"The future is friendly" we often see as the mantra marketed by Telus, one of Canada’s chief telecommunications providers.

It would certainly seem that Telus is taking a step in making that mantra true for the Canadian LGBTQ community as well. With its long-standing commitment to equal rights and diversity; a staff-directed contribution to the It Gets Better campaign; and the opening of the first of two LGBTQ and ally-oriented communications retail stores in North America, the future is looking friendlier indeed.

"Telus introduced same-sex benefits to our team members in 1994," Kenn Hamlin, director of special projects for Telus says. "Over the last decade Telus has contributed over $1-million in cash in kind, gifts and support to LGBT communities across Canada."

The most recent manifestation of this support came in the form of an It Gets Better solidarity video. Contributing Telus team members begin the video by sharing intimate stories of when they were victims of bullying because they were "different", and complete the video by sharing how those events turned around, and things started to get better.

The video and webpage on which it appears is composed by a Telus team member group called Spectrum, an LBGTQ resource incepted by Telus in 2009. Spectrum now boasts more than 100 members, "facilitates mentoring, networking, and leadership opportunities for LGBTQ team members at Telus," says Hamlin, who began working for the company more than four years ago. "Telus has been one of Canada’s top diversity employers two years running."

The idea for the Come as You Are, Caya stores was generated just over a year ago.

"We heard from our team members from the LGBTQ community and allies within the community that a retail environment like this would be well received," Hamlin explains. "Hence Caya was born."

The first Caya store was opened October 16, 2010 in Vancouver on Davie Street at Howe, and the second within a month later in Vancouver’s Gastown district.

The grassroots-like marketing and advertising campaign for Caya is entirely run by "local community members who are leaders in the community, and take pride in being in the community," Hamlin says.

Caya has utilized a variety of local Vancouver advertising media including billboard, local publications, and online social networks such as Twitter. "It’s quite a unique approach."

Over the last decade, Telus and its team members have contributed over $17,500 to Out in Schools in British Columbia, an awareness endeavour providing education on issues such as bullying, diversity and homophobia to thousands of students in BC. In Caya’s celebratory first month of operations, $25 was donated from the sale of each Android, Blackberry and iPhone to Out in Schools.

Closer to home, Telus has supported such LGBTQ initiatives in Calgary as the Alliance to End Violence, the AIDS Calgary Awareness Association, the Calgary Sexual Health Centre, EGALE, and the Fairy Tales International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival.

In Edmonton, Telus support has gone to Camp fYrefly, HIV Edmonton, the Institute for Sexual Minority Studies and Services, and the Edmonton Vocal Minority.

"We are looking to expand the [Caya] concept on a national scale," Hamlin says, adding that Caya is "evaluating additional cities Canada-wide."

If, like me, you are hopeful that one of these locations will be Calgary, you can submit your feedback on the Caya Facebook page or on their website, which also hosts a plethora of LGBTQ news and events.

"We would love to hear everyone’s feedback," says Hamlin.