Thursday, July 14, 2011

Importance of Pride

We had our first official Pride Week and Parade here in Fredericton last year. The week was amazing, with a proclamation being read by the Mayor and the Pride Flag being flown at City Hall. The Parade was even joined by a kayak on the beautiful St. John River along side of the ground marchers. The Rainbow Family group even marched with us. This year however the Fredericton Pride Week is being held together so far with duct tape and hopes and dreams. The budget is shot to hell, no proclamation sent into city hall, and a separate group trying to take it over.

This has gotten me thinking about what would happen to this city, which has the largest LGBTQ population per capita according to stats, if Pride week never happened this year. Would the LGBTQ population have a chance to celebrate their true colors? Would the heterosexual population have a chance to overcome their qualms about sharing a city with us? Would we have one more step to equality in this city? Our only gay bar is becoming more and more alternative, leaning more towards straight, and the battle for GSAs is becoming a losing one. However Pride week is the week for everyone to overcome the diversity and realize that we are all the same despite who love and how we identify ourselves.

5 comments:

  1. This year however the Fredericton Pride Week is being held together so far with duct tape and hopes and dreams. The budget is shot to hell, no proclamation sent into city hall, and a separate group trying to take it over.
    Ok, pridechick19, wherever did you get your information. Why weren't you involved in the committee meetings, helping to organize fundraisers and making sure events were organized. I don't recall seeing you at one meeting even after we moved it from boom! nightclub to the Victoria Health Centre so that all ages could attend. The Proclamation was declared this past Monday, everything is a go for the parade and festival plus a full week of activities plus 2 events pre-Pride week and it is basically the same group as last year.

    Also Fredericton does not have the largest LGBTQ per capita statwise as 2 cities actually overtook that a few years ago. Fredericton used to have the largest and of course, still maintains one of the highest share.

    Our only gay bar always has been alternative and is doing what it needs to do to remain a viable business since the LGBTQ community has a definite history of ignoring its gay bars once the novelty wears off. boom! is still definitely a gay bar and will remain so.

    Why is the battle for GSA's a losing one....simply because the youth who should be involved are not. Why, possibly it is not the right solution at this point in time. To stay alive, GSA's will have to change to be a dominant force in the lives of our gay youth. Perhaps it is time to start thinking of new strategies.

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  2. I believe someone has given you misinformation. The Pride proclamation was submitted to City Hall before this was written on July 14th. The proclamation was read in City Council on July 25th, on the same basic schedule as last year.
    There has been ongoing conversation with the mayor's office and the proclamation was submitted with lots of time.
    Yes there is some metaphorical duct tape being used. This is the 2nd/3rd year of a grassroots organization. It is still in it formative stage. The point is that Pride week is happening. There are not only more events happening this year, but more diverse events and at least three more venues.
    As for the separate group trying to take over Pride, I had no idea what group that could be. Members of QTC are also on the Pride committee, as is a founding member of Bullying Canada, and I see no indication from either organization that they are trying to take over Pride.

    As for GSA's, yes, absolutely. School District 18 is nothing if not homophobic. Add to that this idea that children must be protected from anything even alluding to sex, and it's going to be a long uphill battle to have support for GSA's in all the schools.

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  3. Please excuse the typos. It's very late and I am very tired therefore not proofreading very well.

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  4. Listen, I read all of your opionions numerous times and
    a) I have said numerous times why I can't attend the meetings, I work Monday nights and this information is not available to the wider audience of people who can't attend the meetings b) a large part of the information that has been said by both of you regarding Pride in Fredericton is limited to a select group of individuals, such as when the Proclomation was sent, and by the looks of the Pride events a large part of them are being hosted by QTC and c) You will not tell me who you are so therefore I do not know who to direct this information to. Also the comments about the GSA from the first post is bothering me because I know the fight that has been going into it. It is not the youth, it is the adults. I have worked with youth trying to start GSAs up and have faced nothing buy brick wall after brick wall.

    And as far as Boom! goes, I have tried numerous times to go, and have also spoke to individuals who refuse to go anymore because of the atmosphere of the club. Also do you not recall the water debate that occurred several weeks ago?

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  5. To clarify, QTC has zero interest in taking over Pride. Speaking as a co-founder of QTC, I can tell you that we have organized a number of events for Pride week, and are having them happen as Pride affiliated events. If you include the "Get your freak on" costume contest, QTC is hosting four events. boom! is also hosting four events. Does that mean boom! is trying to control Pride?

    As a member of the Pride committee I can tell you that we chose to start having Pride affiliated events in part to take some of the pressure of organizing everything off of our shoulders, and in greater part to encourage other organizations and businesses to come forward and get involved.

    The meetings are not secret, anyone is welcome to a copy of the minutes, all you need to do is ask.

    I am troubled that some serious criticisms of the committee have been posted to a public blog without ever being brought to the committee. I'm not sure who you were talking with, but they obviously didn't relay information very well. Not to you nor to the Pride committee. As I said before, yes we are held together by duct tape. It's okay that we are held together by duct tape. We are a brand new organization. Cut us some slack.

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