Pride sending bus to Winkler in show of support

Brandon Pride is busing 2SLGBTQIA+ allies and community members to support Pride events in Winkler this June as the southeastern city faces targeted hate and backlash.

The board of directors brainstormed ways they could show solidarity in late April after learning Pembina Valley Pride was under attack for wanting to host a Pride march in Winkler, said Nora Wilson, chairperson of Brandon Pride.

“When you get hundreds of people gathering together in the name of love, then hate gets drowned out, and that’s why we as a board decided to pursue a charter bus to get people down there,” Wilson said on Friday.

The charter bus will leave Brandon on the morning of June 13 and spend two to three hours in Winkler before returning to Brandon for Pride in the Park at the Riverbank Discovery Centre from 4:30 p.m. to 10 p.m.

The cost of the bus was fully paid for by community donations, allowing people interested in registering to attend Winkler’s events for free, Wilson said.

The bus can take up to 56 people and as of now, lots of seats are still available, she said.

Pembina Valley Pride president Pauline Emerson-Froebe said it’s “heartwarming” to receive the extra support from Brandon Pride and Winnipeg Pride, that’s also bringing a charter bus of allies.

Emerson-Froebe said there was an outpouring of pushback when the group announced in February that Pembina Valley’s sixth annual Pride rally and march would be held in Winkler for the first time.

But for every statement of intimidation that gets shared online, dozens of people show up with love for the community, she said.

The group is ramping up security this year to ensure everyone stays safe, she said, adding that the march will take place around Winkler Park because zoning challenges make it difficult to have a parade in the streets.

In 2023, a van in Winkler was spray-painted with a homophobic slur during Pride Month, she said.

“There’s always that concern of threats of violence, there just is, because there’s been a long history of it, but we feel confident in our security team,” she said.

Having Pride in Winkler this year is a reminder that queer people exist there and shouldn’t have to leave their city to celebrate who they are, Emerson-Froebe said.

“To the queer community, we have your backs. You are supported, you are loved, you are wanted and you are welcomed,” she said.

“And to the allies, thank you so much. We could not do this without them.”

Winkler’s Pride events include a church service, market and performances from drag queens and musicians, followed by an after party in Carman.

Showing support at Pride events in smaller communities across Manitoba is important because it increases 2SLGBTQIA+ representation and ensures members know they belong, Wilson said.

While there’s typically a larger concentration of queer people in bigger cities like Winnipeg, because they feel safer and more accepted, it doesn’t mean queer people don’t exist in rural areas, she said.

“I’ve spoken with other trans women, especially, like, who live in … communities of a couple hundred to a few thousand, who don’t feel safe to step out of their homes dressed how they want to dress, expressing themselves as they want to express themselves, because they’re afraid of violence,” Wilson said.

Although the 2SLGBTQIA+ community in Brandon experiences forms of targeted hate — typically from people online — Wilson said she mostly feels safe to be herself as a transgender woman.

“Everybody deserves to be able to be themselves, no matter where they live, and that’s why it’s important for us to have these events in smaller towns and to support them from the people who are in larger city centres,” she said.

Brandon’s Pride in the Park on June 13 will feature drag queens from Canada’s Drag Race, local musicians, a queer car show, the Miss Sandi Bay and the Rainbow Tornadoes dance group, and more.

A Pride rally and march will also take place on June 14 at 11 a.m., starting at city hall. Attendees will walk down Victoria Avenue to 18th Street and then onto Rosser Avenue before turning onto Ninth Street, back to city hall.

This year’s theme is “brick by brick” — a tribute to the first brick that was thrown at the Stonewall uprising in June 1969 in New York City, where the Pride movement began, Wilson said. The theme represents unlearning harmful ways of thinking and building connection and allyship.

The heart of Pride Month is about celebrating the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, she said.

“We deserve to be treated with respect and dignity, and to be able to live as we are authentically, and that’s why we hold pride events every single year,” Wilson said.

She encourages people belonging to the community to trust themselves and find safe places to connect with others “because not every person in our community is in a safe home or in a safe work situation, or any other number of things that could be not even having to do with their queer identity.”

Frances Chartrand, vice-president of the Northwest Métis Council, said Dauphin is hosting its fourth annual Pride Walk with more than 10 floats on June 13 from noon to 5 p.m., starting at Maamawi Park. The event includes a free barbecue, entertainment and an open mic session.

“It’s an important opportunity for people from all walks of life to come together in support of our 2SLGBTQIA+ community and to celebrate the diversity that makes Dauphin stronger,” Chartrand said.

“Pride is rooted in acceptance, respect, belonging and the belief that every person deserves to feel safe, valued and free to be themselves.”

Pride events are also being held in other communities across Westman.

Swan River is having a march at noon on June 13 and the Souris Pride Committee is hosting a picnic in the park on June 20.

Neepawa is freshening up its Pride sidewalk at ArtsForward on June 14 at 11 a.m.

» tadamski@brandonsun.com