About
Why We March began with a simple but urgent truth: when one community is targeted with hate, exclusion, or invisibility, our response must be collective, compassionate, and loud. Founded in the wake of the Pulse Nightclub Massacre, our organization emerged not only as a memorial to those tragically lost, but as a living commitment to creating safer, braver, and more connected spaces for 2SLGBTQIA+ people in London and across Canada.
At first, we were a small group of community members and volunteers who refused to allow grief to be passive — we transformed it into advocacy. What began as marches, vigils, and awareness initiatives soon evolved into something deeper: a network of support and empowerment, an educational platform, and a catalyst for healing-centred community building.
Over the years, our work expanded from activism to infrastructure. We listened to the community — to youth seeking mentoring and belonging, to newcomers seeking guidance, to queer and trans individuals seeking safe spaces for expression, to families wanting to learn how to support their children, and to organizations wanting to do better in their inclusion and community practices.
From that need grew our next chapter: the Prism Community Hub — a physical and virtual centre designed to provide programs, mutual support networks, shared workspaces, and community-accessible resources. It will be a space where people don’t have to explain who they are before they are welcomed — where they are not only accepted, but celebrated.
Today, Why We March stands as a decade-long movement dedicated to accessibility, learning, visibility, and solidarity. We have developed programs ranging from peer connect groups to educational sessions, resource navigation, creative arts-based community building, and collaborative advocacy networks across London–Middlesex. We continue to work alongside community partners to amplify voices, dismantle systemic harm, and help organizations increase competency and capacity in serving marginalized communities.
We are not just building a space — we are building community infrastructure. Not just providing support — but cultivating empowerment. Not just responding to hate — but proactively strengthening belonging.
We believe the work of inclusion is not owned by any single organization, but shared across an ecosystem of community leaders, advocates, service providers, and everyday residents.
A Tribute to Pulse: The Spark That Lit Our March
On June 12, 2016, the world changed.
In the early hours of that morning, 49 lives were stolen, and countless others shattered, in a place that had always been a sanctuary—Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Florida. What was meant to be a celebration of love, joy, and identity became one of the deadliest mass shootings in modern U.S. history, and a stark reminder of the hatred still faced by the 2SLGBTQIA+ community.
Pulse was more than a nightclub. It was a refuge. A space where queer people—especially queer people of colour—could dance, love, and live freely. That night, we lost not only lives but a sense of safety. But in the wake of that grief, something powerful began to rise.
Out of mourning, we found movement.
The horror of Pulse stirred something deep in our hearts. It reminded us that visibility is not just about celebration—it’s about survival. That pride must be protest. That our community must be louder, stronger, and more united than ever before. And so, Why We March was born—not just as a name, but as a call to action.
We march because Pulse was not the first attack—and it won’t be the last—unless we fight for change.
We march to honour the lives taken, the survivors, and all those who carry trauma in silence.
We march for queer spaces, for queer joy, for queer liberation.
Every step we take is for them.
Every banner we raise is in their memory.
Every chant we shout is a promise: that we will not go quietly.
The Pulse tragedy illuminated the pain that still exists in our world—but it also ignited the power within our community. It reminded us why we gather, why we organize, why we resist.
This is why we march.
In memory. In defiance. In love.
Proud Members of:
