‘It’s like a sea of rainbow out there’

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This article was published 04/06/2022 (935 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Memorial Boulevard transformed Sunday.

Thousands of Manitobans, touting rainbow flags and signs and pets and smiles, took to the street — and others downtown — for the first annual Pride Winnipeg parade since the pandemic began.

It was the parade’s 35th anniversary. And, Winnipeg was hosting the second Fierté Canada Pride Festival — a national recognition.

“It’s just so empowering to be here,” said Ryan Schreyer, who attended with his husband.

“I think it’s important… to show people that might be questioning themselves that they’re not alone.”

Schreyer said he was involved in organizing Pride Winnipeg’s parade in the late 90s. Attendance had likely tripled since then, he said.

He shook his head while stopped at the intersection of Memorial and York — there was no way he’d find his niece in the crowd.

Parade floats marched and drove by. Drumbeats came from the back of a truck representing Anishinaabe First Nations people. Sunshine House waved a sign reading “There are no closets in tipis”.

“You have asexual pride, you have bisexual pride, you have gay pride, trans pride,” Schreyer said. “Everybody’s being represented now, and if you’re feeling down and alone… call one of the hotlines, because you are absolutely not alone.”

The Premier addressed a crowd of over 150 people before the parade.

“It’s like a sea of rainbow out there,” Heather Stefanson told the ralliers.

The rally was off the main strip of celebrations — it was on the east side of the Manitoba Legislative Building’s grounds, while most attendees (and the trucks and music) were on the north.

Standing near Stefanson were Progressive Conservatives Obby Khan, Rochelle Squires, Shannon Martin, Cliff Cullen, Janice Morley-Lecomte and Sarah Guillemard.

“We’re here to celebrate… everyone within the LGBT community,” Stefanson said.

Winnipeg Mayor Brian Bowman and some city councillors, including Brian Mayes and Markus Chambers, were at the rally.

“Thirty-five years is a long time, and so much has changed,” Bowman told the crowd. “We know there’s more work ahead to build a community and a city in which we’re all truly proud to call home and we all feel we can be who we really are.”

LGBT was once the acronym used to describe groups not identifying as straight. It’s lengthened to LGBTTQ+.

“As the acronym has grown, equal rights has not,” said Barry Karlenzig, Pride Winnipeg’s president.

Uzoma Asagwara, an MLA for Manitoba’s NDP party and grand marshall of this year’s pride parade, turned attention to those who couldn’t make it to the weekend’s festivities.

“There are a lot of people who would love to be here today celebrating pride… There’s a lot of people who cannot be here,” Asagwara said. “Those are the people we need to be reaching out to.”

They called pride a riot, a protest and a daily action.

“We have to leave here and every single day action pride — at the grocery store, in our schools, in our legislatures, in our communities,” Asagwara said, adding trans kids must be protected.

Over 50 youths are in Prism, a Big Brothers Big Sisters 2SLGBTQ+ mentorship initiative, according to program manager Mackenzie Kolton.

“A lot of kids are really struggling in school, being bullied or having teachers or people not accept them for who they are,” Kolton said.

Charlotte Di Lullo, 13, has found their community in school. They grinned ear-to-ear before the parade began Sunday: they were set to walk with Gordon Bell High School’s Gay Straight Alliance club.

“I thought it was just so cool that there was (a GSA),” Charlotte, who identifies as part of the LGBTTQ+ community, said. “I was like, ‘Oh, yay, representation!’”

Aubrey Di Lullo, Charlotte’s 11-year-old sister, did both girls’ make-up. The Grade 5 calls herself an ally to the LGBTTQ+ community.

“I love seeing everyone be their true selves,” she said, motioning to the swaths of people near Memorial Boulevard Sunday.

Kate Sibley, Charlotte and Aubrey’s mother, said she’s noted more diversity and acceptance in families than when she was a child.

“I’m very happy for them to kind of grow up and know… love who you love, and (that) people are good and kind. That’s the most important thing,” Sibley said.

Pictoria Secrete, one of Fierté Canada Pride’s marshalls, said coming out was “very difficult” in 1981.

“At that point, you could get fired from your job, you could get ostracized by your family — who knows what could’ve happened,” Secrete said. “Still, today, you don’t know until you actually come out.”

Social media can create community, especially in the midst of a pandemic, said Bishop Christie, who identifies as bisexual.

“With apps like TikTok and everything, you see people,” he said. “You (can) see someone from Winnipeg, and it’s like, ‘That’s someone in my city who’s exactly like me.’ And I think that’s so cool.”

The party-vibe Pride parade has been “a long time coming,” given two years without the in-person event, said Ava Candaele.

“This is really important to me, as someone who’s part of the queer community, to go and see everyone feeling supported and loved, especially after the pandemic where… we weren’t together,” Candaele said.

Pride festivities lasted nine days, beginning with a pride flag raised at city hall on May 27. The Fierté Canada Pride Festival happened at The Forks and Parks Canada grounds over the weekend.

Pride Winnipeg operated with just 10 of 16 board members, according to Karlenzig. Of those, only three were around in 2019. The pandemic caused a shake-up, Karlenzig said.

“It’s amazing to have (the event) back, but it is a lot of work,” he said.

There were over 130 volunteers. A core group of 40 put in over 5,000 hours, Karlenzig said.

Still, the work continues.

“Pride isn’t just one weekend or one month,” Karlenzig said. “Pride is 365 days a year.”

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com