Respect Pride participants, Winkler mayor says ahead of summer parade

The City of Winkler is distancing itself from the Pembina Valley Pride march but the community’s mayor is also asking residents to respect those taking part in the LGBTTQ+ event.

Mayor Henry Siemens said he has received “lots” of comments about the parade, scheduled to be held in Winkler for the first time this summer.

“Council and I don’t personally support all of the beliefs or ideologies of the various groups or events that might take place in Winkler, but we do support people’s individual freedom to plan and host their own events,” Siemens said in a social media post Wednesday.

“It is my sincere prayer that we, as a community, find a way to respect one another’s freedoms and pray that no one event would define who we are.”

The parade will take place in June.

“There are queers in Winkler,” said the organization’s president, Pauline Emerson-Froebe.

Results of last year’s post-Pride survey, which asked participants where they would like to see the rally head to next, had Winkler as a clear No. 1.

Emerson-Froebe said the southwestern Manitoba city — located in the heart of the province’s Bible belt — has been on Pembina Valley Pride’s radar for some time.

“And it really has come up because in the communities that we do do it, it makes such a difference in those towns that we have held it,” she said. “It being the largest community in our region, we really do want the people who are there to know that they are welcome, that they can connect with members of their community.

“It gives allies an opportunity to show their support in a public way, in a visible way, because it can get pretty lonesome out here in rural areas.”

Reaction to the Winkler announcement, which has so far only been shared on social media, has generally been positive, Emerson-Froebe said.

“Some of the community chat groups can get a little bit murkier,” she said. “People say a lot of things when they’re behind their keyboard, when they can post anonymously.

“It is my sincere prayer that we, as a community, find a way to respect one another’s freedoms and pray that no one event would define who we are.”

“In our experience, the most hateful and hurtful voices that we hear are often the loudest, but they don’t represent the larger community of quieter supporters, because there are a lot of supporters, and frankly, there’s a lot of people who simply don’t care.”

One comment on the organization’s Instagram announcement read: “I’m actually crying a little bit. This is huge.”

Dozens of comments flooded Siemens’s post within the first few hours, many echoing the mayor’s stance.

“He’s making a clear distinction: the city doesn’t have to ‘endorse’ an event to ‘allow’ it,” one person wrote. “That is what a free society looks like. More importantly, he’s challenging all of us to make sure our character — how we treat our neighbours — remains the most important thing about Winkler. I’m fully behind that.”

Others were more critical of the city’s position.

“The most political way to say you don’t support LGBTQIA+ ever,” one said.

Another read: “You as a mayor can control what comes into the city and what can’t. You should not allow this. It’s a filthful sin, and it should not be allowed.”

“It’s sad to see how hateful and uneducated many Winkler residents are,” said another.

Last year’s Pride event in Carman, which was cut short by a thunderstorm, drew roughly 250 people. Pushback, Emerson-Froebe said, has not hurt attendance — and may even boost it.

“It’s amazing how that actually seems to pump up our numbers because more people want to show their support, knowing that others are being vocal about their hating,” she said.

Pembina Valley Pride held its first event in Morden in 2019. The COVID-19 pandemic halted it in 2020 and 2021 before it returned to Altona in 2022.

Emerson-Froebe and her wife, Melissa, own and operate Paul’s Place, a Carman retail store specializing in tie-dye clothing that doubles as an arts studio, art gallery, club and safe space for those who may feel excluded in the community.

The couple have been together for more than 25 years and moved to Manitoba from Milwaukee in 2017.

scott.billeck@freepress.mb.ca