When Brody Neville came out to his friends, many of them stopped talking to him. The young Calgary resident was left with only two friends, one of whom had a homophobic father who forbids her to see Brody often. With an upcoming birthday, his mother feared that his birthday party would be ruined. According to the CBC, she stated, “I was asking him what he wanted to do for his birthday and he was in tears and said since he came out as gay he lost all his friends, so he didn’t even have people who could come.”
She put out a call to the community on Facebook, calling on LGBTQ people and their allies to join her in the park to give her son a birthday party to celebrate turning 12 that he’ll never forget.
On his birthday, Brody was driven to the park and discovered that dozens of people from the area had shown up to celebrate his special day. Among them were family members, neighbors, and even complete strangers…two being local drag sensations Jessica Tailfeathers and Avanna Kedvra, who sashayed throughout the party to music, including Lady Gaga’s ‘Born the Way’. At one point, they even put on a show, along with a few other drag queens who were in attenance.
PinkNews reports that Ms. Tailfeathers said at the party, “Showing up here today and seeing how many people in solidarity love him… it brought my faith back in humanity during such a tumultuous time in society.”
Among the other attendees were other young LGBTQ people and a gay couple who had been together for over 20 years. When interviewed, Brody stated that this was the best birthday ever.
