Somewhere near you, run by people who've been doing this for years
These are real organisations in every province and territory — community centres, social groups, Pride societies, seniors programmes, choirs, film festivals. Coffee mornings and film nights and dances and walking groups.
Worth your time whether or not you ever come near us. If one of these is down the road from you, go to that first.
Most organisations below appear on the Government of Canada's published list of funded 2SLGBTQI+ organisations, which is how we know they're real. It is not every organisation in the country — plenty of excellent groups aren't federally funded — so we've added others we've found. If we've missed yours, or got a detail wrong, tell us and we'll fix it.
Especially for us — 50 and over
Start here if you're closer to our end of things.
- Senior Pride Network — Toronto, and a national network linking organisations right across the country. The most on-target body in Canada for older 2SLGBTQI+ people.
- Rainbow Elders Calgary (Calgary, AB) — volunteer-run since 2018. Monthly "Coffee, Cookies and Chat", plus meals, dances, picnics, films and concerts.
- Gay and Grey Montréal (Montréal, QC) — member-led, for English-speaking 2SLGBTQI+ adults over 50. Social, wellness and education programmes.
- ARCG — Aînés et retraités de la communauté gaie (Montréal, QC) — for gay men over 50, set up specifically to break isolation.
- New Horizons (central and northern Ontario) — weekly virtual programming for older 2S-LGBTQ+ adults. Social groups, film nights, webinars. If getting out is the hard part, start here.
- Ottawa Senior Pride Network (Ottawa, ON) — going since 2008.
- Dignity Seniors Society (Vancouver, BC).
- Egale Canada (Toronto, ON) — national, with a dedicated seniors programme.
National
- Affirm United — Ottawa, ON
- Community-Based Research Centre — Vancouver, BC
- Dignity Network Canada — Toronto, ON
- Egale Canada — Toronto, ON
- Intersex Canada — Toronto, ON
- It Gets Better Canada — Toronto, ON
- Les 3 sex* — Montréal, QC
- Pink Triangle Press — Toronto, ON
- Pride at Work Canada — Toronto, ON
- QueerTech — Montréal, QC
- Rainbow Faith and Freedom — Toronto, ON
- Rainbow Railroad — Toronto, ON
- Senior Pride Network — Cobalt, ON
- Wisdom2Action — Halifax, NS
- PFLAG Canada — national, with local chapters
- JusticeTrans — national
British Columbia, Yukon and the Northwest Territories
- QMUNITY — Vancouver, BC
- ARC Foundation — Vancouver, BC
- Dignity Seniors Society — Vancouver, BC
- Out on Screen — Vancouver, BC
- Sher Vancouver LGBTQ Friends Society — Delta, BC
- Surrey Pride Society — Surrey, BC
- QCHAT Support Association — Victoria, BC
- Support Network for Indigenous Women & Women of Colour — Victoria, BC
- Northern BC Queer Connection Society — Prince George, BC
- Fernie Pride Society — Fernie, BC
- Rise Up Indigenous Wellness Society — Salmon Arm, BC
- Queer Yukon Society, and The Cache community centre — Whitehorse, YT
- Northern Mosaic Network — Yellowknife, NT
The Prairies
- Rainbow Elders Calgary — Calgary, AB
- Centre for Sexuality — Calgary, AB
- Pride Centre of Edmonton — Edmonton, AB
- Queer and Trans Health Collective Society — Edmonton, AB
- Grande Prairie Pride Society — Grande Prairie, AB
- OUTSaskatoon — Saskatoon, SK
- Saskatchewan Queer Mental Health Collective — Saskatoon, SK
- Métis Nation–Saskatchewan — Saskatoon, SK
- UR Pride Centre for Sexuality and Gender Diversity — Regina, SK
- Moose Jaw Pride — Moose Jaw, SK
- TransSask Support Services — SK
- Spark Your Pride — Vanscoy, SK
- West Flat Citizens Group — Prince Albert, SK
- Rainbow Resource Centre — Winnipeg, MB
- Pride Winnipeg — Winnipeg, MB
- Two-Spirited People of Manitoba — Winnipeg, MB
Ontario
- The 519 — Toronto
- Friends of Ruby — Toronto
- LGBT YouthLine — Toronto
- Singing Out (choir) — Toronto
- Alphabet Sports Collective — Toronto
- Toronto Queer Film Festival — Toronto
- Queer Toronto Literary Magazine — Toronto
- FrancoQueer — Toronto
- Ubuntu — Black Trans, Non-Binary and 2Spirit Collective — Toronto
- CANVAS Arts Action Programs — Toronto
- Casey House — Toronto
- AIDS Committee of Toronto — Toronto
- Toronto People With AIDS Foundation — Toronto
- Alliance for South Asian AIDS Prevention — Toronto
- African Centre for Refugees in Ontario Canada — Toronto
- Cultura — Toronto
- Elevate Equity — Toronto
- Adornment Stories Collective — East York
- Kind Space — Ottawa
- Centre33 — Kanata
- Hamilton Trans Health Coalition — Hamilton
- Rainbow Coalition of Waterloo Region — Waterloo
- SPECTRUM, Waterloo Region's Rainbow Community Space — Kitchener
- Out on the Shelf — Guelph
- Black Queer Youth Collective — London
- Trans Wellness Ontario — Windsor
- TransCare+ — Kingston
- Rainbow Service Organization — Peterborough
- Rainbow Universel — Oshawa
- Cercle de Jeunes Rainbow — Pickering
- York Pride Fest — Newmarket
- UPlift Black — Barrie
- WorQshop — Brantford
- Stratford Pride Community Centre — Stratford
- North Bay Pride — North Bay
- Sault Pride — Sault Ste. Marie
- Thunder Pride Association — Thunder Bay
- New Horizons — central and northern Ontario
- Ottawa Senior Pride Network — Ottawa
Québec
- Gay and Grey Montréal — Montréal
- ARCG — Aînés et retraités de la communauté gaie — Montréal
- Conseil québécois LGBT — Montréal
- RÉZO, santé et mieux-être des hommes gais et bisexuels — Montréal
- Réseau des Lesbiennes du Québec — Montréal
- Centre de solidarité lesbienne — Montréal
- Archives lesbiennes du Québec — Montréal
- Espace LGBTQ+ — Montréal
- AGIR : Action LGBTQ+ avec les immigrantEs et réfugiéEs — Montréal
- Coalition des groupes jeunesse LGBTQ+ — Montréal
- Euphorie dans le genre – Fierté trans — Montréal
- Fondation Massimadi — Montréal
- Voulez-Vous Productions — Montréal
- Alliance Arc-en-ciel de Québec — Québec
- Gris-Québec — Québec
- Divergenres — Québec
- TransEstrie — Sherbrooke
- Divers-Gens — Granby
- Diversité 02 — Chicoutimi
- LGBT Haute-Gaspésie — Sainte-Anne-des-Monts
Atlantic Canada
- Halifax Pride — Halifax, NS
- Nova Scotia Rainbow Action Project (NSRAP) — NS
- Wabanaki Two Spirit Alliance — Halifax, NS
- Rainbow Refugee Association of Nova Scotia — Halifax, NS
- The Youth Project — Halifax, NS
- Truro Pride Society — Truro, NS
- Alter Acadie NB — Moncton, NB
- PEERS Alliance — Charlottetown, PEI
- Pride PEI — Charlottetown, PEI
- Quadrangle NL Community Centre — St. John's, NL
- Trans Support NL — St. John's, NL
Nunavut
- Nunavut Pride Society — building Pride committees across all 25 communities
- Positive Space Nunavut — Iqaluit
Faith communities that mean it
If church, synagogue or congregation is part of your life — or was, and you've missed it — these keep the lists so you don't have to guess from a website.
- Affirm United / S'affirmer Ensemble — the United Church of Canada's affirming network, going since 1982. Over 200 congregations across Canada have publicly declared themselves fully inclusive, with around another hundred working through it. They publish which ones.
- Integrity — support and advocacy within the Anglican Church of Canada. Integrity/Toronto is the oldest Canadian chapter.
- Rainbow Faith and Freedom — national, across faiths.
- GayChurch.org — Find an Affirming Church — a searchable directory covering many denominations.
Businesses that have put it in writing
There is already a national accreditation for this, and it is better than anything we could keep up to date ourselves.
- Rainbow Registered — a national accreditation for 2SLGBTQI+ friendly businesses and organisations. A business carrying it has been assessed, not just said so.
- CGLCC — Canada's 2SLGBTQI+ Chamber of Commerce — since 2003, the national body for LGBT+ owned and operated businesses. They certify businesses that are at least 51% owned and run by someone in the community.
We deliberately don't keep our own list of friendly businesses. Shops open and close and change hands, and a directory nobody has time to maintain eventually sends someone to a locked door — which is worse than sending them nowhere. The two above are maintained by people whose job it is.
And one room that's open right now
Lüvable is an online space where you drop into a room and talk to people. No algorithm, no matching, no swiping, nothing to download. The rooms are always open — Wednesdays and Sundays, 7–9:30pm EST is when the most people are around.