This year, there will be a few more rainbow flags flying over North Shore municipal buildings and schools during Pride Week, city councillors and LGBT activists told the Straight. And the reason is young people.

Lucas Wilson is a Qmunity youth worker born and raised in West Vancouver. When asked about LGBT–positive developments he sees happening north of Burrard Inlet, he pointed to Matt Gray. Gray came out as transgender last year when he was in Grade 11 at Carson Graham secondary school. This year, he received the City of North Vancouver’s youth award for sharing his story and helping educate the community about LGBT issues.

In a phone interview, Gray was modest about his accomplishments. He cheerfully said the reaction from his peers has “been pretty good” and reported it has been an exciting year with “a lot of change”.

Gray said it isn’t so much that friends and other kids at school go out of their way to create an inclusive environment and support LGBT rights. He explained that coming out as gay or trans just isn’t the issue among young people today that it was with older generations.

“People just don’t care as much,” Gray continued. “It’s more known, it’s more common, and people are talking about it more. My school has a Pride week and things like that.”

Gray added that coming out still wasn’t easy and noted that he had some help.

“Lucas came to all my classes and basically came out for me,” Gray recounted. “He does presentations. So I wasn’t at school and then he came into all my classes and did 20-minute presentations in each class. So the next time I came to class, everyone knew already. That made it easier.”

Wilson gave all the credit to Gray and his peers. “I went to school in West Vancouver—I graduated in 2007, so it’s been just under 10 years—and for me…I wasn’t out because there was no way to be out.”

He suggested a “culture shift” has occurred in which youth have led the way for a change. Whereas 10 years ago LGBT teenagers had to cross the Lions Gate Bridge to find support services, Wilson reported that today there’s a weekly drop-in session at the North Shore Neighbourhood House in North Vancouver and a meeting every Thursday at the West Vancouver Community Centre on Marine Drive.

The state of LGBT rights on the North Shore isn’t perfect but continues to improve rapidly, Wilson concluded.

A survey of civic governments and school boards conducted by the Straight found most North Shore political bodies will fly rainbow flags this Pride week.

In a phone interview, West Vancouver district spokesperson Jeff McDonald reported that the West Vancouver Community Centre and the Gleneagles Community Centre will both raise rainbows. What’s more, he continued, those buildings will also hoist transgender-pride flags, which are blue, pink, and white.

“It’s the first time,” he said. “A diverse and growing group of young people—the Whatever LGBTQ2+ committee run by our youth-services people—they’re leading the way.”

Linda Buchanan is a councillor for the City of North Vancouver who in April 2015 brought forward a motion for flags to be flown in her municipality that was subsequently carried unanimously. In a phone interview, she, like Wilson and McDonald, emphasized it’s largely youth pushing changing attitudes. She also similarly acknowledged a growing emphasis on trans rights.

For example, Buchanan said, for the awards ceremony Gray attended in May, North Vancouver City Hall labelled one of its washrooms as trans- and gender-variant-inclusive, designation that remains in effect today.

“I think our younger generation is really embracing and supporting them [LGBT people],” she said. “And we support that.”