Pride 2011

What a week!

I attended a fundraiser BBQ on Monday, a town hall meeting with my MPP on Thursday, a drag show on Friday, the Dyke march on Saturday, the Pride parade and an after-party on Sunday. I also accidentally attended two events intended for lesbians (that the ticket said “House of Venus” should have been my first clue.) It was a great week.

I was also interviewed with Jay at Pride for one of the two French newspapers, Le Droit. That ended up making yesterday’s issue, in an article discussing the parade and tolerance. On that note, the lone detractor at this year’s parade was sign guy. I call him sign guy because he’s actually a staple of this city; usually protesting outside the women’s clinic or in the market.

Speaking of tolerance: Even the Ottawa Sun, the local conservative tabloid paper is starting to come around. Granted, they still put a piece out a few weeks ago trying to link the attendance of the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board at the parade with notions of sexual perversion. But their coverage of Pride itself in yesterday’s issue was very positive in nature, and today they defended its existence to an incensed reader. Its editorialists didn’t touch the subject.

On the subject of schools, the Ottawa Catholic School Board (OCSB) was a no-show, as expected. However, in a brave move, representatives from the student association at St Paul’s University were there. They had a poster saying “we welcome all students”, followed by another that said “shh – our administration doesn’t know we’re here!”

I was able to talk to my MPP, Yasir Naqvi, at the town hall meeting on Thursday. I brought up the issue of Gay-Straight Alliances. As it turns out, his assistant did misspeak. Come September, GSAs will still be prohibited. I do not fault the minister for this current situation. He’s very much an ally, but bound by the will of his party. To that extent, I do fault his party for not enforcing their own equity policy.

Back at Pride, things were vibrant and colourful.

For the parade, we had chosen to sit down on Wellington Street, near the start. As it turns out, that’s the best place to be if you want free stuff. We got candy, a kazoo, two frisbees, buttons, lanyards, and a year’s supply of condoms.

If you’re in town and didn’t go this year, I highly recommend you try to make it for the next one. You’ll have a blast.