Five years ago, Antoine Elhashem had a revelation. “I was in a LGBTQ conference about travel, and it occurred to me: I know so many great businesses, organizations and people, and there’s no body who has the sole job of celebrating those people.” From this simple idea—celebration of LGBTQ success stories—the Inspire awards was born. “In five months, we had a sold-out event at Casa Loma. It was really rushed the first year, but it ended up being very effective. People onstage being honoured literally had tears in their eyes, and we knew it had to continue.”
On May 29, the Inspire Awards recognized nine recipients in categories as diverse as the LUX Award for the Arts, the LGBTQ Youth of the Year award, and the Inspiring Community Organization of the Year. “We say '
recipient' instead of 'winner,' because really, they are all winners,” Elhashem says. This year’s recipients included Ferriera-Wells Immigration Services, who specialize in same-sex couples and individuals, as well as Susan Gapka for her work on LGBTQ issues, which saw her partnering with organizations as diverse as the Toronto Police Services and the Mental Health Commission of Canada.
This year’s awards also included the Tribute to LGBTQ in Sports and the Pan Am and Parapan Am Games, which featured swimmer Mark Tewksbury, MMA fighter Fallon Fox, and power lifter Kinnon Mackinnon. Each of the athletes shared stories of their own experiences as gay sports participants. “This was specifically for the occasion of the big sporting event. We believe it will help shed light on the struggles of LGBT athletes. We worked with the Pan Am games and had their blessing,” says Elhashem.
The awards themselves bring together both Toronto’s LGBTQ community and those who support it. “We celebrate a lot of allies, and a lot of the guest of the awards being their friends and families to experience the community,” says Elhashem. “The effect of it on us, it has really has changed our lives. The stories we hear every year, and the feelings that happen at the actual event. Everyone is about love and positivity.”