The Gay Agenda

The Gay Agenda is a pejorative phrase and idealogy coined by conservative religious groups targetting the advocacy of the 2SLGBTQ+ community. The idea being that queer people have created an elaborate scheme to recruit people to the queer lifestyle, encourage deviant behaviour, and dismantle institutions such as “traditional family and marriage”. While the queer community definitely has an agenda, this is not it. The reality is that queer people just want to live in a just and equitable society.

Over time, we have seen folks in the queer community combat this harmful rhetoric the best we know how; to advocate for our rights to exist, often using art, humour and joy as our best defence. The term “the gay agenda” has been adopted, reappropriated, and memeified by many queer groups, artists, activists, and the like to turn the phrase on its head. The Gay Agenda, an exhibition featuring 4 local Okanagan-based queer artists, aims to continue this tradition. The Gay Agenda brings together artists Jacen Dennis, Samantha Wigglesworth, Sarah Jones, and Fred Thacker in a group exhibition highlighting queer joy. Using queer joy as a form of resistance, we assert that we have always been here and will continue to always be here. As we continue to fight for our space in the world, which can oftentimes be challenging,  traumatic, and exhausting, the moments of joy, love, laughter, and peace in between are reminders of the true “agenda”—the right to exist and thrive.


Alternator Centre for Contemporary Art421 Cawston Avenue (unit 103)Kelowna, BC, V1Y 6Z1 Canada (map)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *