OTTAWA, Ontario (LifeSiteNews) — On August 21, dignitaries gathered near the intersection of Wellington Street and Portage Bridge in Ottawa, Ontario, to unveil Thunderhead, billed as Canada’s “first national 2SLGBTQI+ monument.” In attendance were former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Governor General Louise Arbour, and LGBT activists such as former MP Svend Robinson.
The monument is a 30-foot white concrete column with cloud-shaped openings; the interior is lined with thousands of mirrored tiles for a “disco ball” effect. The surrounding park includes an “interpretive wall” that details the history of LGBT activism in Canada, with a focus on the LGBT “purge” it was built to commemorate, in which the government investigated and dismissed LGBT-identifying people from federal jobs.
Or, as Todd Ross of the LGBT Purge Fund put it: “It’s inverted clouds that are inside of this pillar. And then really to gay it up, we lined it with mirrored tiles so it feels like you’re inside of a giant disco ball.” The taxpayer money for the monument came from a 2018 class action suit launched against the government by a group of those who had been dismissed from their jobs; they hope the new pro-LGBT park in the heart of the capital will be a place of “protest.”
I was proud to have marked the opening of the Thunderhead national monument in #OttawaCentre. It stands as a tribute to 2SLGBTQI+ resilience and a reminder of the discrimination faced in Canada, including the LGBT Purge. pic.twitter.com/YzHOPr2X9j
— Yasir Naqvi 🇨🇦 (@YasirNaqviCDN) August 24, 2026
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According to the LGBT Purge Fund, the monument “acknowledges the colonial roots of homophobia, biphobia, and transphobia, honours the resilience of 2SLGBTQI+ communities, and invites Canadians to reflect on the work that remains.”
It’s worth noting that the phrase “two-spirit” was first used in 1990 after it was both coined and adopted at the Third Annual Inter-Tribal Native American, First Nations, Gay and Lesbian American Conference held near Winnipeg. The first written record surfaced all the way back in … 1991, with references to a “Two Spirited Dance Troupe.”
The term first came to Myra Laramee, a Cree elder, in a dream; she then allegedly proposed it to the conference, after which other activists there began pushing it. Just 25 years later, dignitaries, historical textbooks, and major monuments treat the term as if it is a historical one rather than an activist invention (or dream, if you prefer).
Carolyn Taylor, a Canadian comedian and actress (that’s why you’ve never heard of her) co-hosted the opening with drag performer Jezebel Bardot, wearing a sequined dress (Jezebel is a man named Jason). “Ordinarily when a monument is unveiled there’s a ribbon cutting,” Taylor told the dignitaries.
“But, um, this is not an ordinary community, so we wanted to do something a little more extraordinary to honor us, and ribbons just feel so … patriarchal, straight, square.” The crowd chuckled as if they had the foggiest clue what she was talking about.
At the unveiling of the new 2SLGBTQI+ monument in Ottawa, the presenters said that they wouldn’t be cutting a ribbon, because it is “straight” and therefore part of the patriarchy. pic.twitter.com/hf0yIjD6u4
— Western Standard (@WesternStandard) August 21, 2026
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“We just decided for the Thunderhead monument, we have an official boa cutting.” Cue more dutiful laughter and a few half-hearted cheers. (Drag queens? Boas? Get it? This woman’s comedy routine must just slay audiences.)
The event, however, ended being a PR disaster. A number of “members of the 2SLGBTQ+ community” were turned away from the event by security, who told them that the event was by invitation only. “People were just absolutely floored that there were officials there, but the very people for whom this monument were built were not allowed to attend,” one woman told the CBC. “The ceremony to celebrate the opening of this monument should have been our celebration. It should have been (for) those members of the community that the monument stands for.”
Her summation of the event: “They kept the love out, quite frankly.”
