Steinbach’s first Pride parade ‘beginning of the conversation,’ church says

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This article was published 10/07/2016 (3388 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

And on the seventh day, some Steinbach residents reflected on the first Pride parade in the history of the devout Christian city in Manitoba’s Bible Belt.

Marlene Silinski and Brian Gadsby, co-chairs of the Steinbach United Church, said the parade, which RCMP estimated had more than 3,000 participants, became part of the focus of Sunday’s weekly church service.

“Hopefully this is the beginning of the conversation,” Silinski said shortly after the Sunday service ended.

“There was a lot of sharing by the congregation (during the service). I heard the words ‘amazing’, ‘peaceful’, and ‘joyful’. I think the people marching felt very supportive.”

So many people from outside the southeastern Manitoba community wanted to take part in the parade that it was bumper-to-bumper traffic for several kilometres from Steinbach along Highway 12.

Because of that, organizers delayed the start of the parade for an hour to allow everyone to get to the community. Later, the speeches were also delayed because RCMP wanted to make sure everyone had completed the parade before they started.

The parade received national attention after Provencher MP Ted Falk said he would not be attending because of his personal beliefs.

Both Steinbach MLA Kelvin Goertzen and Mayor Chris Goertzen did not attend due to previous personal commitments.

But several federal Liberal MPs showed up, bringing greetings from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as well as a number of NDP MLAs including interim opposition leader Flor Marcelino and former premier Greg Selinger. Recently appointed Manitoba RCMP commanding officer Scott Kolody also participated.

Parade lead organizer Michelle McHale said she was gratified by the numbers of participants who came.

“We didn’t know what to expect,” McHale said on Saturday. “This is fantastic. We’re very pleased.”

McHale told attendees “lots of people felt safe to attend because you all are here.”

McHale also added to cheers from the crowd that “if you have nothing to do, and you want to hang around, you might want to check out the Frog Follies.”

This was a reference to Tory MP Ted Falk saying at first that he couldn’t go to the Pride march because he had already committed to going to the Frog Follies in St.-Pierre-Jolys. But after an organizer for the Follies said it would be better if Falk went to the Pride parade, Falk announced he wouldn’t go to Pride because of his personal beliefs.

Gadsby said he marched in the parade and he was pleased he didn’t hear anything negative.

“People watching it were accepting,” he said.

Gadsby said the turnout was a far cry from the number they were initially told to expect.

“We were told under 200,” he said.

“Then two weeks ago they said RCMP want us to shorten the march because 1,000 people may be there.”

Silinski said she can’t think of anything that was negative about the parade.

“It’s so hard to put into words about how well it went,” she said.

“This is a big step for Steinbach.”

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca

alexandra.paul@freepress.mb.ca