Winnipeg Pride hosts the nation

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 01/06/2022 (1399 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

This year’s Pride Winnipeg Festival will take centre stage in Canada, as Winnipeg is also host of the second Fierté Canada Pride, a nationwide collaboration of Pride associations. The first was held in Montreal in 2017.

At press time, Barry Karlenzig, president of Pride Winnipeg, said he and other volunteers were rushing furiously to get things ready before festivities kicked off May 27.

“It’s been really busy. But we’re looking forward to being able to put something on for the first time in three years,” he said.

In addition to being the first Pride festival since the onset of the pandemic and the second national celebration, this year’s event also marks the festival’s 35th year and the 20th in which City Hall will join the celebrations by flying the Pride flag.

“It’s a great milestone, but there’s still lots of work to be done,” said Karlenzig, who has been at the helm of the organization for 10 years.

“This started as a protest in the ’80s, and to this day, it is still a protest. There is not equal rights for everyone.”

Karlenzig said great strides have been taken for those “who identify as the G and the L” in the acronym LGBTTQ+, but now he and others continue to work to win equal rights for “the rest of the alphabet.”

At the start of the event, the Pride flag was set to be raised above city hall, with welcomes from Mayor Brian Bowman and Karlenzig.

The nine-day festival is crammed with over 55 community events for all to enjoy. Three stages at The Forks host a long list of performers including Canada’s Drag Race winner Priyanka, House of Gold Diamonds, and Soulbear.

“We have so many performers. I’ve had to start going through the Pride app, because I even lose track,” Karlenzig laughed. “It’s truly amazing to see.”

Many other events are being held at breweries, pubs, and clubs — but also art galleries, a community centre, and the Children’s Museum.

The week will be topped off with the Pride Festival June 4 to 5 and the Pride Rally on June 5.

Karlenzig said the organization is expecting up to 90,000 people to participate during the course of the week.

With all that planning on the plate of 27 volunteers — nine board members and 18 managing members — Karlenzig said it’s time the province provides core funding to Pride Winnipeg, so the organization can become a non-profit and employ paid staff.

“We’re the only medium-sized pride that does not have any paid staff,” Karlenzig said.

“I’d love to see that next, where we can do year-round programming and work with our partners.”

While the province provides funding for other cultural festivals, such as Folklorama, it still views Pride Winnipeg through a different lens, Karlenzig said.

LGBTTQ+ communities “are still considered in the provincial government as a political movement, which makes them null and void for that funding. We’ve seen no funding,” he said.

As Pride Winnipeg steps into the eye of the nation, Karlenzig said it’s time for that to change.

For event information, visit www.pridewinnipeg.com or download the Pride Winnipeg app from the Apple app store or Google Play.