Today is Father’s Day. For many, it is a day of gratitude. For others, it is a reminder of loss, rejection, or harm. Within 2SLGBTQIA+ communities, this day often carries complicated weight. Some of us were cast out by fathers in the name of faith or respectability. Others were raised without fathers and carry no longing for one. And many have found love and safety in families where a father was never part of the picture, because love does not require a patriarch to be whole.

Sometimes, fatherhood can be shaped by systems of dominance, entitlement, and distance. But queer and trans communities have always offered another way. We have reimagined fathering as care, consistency, and tenderness. We have seen trans men and nonbinary parents embody parenting in ways that disrupt rigid roles. We have seen chosen family step in where “bio relatives” would not. And we have watched queer people take on the work of fathering- not to replicate patriarchy, but to do what was needed for others.

Pride is not just about visibility. It is about transformation. That includes rethinking what it means to raise, guide, and protect one another. On this Father’s Day, we honour those who have nurtured in ways that gave life, whether or not they were called “father.” We tell the truth about what was missing, and we bless what we’ve built in its place. Because in the end, it is not gender or biology that makes someone a parent. It is how we show up with love, again and again.