The bond between queer and trans people and their rescue dogs is an intense one, says Lucas Silveira, a trans man and former leader of Toronto alt-rock band The Cliks.
Silveira, a solo music artist since 2016, and his Chihuahua-mix, Marcy, are among those photographed in a new exhibit, Don’t You Want Me, which highlights that bond.
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“A lot of trans folks and queer folks, they don’t have a lot of access to family, or they have a lot of people that reject them and a lot of them find solace and companionship in animals,” said Silveira, who has just self-released solo effort, The Goddamn Flowers.
“I think whether it’s cats or dogs or guinea pigs, I know a lot of trans folks and queer folks who lived in the world alone and all they had was a pet as a companion,” he added. “So, I really see them as life-saving little fur balls. The suicide rate in the trans community is really, really high, and I see them as a source of love and something that can help trans people, maybe give them hope, and a reason to stick around.”
The exhibition, by dog photographer Jack Jackson, will be on display at the Toronto Humane Society (THS), on River St., until the end of the year.
Silveira came out as a trans man in 2006 (the year he became the first openly trans man to be signed to a major label) and started hormone replacement therapy in 2009. Unlike a lot of others in his community, he had an accepting Portuguese family.
“My family is a miracle,” he said. “It is very, very rare to have a family that raised me Christian and is Portuguese, old school, but my parents have always been incredible and very, very different from any other parents that I knew.
“I knew a lot of Portuguese parents who would have just kicked me out of their family, their house,” he added. “I would have been shunned. But, no. I came out when I was 17 as a lesbian and then again as a trans man when I was 32, and they didn’t bat an eye. They were just like, ”We love you. You’re our kid.’”
Still, Marcy — a special needs dog with epilepsy that Silveira got six years ago from a stressed-out friend — is a really important part of his life.
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“She is my emotional support,” said Silveira, who has previously rescued three dogs from the THS. “It’s incredible what a dog can do for your life.”
Jackson, also a trans man, is interviewing and photographing more trans and queer people and their rescue dogs during December and is working towards a book and documentary.
