Xtra.ca: Pride festival in Saint John cancelled

Pride festival in Saint John cancelled
NEW BRUNSWICK / Organizers cite burn-out, lack of support
Nick Logan / National / Friday, July 10, 2009

The queer community in New Brunswick's largest city won't be taking to the streets in a show of Pride this year. Organizers of Port City Rainbow Pride (PCRP), in Saint John, pulled the plug last week on the 2009 celebration.

In a Jul 2 press release, the committee's president highlighted a lack of confirmed events as reason for the cancellation.

"We believe that the community deserves a first rate celebration," Don Uhryniw said, "and [we] have decided to turn our energies to planning next year's event."

This will be the first year, since 2003, without a Pride celebration in Saint John.

Pride's board and committee are entirely volunteer-based and, this year, there was not enough commitment and involvement to successfully organize the week's events, says the board's spokesperson, Mack Mackenzie.

After years of piecing together the festival with little support, many repeat volunteers have "burned out" a bit, says Mackenzie. Lack of time and family obligations are some of the reasons people don't get involved with organizing committees, but others have the notion that "somebody else is going to do [the work]."

"I think they've been successful with it over the years," he says, "but my motion at the last board meeting was, in order to do this as well — or better — as past years, realistically we're not going to be able to pull this off in the next six weeks."

Criticism over the size and style of the celebration has also taken its toll on board members, Mackenzie adds. He's heard feedback from past attendees complaining Port City Rainbow Pride did not have the glitz and glamour associated with Pride in larger centres.

It's hard to motivate people to put their heart into planning, time after time, when it's not appreciated, he says.

"People are always willing to offer plenty of good ideas, but when you challenge them to get involved, and help to implement those ideas, sometimes the fear factor comes in... or general apathy."

With a metropolitan population of only 122,000, Saint John can't play by the same rules as Canada's bigger cities, he says. Considering Pride's small crew of volunteers and a budget of next-to-nothing, he says the city is lucky to have had a Pride celebration at all.

The current board plans to use the next 13 months wisely and have Pride Week organized for its usual slot — the week after Canada Day. Saint John will mark its 225th anniversary — as this country's oldest incorporated city — in 2010, and Mackenzie wants Pride to be a prominent part of the celebrations and homecoming.

"This is a city that is far more open than it has ever been," says Mackenzie. "We can let the LGBT people from the greater Saint John area — who have moved to larger centres — know they are welcome to come home and to rediscover their roots here."

Board members also want to reach out to segments of the population they haven't necessarily accommodated in the past. There have been criticisms, he says, that Pride is "elitist," not offering much for young people or those living on limited means.

Above all, Mackenzie hopes this year's absence of Port City Rainbow Pride will be a wake-up call to the queer community in Saint John to get involved. He wants people to know what they are missing and, he says, those messages have already started coming in.

Port City Rainbow Pride.
portcityrainbowpride.com.

Tags: new brunswick, pride, saint john

Fredericton mayor "changed" since refusing to declare Pride Week

Fredericton mayor says he's changed since refusing to declare Pride Week in '90s
NEW BRUNSWICK / A decade ago, Brad Woodside said 'sex had no place in the council chambers'
Nick Logan / National / Monday, June 29, 2009






















MAYOR'S PROCLAMATION. Brad Woodside declares Pride Week in Fredericton, free of controversy and with cheers and applause from the crowd at the Jun 22 council meeting.
(Nick Logan photo)


"Whereas the proclamation of Gay Pride Week recognizes an aspect of diversity that any healthy community would want to embrace ... I do declare June 22 to June 28 to be Gay Pride Week, a celebration of the wonderful diversity of Fredericton that includes the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered community."

Living in Fredericton during the late 1990s, the queer community would not have imagined Mayor Brad Woodside reading those words, with a smile on his face.

Eleven years ago, he said declaring Pride Week didn't represent "what the community is all about and what would be accepted by the community."

The mayor say he has gone through a "personal maturation" process, adding that he has come to appreciate the diversity in his city's population.

"We change with time," Woodside said, in a telephone interview, "and change is for the better."

A former president of Fredericton Lesbians and Gays (FLAG) says the mayor's change of heart is legitimate. The work of activists, more than a decade ago, Adrian Park says, has made it possible for this week's celebrations to go off with support, rather than backlash.

Fredericton was a closeted town before the controversy over Pride erupted and those in the closet often "sniped" at the activists for making it harder to live a secretive life, he says.

Park spoke about the history of the gay rights movement last Monday, as a part of a Pride Week lecture series, following the proclamation at city council. The local gay community's fight for recognition figures prominently in the Canadian movement.

After years of rebuffs from City Hall, three members of FLAG in 1998 brought the mayor before a provincial human rights tribunal. Even though the city always had a large gay population — being a university and government town — the notion of Pride was cause for a heated, often nasty, debate.

At the time Woodside argued his faith and his right to freedom of speech exempted him from having to proclaim Pride Week, and that "sex had no place in the council chambers."

Support, and contempt, for his stance poured in from across the country. The Daily Gleaner, Fredericton's mainstream newspaper, published numerous letters on the issue, some even suggesting that Pride Week would pave the way for "Pedophile Week." One property owner put a billboard on his land with the words "Honk if you're straight."

Ken Spragg, 30, has seen the progression the city has made since those days. He was a university student during that period and is happy to now see a rainbow flag raised over downtown, without a fight. Fredericton's change was slow, he says, but people have come to realize that everyone knows someone who is gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered.

"I think by being visible," he says, "by not hiding, it's an open invitation for people to get to know us and come to respect us."

Capital City Pride — organized by PJ Spencer and Sarah McAdam — is an all-inclusive community event. The week's events culminated with a Random Acts of Kindness day, in lieu of a parade.

Park, who was happy organizers consulted with former FLAG members for the events, thinks this sort of finale serves as a good "small town approach" to encouraging unity in the city.

Capital City Pride.
Capital City Pride Facebook page.

Tags: brad woodside, flag, fredericton, new brunswick, pride