Tj Jones grew up in Newfoundland, and though he spent 10 years in Ontario studying business and HR management, he moved back there when the time was right. “I was drawn to come home. I think it’s a pretty common experience amongst Newfoundlanders and Labradorians. Folks might move to the mainland, do their time there, but there’s something about the ocean that calls folks back,” says Jones, who identifies as a trans masc genderqueer.
Jones now runs the consulting firm Full Picture Management in St. John’s, advising businesses and other agencies on gender diversity and how to better support and include queer and trans workers. “I love supporting people and them having what I call their ‘light bulb moments,’” says Jones. “Sometimes there’s that moment where people are like, ‘Okay, so I don’t get this. I don’t have to get this. I just have to accept it and embrace that there are lots of folks out there who are different from me.”
Pink Ticket Travel called up Jones for two reasons. One, to ask about his work in travel and tourism, helping destinations and businesses in the hospitality industry be more inclusive of LGBTQ2S+ travellers. The other was to get the T about what’s happening in queer St. John’s, a colourful port city with a metro population of about 185,000 people and the Newfoundland capital.
I know that you advise all kinds of businesses and non-profits about LGBTQ2S+ inclusion, but what kinds of work have you done around travel and tourism?
I’ve done a lot of work with Canada’s 2SLGBTQI+ Chamber of Commerce. They have a tourism project that I’ve helped facilitate, as well as virtual training for them for folks here on the East Coast. I’ve also travelled to Ontario and Nova Scotia to do training. I’ve also worked here with the local destination marketing organization (DMO) for St. John’s. I sit on their Equity Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) advisory council, bringing a queer and trans perspective to the work they do. I’ve also been working on developing a strategy for another DMO that’s not public yet, so I won’t name it.
What are some of the challenges you’ve seen tourism and travel organizations face around LGBTQ2S+ inclusion?
EDI is a big thing, which tends to intimidate folks. How do we start if we can’t tick all the boxes at once? How do we start if we can’t do it perfectly right and correct? I challenge folks to consider shifting their language from “doing it right” to “doing it well.” One of the biggest challenges here in Newfoundland and Labrador is that the province is large and includes so many different cultures, particularly Indigenous communities and Indigenous culture on the mainland. It’s one thing to have inclusive marketing, but how do we ensure that our operators are actually able to welcome and meaningfully include diverse workers?
For a destination like Newfoundland and Labrador, a lot of what you’re selling is beautiful scenery. Does inclusion even matter if that’s the brand?
It’s one thing to have diverse, beautiful landscapes, but, for example, if there’s no access point for mobility-aid users, folks in chairs—if they can’t get down to the beach to enjoy the scenery, then is it accessible? Is it equitable? There are lots of different pieces that don’t occur to many people because it’s not their lived experience. In terms of 2SLGTBQ+ representation, DMOs and operators can help people within these communities see themselves in various destinations, and the easiest way to do that is to engage in more diverse marketing, to have diversity represented in the imagery you’re using to promote. You can coordinate diversity-focused photo shoots or photo ops that actually encourage members of different communities to come together. You want to see same-gender couples, gender-diverse folks navigating these spaces. This helps them picture themselves there.
Can you give me an example of an organization that’s done a good job?
Destination St. John’s has really stepped up in terms of its accountability and its effort. A couple of years ago they committed a bit of a faux pas in the EDI sphere when they developed new marketing materials that were very white, very able-bodied, very straight, very cisgender. They were called out for that. They took that feedback and figured out how to develop more inclusive assets. So they rebranded and created an EDI advisory council. Their public apology and their commitment to doing better is a great model, because we’re all going to make mistakes. Their marketing materials now have Indigenous representation, queer and trans representation, diverse racialized experiences represented, folks who use mobility aids. Even drag queens are represented. We know queer and trans inclusion is more than drag queens, but they did recognize that they wanted to speak to everybody who lives in our city, to show visitors all of the people that they may encounter. I thought it was a beautiful thing. They even used singer-songwriter Kellie Loder, a nonbinary artist from Newfoundland and Labrador, for the soundtrack of the campaign.
I’ve visited destinations where I see rainbow flags all over the place. I’ve also been in destinations where I see very few rainbow flags, but I still feel like the place is probably open and welcoming. Maybe they think they are so welcoming, they don’t have to shout out to LGBTQ2S+ people. How important is that kind of signalling?
There’s a potential danger when it’s just virtue signalling—when someone just slaps a rainbow sticker on a door without doing anything more, without working with their staff to create organizational awareness and knowledge of what it looks like to welcome queer and trans travellers and clients. If we put that sticker up, folks are going to lower their armour a bit, but if they walk in and are met with transphobia or homophobia, it’s even worse than if the sticker wasn’t there. At the same time, businesses have to start somewhere. The sticker can hold businesses accountable. It can encourage people to kind of step up and take accountability and engage with the problem, do the learning. I would love the sticker to not be necessary, for people to be able to just walk into a place without fear. Maybe the sticker’s not necessary, but it’s an invitation.
I want to change gears now and appoint you as our tour guide to St. John’s, Newfoundland. What’s queer there these days? I know that the queer bar, Velvet Club & Lounge closed in February 2025.
We have a developing and burgeoning queer community centre here called Quadrangle (330 Elizabeth Ave., St. John’s) that’s recently secured some physical space. They offer a lot of community-based programming, that kind of thing.
We also have a thriving drag community—it’s wild how active our drag community is. There are a couple of different drag troupes. There’s the Phlegm Fatales and there’s Newfound Drag. They’ll do things like bingo and other events at different venues, including local microbreweries like Landwash Brewery (181 Commonwealth Ave., Mount Pearl), which is in a suburban area, and Banished Brewing (9 Maverick Pl., Paradise), which is in an industrial area just outside of St. John’s.
We have wicked, wicked culinary experiences in the province. Some of them are owned or run by queer and trans chefs, but I don’t want to out people. The Postmaster’s Bakery (134 Military Rd., St. John’s) is a fantastic bakery that’s owned by an out queer couple, Mark Murphy and Eldon Murray. They also run a bed and breakfast, The Postmaster’s House, at the same address. They recently took it upon themselves to open Cape Spear Café (Cape Spear, Blackhead Rd., St. John’s), which is open only in the summer and is North America’s most easterly café. They’ll curate a picnic for you that you can eat down on Cape Spear while enjoying the scenery.
Setting aside the queer, what are some of the things you’d recommend for any visitors to St. John’s?
Whale sight-seeing is fantastic here. If you’re lucky you can see them from Middle Cove Beach (about a 20-minute drive north of the city) toward the end of July, early August. Or you could go out with O’Brien’s Boat Tours (22 Lower Rd., Bay Bulls).
Bannerman Park (on Military Road, bisected by Bannerman St., St. John’s) is very cool and is usually where we host St. John’s Pride (July 9 to 20, 2025). The park has a loop that they use as a walking trail in the summer and the warmer months, then as a skating loop in the winter. Cape Spear, which is marketed as the most easterly point in Canada, is beautiful to visit. You can stand on the tip just surrounded by ocean. There’s a lighthouse there, too.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
