Welcome to the 11th installment of our 2019 Pride month series! Each day this month, we will be highlighting a different person or character in the LGBTQ+ community, making an impact on representation in mainstream media.
Identical twins Tegan and Sara Quin were born September 19, 1980 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. They are multi-award-winning musicians, activists, and authors of a soon-to-be-released book.
We're in the home stretch with just over a week remaining in our big @teganandsarafdn LGBTQ summer camp fundraiser! We've also added TSF totebags to the list of perks! Please help us with one last big push to send more kids to camp by donating at https://t.co/3cUJiFA86y pic.twitter.com/QHKY4DhBuI
— Tegan and Sara (@teganandsara) May 30, 2019
In an Ottawa Citizen article, outgoing National Arts Center president and CEO Peter Herrndorf said in a statement:
Their music has captured the imaginations of folk and pop music fans worldwide while being important advocates for LGBTQ women and girls.
Tegan and Sara have released eight studio albums and are currently in the studio working on their ninth. Among their many achievements and awards are three Juno Awards, two GLAAD Media Awards, two Western Canadian Music Awards, and in 2018 the sisters were honoured with the National Arts Centre Award, a prestigious Governor General’s Performing Arts Award.
Later this year, their first book, a memoir titled High School, will be released. The coming-of-age story will tell of the sisters’ time growing up in Calgary during the 1990s and will feature chapters from both points of view.
In December 2016, Tegan and Sara created the Tegan and Sara Foundation, whose mission is as follows:
The Tegan and Sara Foundation fights for health, economic justice, and representation for LGBTQ girls and women. This mission is founded on a commitment to feminism and racial, social, and gender justice. In partnership and solidarity with other organizations fighting for LGBTQ and women’s rights, the Foundation raises awareness and funds to address the inequalities currently preventing LGBTQ girls and women from reaching their full potential.
Through their work, they support other foundations like the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice, The Audre Lorde Project, Egale Canada, Queer Health Access, and many more. The funds they raise allow them to offer grants and send LGBTQ+ youth to summer camps in Canada and the United States.
They have also been involved with multiple causes and charities that help girls, women, and the LGBTQ+ community, including a t-shirt design for Revel & Riot, limited edition products for Kiehls, service on the board of the Girls Rock Camp Foundation, and more. In 2018, Tegan and Sara were at Parliament Hill and met with current Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to lobby for LGBTQ+ people that face discrimination. While there, in an interview with CTV News, Tegan talked about how “LGBTQ people, specifically women and girls, are under-represented, under-researched, and under-funded.”
Tegan and Sara are both strong women making a difference in the LGBTQ+ community, while they advocate for equality, gender justice, and social and political change. Throughout their career, they have made an impact in representation in mainstream media and being a positive and strong influence for people to look up to.
Watch their music video for “BWU” below. And check out the rest of our 2019 Pride Month Series here.