THUNDER BAY - Decades ago, the LGBTIQAP+ community in the city of Thunder Bay was nearly invisible, fearing harassment and violence.
“Back in the day, 50 years ago, all of this was underground,” said advocate and writer, Michael Sobota. “None of this was visible. We couldn’t be visible.”
But now with the streets a sea of colour and pride, the invisible have become visible as hundreds of people celebrate inclusion and diversity.
As part of Pride Week, Thunder Pride hosted its seventh Annual Pride Parade on Sunday, marching from Waverley Park down Algoma Street to a block party on Bay Street accompanied by more than 50 floats, music, and dancing.
“It’s our biggest ever,” said Jason Veltri, chair of the Thunder Pride Association. “We have a record number of floats and entries in the parade this year, which is absolutely fabulous. The colour and the joy and the love on Waverley Street right now is amazing.”
Thunder Pride began nine years ago and Veltri said in that time it has grown significantly, which is not only a testament to the work of the organization, but the acceptance that is now seen in the city.
“Pride is important so now people are taking part in that because inclusion and diversity is important,” he said. “This is testament to our organization’s growth, our exposure in the city, and the need for pride in Thunder Bay.”
A lot has changed not only in the past 50 years, but even in the last nine years. According to Veltri, in the first two years of Thunder Pride’s existence, there was still a lot of hate and discrimination in the city.
“But in the short seven years we are seeing more businesses taking part, we are seeing the colours and the rainbows flying from the school boards, from the schools, businesses, and that is a testament to how hard our organization has worked over the last nine years,” he said.
Clare Smyth, also known as Flarington King, travels from Toronto every year for the annual Pride Parade and she has seen the growth from the very first parade to what it has become now, which she says speaks to the level of acceptance now for the LGBTIQAP+ community.
“Especially with all of the local businesses supporting pride and this year with the block party and being open for business and having flags in their windows, this is huge for Thunder Bay and it shows a really amazing acceptance that has spread across the city,” she said.
But that acceptance has not always been quite so visible here in the city and Sobota recalled a time when police would lock people inside a popular LGBTIQAP+ bar on Simpson Street to protect them from harassment or the need to hide various community events.
“We graduated to holding dances in a community hall and we would advertise the dances so the community would know, but we would never put the address in the paper,” Sobota said. ”We would put: the usual Fort William location and if you knew, you knew. If you didn’t know, you asked somebody.”
So with that time of being invisible now a thing of the past, it’s time to celebrate being visible, because not only is it important to showcase just how far the city has come, it’s just a lot of fun, too.
“It’s great fun,” Smyth said. “Anybody who has never been part of pride, just look around you, look at all the colours, all the wonderful people. Please come and celebrate with us. That would be my message.”
“What is delightful to see today are kids with pride shirts on,” Sobota added. “They are six or eight or 10-years-old. When I was 10 I would never even have dreamed of thinking those words let alone wearing those words. So it’s all pretty cool.”
