Facebook Advocacy for Gay and Lesbian Communities in Canada

Introduction: Media-Based Advocacy for Canadian LGBTQ Communities

A growing number of organizations of all types are providing a broad range of social services to gay and lesbian communities throughout Canada, and many of these have used media to help them achieve their goals. For instance, the group "Dykes on Mykes" has produced a radio show since 1987 to promote community awareness of the challenges facing gay and lesbian communities in Canada (Macphee & Hogan, 2006). Likewise, Willson, Green, Haworth-Brockman, and Beck (2006) report that they partnered with the Prairie Women's Health Centre of Excellence (PWHCE) in Winnipeg and Saskatoon using a strategy known as "photovoice" to provide impoverished Canadian women with the opportunity to share their experiences using their own words and photographic records of their lives. In the photovoice approach, "Participants are given cameras and training in how to use them; they then photograph aspects of their realities, discuss the photographs, and share them. The process can produce compelling images and stories that become tools for social and personal change, vehicles to raise consciousness and influence policymakers" (pp. 160–161).

Despite the positive outcomes being realized through these media-based advocacy efforts, there remains a lack of a consolidated clearinghouse where representatives from these and like-minded organizations can share their information, research, and events. Therefore, the social network forum Facebook will be used to provide a convenient and readily accessible clearinghouse for organizations delivering social services to the gay and lesbian communities in Canada. The major strength of Facebook is its cost-effectiveness — the service is absolutely free, and many organizations already have their own individual pages on Facebook. Indeed, Chris Hughes, Facebook's openly gay spokesman, emphasizes that "From the beginning Facebook wanted to be gay-friendly" (quoted in Kim, 2005, p. 44).

One of the potential weaknesses of using social network forums is lack of access by members of the targeted population for economic reasons or a lack of the basic skills needed to use online resources. In addition, some potential members of the targeted population may feel uncomfortable joining an online community devoted to gay and lesbian issues. In this regard, Kim (2005) adds that "Being out on Facebook is a statement, just like coming out face-to-face. It has that same value" (p. 44).

Despite these constraints, recent trends indicate that Facebook is growing in popularity among the gay and lesbian community, and particularly at the high school level: "It's very much something students use to connect with each other now" (Kim, 2005, p. 44). In addition, Facebook provides gay and lesbian students with the ability to screen their potential friend lists to other students in their universities or by other factors they deem appropriate. Not surprisingly, increasing numbers of the technologically savvy Millennial Generation are signing up for the service. Kim reports that "Unlike its popular counterpart, Friendster.com, Facebook is open only to individuals with a university e-mail address or a screened high school address, and gay students are getting into it in a big way" (2005, p. 44). It therefore makes good sense to take advantage of this social network forum's power to effect meaningful change, as described further below.

Key Advocacy Issue

The key advocacy issue addressed by this initiative is to provide a virtual clearinghouse for educational and community-awareness initiatives, as well as other online resources for gays and lesbians in general and in Canada in particular. This clearinghouse will recognize and celebrate the differences of opinion that are inevitable while remaining focused on overcoming the challenges facing the targeted population in Canadian society today.

Opportunities and Barriers

Although the so-called "digital divide" has become less pronounced in recent years, some members of the targeted population may lack Internet access or the skill set needed to navigate social network forums such as Facebook. Despite these barriers to access, a growing number of Canadians are participating in social networking forums, and these trends can be used to good effect in communicating with the targeted population in ways that will create new opportunities for information sharing, testimonials, empirical observations, and other insights that might otherwise go undiscerned if the broad range of available services continues to be presented in an isolated fashion rather than through an online clearinghouse approach.

This approach is congruent with the observation by McTavish (2006) that "As a relatively new form of feminist organization, virtuality has many benefits. The Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada (ARCC-CDAC) does not pay for office space, regular mail-outs, telephones, or many of the other overhead costs traditionally borne by political organizations" (p. 161). Their online presence also facilitates media access for the group around the clock in a highly cost-effective fashion. McTavish adds that "Though without a centralized phone number, ARCC-CDAC provides the media with cell phone numbers for its spokespeople. The exchange of information and communication between members is immediate and regular. The web site and listservs are available 24 hours a day, offering a wide range of political and practical information" (p. 161). Taken together, the opportunity to provide a centralized clearinghouse for these disparate but valuable resources represents a timely and valuable enterprise that can be achieved using the procedures described further below.