spot he typically spoke in.
