FORT FRANCES, Ont. — Organizers of an upcoming Pride March across the international border are citing the actions of the Trump administration in the U.S. as one of the reasons for holding the event.
Participants in Passport to Pride will march on Saturday, July 14 from Smokey Bear Park in International Falls, Minnesota to the Fort Frances Civic Centre along a route that has been coordinated with customs officials.
Borderland Pride co-chair Douglas Judson said the group initially pursued the idea of a cross-border march as a fun event that would bring the communities and their small numbers of LGBTQ2 residents together, "but since then, the border has become a flashpoint in the political world, and the march has come to stand for something far greater."
Judson referred to the Trump administration's plan for a border wall in the south, its recent policy of separating families at that border, trade tensions with Canada, and the administration's "disregard for LGBTQ2 people and the threats to their rights that may be ushered in with the next U.S. Supreme Court appointment."
He said "Pride, at its core, has always been about building bridges between people and recognizing our shared humanity."
Pride Week events run from July 9 to 15.
The parade on Saturday is said to be one of the world's first Pride marches that crosses an international border.
