The rainbow connection

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 27/05/2010 (5813 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

IS it a corporate-sponsored, mainstream cele­bration that should be G-rated so families can attend?

Is it an activist gathering that ought to focus on political solidarity and human rights?

Or is it a once-a-year chance to party your face off in the most outrageously flamboyant attire you can get away with?

Pride Day, the culmination of Winnipeg’s 10-day Pride Festival, is a rainbow-coloured mix of all three as it celebrates gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, two-spirit and queer (GLBTTQ) culture and community.

Having outgrown Memorial Park, this year’s June 6 Pride Day celebration is moving to The Forks.

There will be higher-profile music acts, an expanded children’s area, business fair and market, plus a first-time beer and beverage tent, complete with Queer Beer specially bottled by a local brewery sponsor.

The site will operate under a new "green plan" that requires, for example, food vendors to use compostable containers and portapotties to be stocked with environmentally friendly toilet paper.

The 24th annual Pride Day will begin with the traditional rally at noon at the Legislative Building and a parade at 12:30 p.m. to The Forks. This year’s theme is "Proud to be…" and participants are encouraged to carry signs declaring what they’re personally proud of.

"Whether you’re proud to be lesbian parents, a two-spirit aboriginal, an ally of the queer community, a gay lawyer or a drag queen, we each have a reason to celebrate what makes us unique… and show our support for one another," says Barb Burkowski, chair of the festival committee.

Burkowski feels it’s important to keep holding the pre-parade rally in a political setting.

"We’re very fortunate (in Canada). But we’re living in a world where seven countries allow (gay) marriage, and six countries will put you to death for being a homosexual. The rally recognizes where we’ve come from and where we’re going."

Burkowski notes that by moving the celebration component to The Forks, it will be positioned near the Canadian Museum for Human Rights when that institution opens in 2012.

Last year’s Pride Day drew about 8,000 people. This year, 10,000 are expected, Burkowski says. Winnipeg’s is the largest gay-pride festival between Toronto and Vancouver.

Including all the events throughout the 10 days, more than 25,000 people participate.

For the first time, Gay Fathers of Winnipeg and PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) have organized a free pancake breakfast called Family Flapjacks and Fun, June 6 from 9 to 11:30 a.m. at Club 200.

Brad Lowes, who has two teenage daughters and a 20-year-old stepdaughter, is one of the organizers, along with his partner of nine years.

"We needed to do something to include (families)," he says. "Gay and lesbian parents… are a very large part of the community, but it really hasn’t been represented at Pride."

Lowes was glad to see a bouncy castle and other kids’ activities introduced at Pride Day last year. For years, he says, he attended but didn’t feel comfortable taking his children.

Lowes, 41, has attended Toronto Pride and seen naked men marching in the parade. He’d like Winnipeg participants to remember there are kids present and keep their appearance and behaviour within the bounds of decency.

"Pride should be a celebration of the community, not nudity," he says.

Burkowski says the Pride committee doesn’t dictate what people should wear and leaves it to police to deal with any illegal conduct.

"If you have children and you have an issue with the parade, then my advice would be to avoid the parade," she says.

"I don’t think it’s a big problem. I think we’ve acknowledged ‘family-friendly,’ and at the same time not taken away people’s right to enjoy themselves as they choose."

Former Winnipeg mayor Glen Murray is the rally speaker and grand marshal of the parade. Murray, now the MLA for Toronto Centre, was Canada’s first openly gay mayor when he led the city from 1998 to 2004.

He’ll ride at the head of the parade in a vehicle that allows him to stand up and wave. But much of the crowd will be in the parade, because unlike larger Canadian cities that now have float-dominated parades and a crowd behind barriers lining the route, Winnipeg’s is still a parade in which anyone can walk.

"It’s still very much a march," says Burkowski.

The route has been shortened. Instead of tracing a rectangle that includes Portage Avenue, the parade will proceed east from the Legislative Grounds along Broadway to Main, go slightly north on Main, then east on York to enter The Forks.

Burkowski says the main reason for the change is to avoid traffic congestion because there’s a Goldeyes baseball game that afternoon. The route may return to passing through Portage and Main in future years, she says.

Pride Toronto made headlines this year when the Harper government denied it funding after granting it $400,000 last year.

Pride Winnipeg doesn’t receive funding from any level of government, but does have Manitoba Homecoming 2010 as an official partner. Corporate sponsorship from a major bank has made it possible to present bigger musical acts.

This year’s headliner on the festival stage is Canadian R&B singer Deborah Cox. Other acts on the stage, which will have performances from 1:30 to 6 p.m., include lesbian dance-music diva Nancy Rancourt and Hollywood band S ting Glitter.

The latter act will be introduced by Gloria and Pictoria (Bob Burgess and Brent Young, respectively), the local couple who have become Pride celebrities for their over-the-top drag costumes.

June 4 at noon, the rainbow flag will be raised at city hall.

"The one thing that disappoints us… is that the flag only stays up for half a day," says Burkowski. "In other cities, it stays up for the week (of Pride). We’d like to see that changed."

 

alison.mayes@freepress.mb.ca