Pride community turns vandalism on its ear

WINNIPEG — Less than a month after a Pride billboard in the Pembina Valley was vandalized, spray paint meant to obscure the sign has become part of a message that’s being shared even further.

“You can’t spray the gay away,” reads the slogan Pembina Valley Pride has reclaimed from the vandalism.

It’s now the centrepiece of a merchandise fundraiser featuring an image of the defaced billboard across a range of items like T-shirts, sweaters and tote bags.

The campaign has drawn an outpouring of support, reaching about 80,000 people online and attracting orders from across Canada and the United States.

The original billboard, installed along Highway 14 between Morden and Winkler, featured the message “Pride Belongs in the Pembina Valley” beneath a rainbow on a black background. It was the second year Pembina Valley Pride had placed the billboard in nearly the same location, and it stood for several weeks without incident before being vandalized on June 21, when the sign was partially covered with black spray paint.

Callum Morrison, president of Pembina Valley Pride, said the organization immediately wanted to find a response to the vandalism.

“We were discussing with the board how we should react to this,” Morrison said. “Someone suggested, why don’t we create shirts that incorporate elements of the vandalized design?”

Then someone suggested a phrase that immediately stuck: “You can’t spray the gay away.”

“I just think it’s perfect,” Morrison said. “Queer communities, we have a long tradition of reclaiming things that were initially meant to hurt us. It’s taken something that was intended to harm us, and we’ve turned it into really a symbol of strength.”

The response to the fundraiser quickly grew beyond the Pembina Valley.

Morrison said the organization was “really blown away” by the level of support, with orders coming in from communities across Manitoba and as far away as British Columbia, Ontario, Nova Scotia and the United States.

“Even though this is a local issue, this is something which is really, you know, going on across the world, and it’s really lovely to see that solidarity,” he said.

Shortly after Pembina Valley Pride announced the merchandise fundraiser, McNally Robinson Booksellers reached out to offer its support, along with Frank + Olive, a beauty salon in Winkler.

Angela Torgerson, executive manager of McNally Robinson Booksellers, said the store wanted to help after hearing about the vandalism.

“We were absolutely appalled that in 2026 in Manitoba, people within this community were still having to face this level of hate, and we wanted to help out however we could,” she said.

McNally Robinson began selling the $30 shirts at its Grant Park and The Forks locations yesterday. Torgerson said the response from customers has been overwhelmingly positive.

“We had an MLA from Alberta reach out to us and want us to send T-shirts to their office,” she said. “We had customers coming in one after another yesterday and today, and the response online has been fantastic too.”

The money raised through the fundraiser will support Pembina Valley Pride’s ongoing work, including monthly games nights in Altona, Carman, Winkler and Morden, educational initiatives, community events and annual Pride celebrations.

Morrison hopes the merchandise will remind people they don’t have to feel isolated.

“If it makes people feel a little less alone when they see this design out in their communities, then I feel we’ve done our job,” he said.

“There are queer people and their allies in the Pembina Valley who really believe that we’re all welcome here and that we are here. We’re surviving. We’re thriving, and nothing that people can do will put a stop to that.”

» Winnipeg Free Press