THUNDER BAY – Pride Week is underway in Thunder Bay.
Thunder Bay Pride Week officially kicked off on Wednesday morning with the raising of three rainbow flags at City Hall and three more at Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board, Lakehead Public Schools and French Catholic School Board.
Chair of the Thunder Pride Association Jason Veltri says it’s historic.
“As a person who's gone through the Catholic (school) system, I never thought this day was possible. So it was quite overwhelming and humbling,” Veltri said.
“Outside of the Catholic faith, those schools need to be a safe, welcoming, inclusive space for students and families. And that’s what this is about. It’s about inclusivity.”
Wednesday’s strong turnout at City Hall promised a healthy number of people to take part in a number of events between June 5-16.
Cynthia Olsen, event lead of the flag-raising, said the community grows every year.
“Not only does the flag raising event grow, but so does all the other activities. Thunder Pride has ramped it up and they’ve got a lot more activities going on this year,’ she said.
Most notably, this year will feature a drag show with four Ru Paul’s Drag Race headliners for a show on Saturday at the Victoria Inn.
A block party and street fest in the Bay and Algoma District will take place the following Saturday, June 15 and the pride parade will take place the following day.
“It’ll be our biggest parade yet,” Veltri said.
The parade will follow a new route, beginning from Algoma Street and running down Bay Street.
Pride parades have come into newstream after three males in Boston, Massachusetts made headlines for planning a Straight Pride Parade.
“What people need to understand about gay pride… we are a prosecuted and persecuted community. That’s why we exist. We were oppressed, we have been beaten, jailed, and killed. Good on Boston, but I hope one day we won’t have to have these parades in any form because that means we’ve succeeded in our advocacy.”
.
