Facebook Advocacy for Gay and Lesbian Communities in Canada
This paper proposes using Facebook as a centralized, cost-free online clearinghouse to support advocacy efforts for gay and lesbian communities in Canada. It reviews existing media-based advocacy initiatives—including radio programming and photovoice projects—and identifies both the opportunities and barriers associated with social network forums. The paper outlines step-by-step procedures for establishing and growing a Facebook group, including a twelve-month timeline, budget considerations, and group tools. It also addresses the diversity of hybrid identities within the targeted population, the intended audiences for advocacy, and the desired policy outcomes of a coordinated grassroots online presence.
- Introduction: Media-Based Advocacy for Canadian LGBTQ Communities: Facebook proposed as free LGBTQ advocacy clearinghouse
- Key Advocacy Issue: Virtual clearinghouse for Canadian gay and lesbian resources
- Opportunities and Barriers: Digital divide and access challenges versus online benefits
- Step-by-Step Description of Procedures: Who advocates, how, timeline, and budget details
- Desired Impact and Policy Change: Raising awareness and influencing policymakers
- Resource Materials: Minimal equipment and supplies needed
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What makes this paper effective
- Grounds the proposal in existing, documented Canadian advocacy initiatives (e.g., Dykes on Mykes, PWHCE photovoice project) before introducing the Facebook strategy, giving the argument an empirical foundation.
- Honestly acknowledges weaknesses and barriers—the digital divide, discomfort with online LGBTQ identity disclosure—rather than presenting the proposal as a simple solution.
- Includes a practical twelve-month timeline and budget breakdown, moving the paper from theoretical advocacy to an actionable implementation plan.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper uses a solution-framing technique: it surveys a gap in existing services (no consolidated clearinghouse), marshals supporting literature to justify the proposed remedy, and then maps out concrete procedures. Citing peer-reviewed sources alongside practitioner and journalistic evidence demonstrates breadth of research appropriate to a professional or graduate-level social services context.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens with a literature-grounded introduction, moves to a focused problem statement (the key advocacy issue), addresses opportunities and barriers symmetrically, and then shifts to an operational section covering who advocates, to whom, how, what tools and timeline apply, and what budget is needed. It closes with desired impact and a brief resource list. This funnel structure—broad context narrowing to specific action—is characteristic of professional advocacy or policy proposal writing.
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.
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