Kimberley-based photographer Caitlyn Peesker has sparked a passionate discussion on social media after she said she was accosted by a group of 10 to 12 year old boys who hurled homophobic and transphobic slurs at her and a family member.
According to Peesker, the group of boys approached her and her sister and asked them if they support the LGBTQ+ community, to which Peesker replied “Yes, of course.”
What followed was an exchange that ended with the group of boys lobbing obscenities and homophobic slurs at the pair.
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“I have always known Kimberley to be a community of acceptance and love,” Peesker wrote in a post on social media. “This is NOT it.”
The post, made at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, April 12, garnered a substantial reaction with many residents commenting their feelings of disgust and offering words of support.
Peesker said a parent of one of the boys reached out to her since the incident and apologized and notified the childrens’ school of their actions.
“My hope now is that they can be educated by the school and their parents,” Peesker said. “Fighting for the rights of our LGBTQ+ youth continues to be important and much needed in 2022. I am glad to see people taking initiative with the proper steps to combat this type of hate in our community.”
Peesker’s experience echoes an incident almost exactly a year ago, when a Kimberley parent took to a local social media group expressing his outrage after four boys stopped in front of his house and yelled racial slurs at his three daughters.
She told the Bulletin she feels the community needs to work harder to ensure the safety of its youth, regardless of race or sexual orientation.
“There simply cannot be any ‘kids will be kids’ attitudes for something like this.”
paul.rodgers@kimberleybulletin
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