At rainbow's end, a Golden Boy

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JOE BRYKSA/WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Trevor Thorkelson participated in the first Pride march on Aug. 2, 1987, and says the event will always have a political side for him.

'It's our Mardi Gras'

Twenty-five years ago, Trevor Thorkelson was a 23-year-old gay man with a job outside the mainstream.

As a tarot-card reader at a Winnipeg restaurant, he had a supportive employer. He didn't have to worry about his career being destroyed if he demonstrated for gay rights.

"Because I had that freedom, I felt a responsibility to march," he says.

He and several other young people had also been taken to see the 1984 gay-activist documentary The Times of Harvey Milk by an older mentor who wanted them to understand the struggle.

For those reasons, Thorkelson joined more than 250 others in Winnipeg's inaugural Pride march on Aug. 2, 1987. "It was exhilarating and freeing," recalls the well-known psychic, now 48.

As he walked, "I said to a fellow I knew, 'Nobody's holding hands. Nobody's showing any affection.' He held my hand, and the CBC cameras came right in -- like, national news.

"That night, my mother had phone calls from my relatives saying, 'We saw Trevor on the news, and we're so proud.' My family has always supported me."

Thorkelson says he respects how Pride has evolved into more of a parade than a march, but to him, it will always be political. He doesn't want the GLBTTQ community to forget that gays and lesbians are still persecuted in other countries, and that it was a crime to be gay in Canada as recently as 1969.

He knows a Winnipeg man in his 70s whose story is shocking. "In 1957, he was arrested for being a homosexual. He was given six months in Headingley. He served three.

"Even in the late '50s and early '60s, if you were having a house party and there were no women present, it could be raided."

Thorkelson thinks everybody should dress as outrageously as they want on June 3.

"It's our day. It's our Mardi Gras. It's our Grey Cup win. Some people think it should be very prim and proper. But it's a celebration of life and a celebration of affection.

"If you don't think we need a gay-pride parade, I challenge anybody to walk down the street (on a typical day) holding hands with a same-sex friend or partner."

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   • Festival, parade celebrate strides GLBTTQ community has made over last quarter-century

The Manitoba Legislative Building is getting its gay on.

For three nights leading up to this year's 25th-anniversary Pride Day parade and celebration on June 3, a symbolic display will light up the stately edifice.

After dark on May 31 and June 1 and 2, the six columns across the grand entry will glow in the six colours of the rainbow flag. And the Pride Winnipeg logo will be projected on the building's dome, right below the iconic Golden Boy.

"It means so much," says Barb Burkowski, who is in her fourth and final year as chair of the all-volunteer Pride committee.

Burkowski, 38, says the fact that the province is letting the GLBTTQ community put its celebratory stamp on the building is a milestone that shows how much acceptance the community has attained.

It wasn't that long ago -- 25 years ago this July -- that activists anxiously waited at the Legislative Building to hear the result of a vote to include sexual orientation in the Manitoba Human Rights Code.

The bill passed by a narrow margin: 29 votes in favour, 23 opposed. Had it been defeated, there was a plan for a protest march in early August. Instead, the Aug. 2, 1987 march became the inaugural Pride celebration.

This year's 10-day festival of GLBTTQ culture and community gets underway this Friday at 12:15 p.m. with the rainbow flag-raising at city hall and ends June 3.

The lineup of events ranges from dance parties and sports tournaments to wine-tasting, a pancake breakfast and a couples-yoga class. New this year are a family fishing festival and an all-ages dance party where babies and toddlers can boogie.

Another new event is Lesbian Lube Wrestling at Club 200. An organizer was inspired by seeing gals rasslin' in "a bunch of slippery goo" at a bar in California.

The Peg version, a benefit for Pride Winnipeg, will see eight competitors -- they're supposed to wear bikinis -- in slick matchups in an inflatable pool. A local sex shop is contributing buckets of lube.

"The response has been great," says Burkowski. "I think some of the roller-derby girls are interested."

The Pride parade has grown from fewer than 300 participants to about 10,000. Technically, 2012 marks the 26th annual march. For a variety of reasons, including the now-dashed hope that the Canadian Museum for Human Rights would open in 2012, Pride organizers postponed the silver celebration until this year.

Pride Day starts with a rally at 11 a.m. at the Legislative Grounds. The colourful parade starts at noon. Then everybody moves to the free outdoor festival at The Forks (1 to 6:30 p.m.) that includes a mainstage, bigger-than-ever children's zone, business fair/market and beer tent.

The musical acts include Anjulie, The Cliks, Jeffery Straker, Jerry Sereda and Womyn of Pride.

The Forks site will also include an archival display tracing the history of the local GLBTTQ community.

The parade route no longer proceeds to The Forks, but instead heads north from the Legislative Grounds along Memorial Boulevard, east on York Avenue, south on Garry Street and west on Broadway, ending up where it started.

One of the objectives this year is a longer, highly visible route. The parade has had some floats drop out in the past because their creators felt the route was too short to justify all the effort.

Queer Beer, the "fruity and fabulous" Half Pints Brewing Co. beverage created for Pride, is on sale now in six-packs at four Liquor Marts: Grant Park; River and Osborne; Portage and Burnell; and Hargrave and Ellice. Last year, the bottles sold out partway through the launch day.

"It's the fastest-selling beer ever in Manitoba," says Burkowski. "We're making twice as much this year."

For more info on Pride celebrations, go to www.pridewinnipeg.com or pick up a printed Pride Guide.

alison.mayes@freepress.mb.ca

Did you participate in the 1987 Pride march? A 25-year reunion of the original marchers is being held on Tuesday. For information, see www.twospiritedmanitoba.ca or call 783-6424.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition May 24, 2012 E10