Thoughts & Things

Pride Week Events

The city I live in celebrates Pride during the last week of August every year, and we always turn it into a spectacular event. I live in Canada, where marriage equality has been nationwide for over a decade, so people tend to be a lot more accepting here in general. At least accepting enough that Pride events can be run with little fear of harassment, but harassment is still enough of a reality that Pride is still necessary.

In the weeks/months leading up to Pride, our downtown crosswalks get painted in the rainbow flag, and rainbow flags are hung up about the area as well. Events run all week long to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community. There are celebratory nights at the LGBTQ+ nightclub, including an all ages dance night where teens are welcome (I have been to these nights, and it is the most magical thing in the world to see teens who might be outcasts at home or school feel totally free to be themselves).

There are fun events like Bitchy Drag Queen Bingo, and more serious events like hearing those in the local LGBTQ+ community speak about their experiences over the years. Earlier tonight I attended the city's Pride Film Night. This amounts to a little over an hour's worth of short LGBTQ+ themed films shown for free. Last year's was amazing, so this year's did underwhelm me a bit. There were still some pretty great films shown, although it opened on a video featuring blackface, which put a damper on the whole evening.

The whole week culminates in a weekend long free festival in one of our major parks downtown, full of food, vendors, and live music. On the Sunday, we have our Pride Parade, which is quite the event. I've managed to miss it every year so far, which is a shame because I'm sure the stunning pictures don't even do it justice.

Overall I feel like it's really refreshing to live in a city that makes such an event out of Pride. Things like these feel like such a spectacular way to combat the hate that still unfortunately permeates our modern world. The events also make for an absolute blast, filled with fun activities that anyone can enjoy.

(I have committed to blogging daily with Give It 100. This is Day Eighty-Four. Eight days of leave taken total.)