This campaign brought together insightful data gathering with a powerful visualization to demonstrate what a simple report could never do alone. By cataloguing thousands of instances of anti-2SLGBTQI hate and transforming them into the unravelled flag, we made an intangible threat to a community unignorable.

The unravelled flag was the core of a campaign that defiantly and unapologetically called on Canadians to stand up to hate. The flag was not created for purchase.

In the U.S, governmental bodies and organizations have tracked an alarming rise in anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment—from acts of violence and protests at Drag Storytime events, to a record number of bills targeting LGBTQ+ rights in 2023.

This wave of anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric had emboldened hate to grow in Canada, as well. The problem was that while many U.S. organizations were closely tracking hate within their country, the last time the federal government of Canada had released data on anti-LGBTQ+ hate in Canada was in 2021—based on incidents from 2020, when the world was in a pandemic lockdown.

With no up-to-date data, and Canada’s reputation for having an inclusive culture, the situation was too easy to ignore.

Egale Canada is a leading advocacy organization whose mission is to save and improve the lives of LGBTQ+ people through research, education, and awareness. Through their work with many different queer groups across the country, they believed that anti-LGBTQ+ hate and rhetoric were on the rise.

But the general perception was that growing anti-LGBTQ+ hate was an American issue. Even many in Canada’s queer community didn’t perceive how dangerous the hate-levels had become.

In the lead-up to Pride month, Egale wanted to shed light on this dangerous issue that wasn’t getting the media attention it needed. They needed an impactful concept that would break through the clutter and create action.

Without government data, we needed another way to quantify the threat. Our solution was to measure anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment in spaces where people gather: at in-person protests and on social media.

We tracked Canadian anti-LGBTQ+ protests using the ‘Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project’. Then, using social media analytics platform Infegy Atlas, we scrubbed Canadian social posts against hateful terms used in conjunction with LGBTQ+ terms.

That revealed 6,423 incidents of anti-LGBTQ+ hate from just the first three months of 2023. To make the scale of this hate unignorable, we created a powerful data visualization: an unravelled Pride flag with 6,423 missing threads, one for each incident we uncovered.

The Pride flag is a symbol of inclusivity, acceptance, safety, and the ongoing struggle for equal rights. By unravelling it, we hoped to show that an attack on one part of the LGBTQ+ community is an attack on the entire community.

First, the flag was shared online by three diverse voices from Canada’s LGBTQ+ community. Then, in the lead-up to Canada’s biggest Pride parade, the unravelled flag appeared in TV, out-of-home, and print.

All assets led directly to a microsite which educated people about staying safe against the increased hate. The website also had a social media toolkit that let people share the unravelled flag on their own social channels.

Next, we took the stories behind the 6,423 incidents and compiled them into a report that was made available on the campaign website. The report was also printed, bound together using threads from the unravelled flag, and sent to government officials to lobby for urgent action.

Finally, the unravelled flag was displayed at events during Pride month, where the public and members of the press could see it in person.

The campaign received significant coverage, ultimately generating over 73 million earned impressions from 110 outlets. The 6,423 anti-LGBTQ+ incidents that we uncovered became a national news story. It was published in The Canadian Press and syndicated across the country, including top-tier news outlets like CTV News and The Globe and Mail. Campaign assets were downloaded and used by individuals, labour unions, schools, research centres, and other advocacy organizations, in tens of thousands of user-generated posts.

The government of Canada acknowledged the threat against the LGBTQ+ community and pledged $1.5 million in emergency funding for Pride event security. Three months after the launch of the campaign, the Canadian government finally released its first report on anti-LGBTQ+ hate in over two years.

Today, the unravelled flag continues to be exhibited by Egale Canada as a reminder of what can happen if hate is ignored.