Countdown begins to Pride Week 2012
Posted Jun 7, 2012 06:42:36 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The countdown has begun to Pride Week in Halifax – and this year it’s a big anniversary.
It’s been 25 years since a smaller group of people marched through Halifax in support of gay rights, some with paper bags over their heads.
This year’s theme is about bricks – specifically, building bricks and how much the Pride event has been built up ever since that first protest march in 1987.
“We’ve come a long way. In 25 years we’ve done a lot of building,” board chair Krista Snow told News 95.7 at the annual launch party on Wednesday. “We talk so much about our community, but this is so much bigger than us. It may have been our community 25 years ago. It’s all of our communities now.”
The hallmark of the festival is the parade on July 28 through the downtown core. Up to 80,000 people are expected to tunr out to see more than 150 floats and participants dressed in elaborate costumes.
Pride parades are common – and typically a bit more flamboyant – in most major Canadian cities, but Snow says Halifax’s tamer version means everyone should feel comfortable about joining in the fun.
“It’s not just gay people, it’s not just the LGTB community, it’s not just commercial,” she said. “It’s allies. It’s everyone. It’s just a celebration. Who cares who you are and what you are and what you do at home? It’s everyone, LGTB, WXYZ, baby. It’s all of us.”
The week-long festival officially runs from July 22 to the 29th, and includes everything from face painting and bouncy castles for kids, golf tournaments and the popular Dykes vs. Divas softball grudge match.
“Everybody goes to that, right,” she said. “Who doesn’t want to see a drag queen in heels catching a baseball in a purse? Seriously, that’s pretty good.”
Snow says the week of events gets underway on July 20 with an evening vigil in honour of local gay rights activist Raymond Taavel, who was killed while trying to break up a fight outside a bar on Gottingen Street April 16.
“That’s a new thing for us, it’s not to get super political,” said Snow.
Full details on the festival and events can be found on the Halifax Pride website. http://www.halifaxpride.com/
