Pride Winnipeg | 2020

2020

Help people living with HIV thrive!

NEW DIRECTIONS SUPPORTS Pride!

“Attending Pride for the first time really was life-changing in the sense that I no longer felt scared or ashamed to be who I was,” says Rand, who co-founded the first official Canadian chapter of Dykes On Bikes Women’s Motorcycle Contingent in Winnipeg last year. “I learned that there was a large, diverse and loving community waiting with open arms to accept me exactly as I am … it quickly turned into the event I look for- ward to every single year.” That widespread anticipation is one of the primary reasons Pride organizers wanted to offer more than just a “come back next year” message to their attendees. And while they’d have been afforded some leeway with smaller outdoor gather- ings (at press time, anyway), they thought it safest to instead host a fully digital festival featuring two days of streamed perform- ances by the likes of local songwriter Sierra Noble and queer DJ collective Pop Tart, and “Read by Queens” storytelling sessions from drag performers such as Picky & Glory (aka Pictoria Secrete and Gloria Booths, always a hit at Pride parades across Canada). The performances were recorded dur- ing safe, socially distanced sessions at Club 200 and the West End Cultural Cen- tre. Pride president Barry Karlenzig says

they’ll be streamed on YouTube and via Facebook watch parties from noon to 8 p.m. on Sat., Sept. 12 and Sun., Sept. 13. He’s currently working with local radio stations to see if portions of the festival can also be broadcast over local airwaves. As well, he and other Pride reps have been reaching out to fellow GSRD and com- munity organizations to offer assistance in moving their events online. “We’ve tried to do what we can to help with software, technology, meetings, even helping with bylaws and other random stuff — whatever we can do to help, not just (for Winnipeg groups), but all the other Prides in Manitoba,” he says, noting celebrations in Brandon, Steinbach and Morden all had to be cancelled this year. Karlenzig says he hopes Pride Winnipeg will be back — bigger and better than ever — in 2021. And while the setbacks encoun- tered this year were definitely frustrating, Rand notes they also provided an oppor- tunity to take stock of the festival’s con- tinued relevance, and of the indomitable spirit of the GSRD community. “We were also able to step back as an or- ganization and remind ourselves of just how important our community is to us, the rea- sons why we volunteer, and the importance of keeping one another safe and healthy.”

(VIRTUAL) RED RIBBON WALK & RUN September 14-20, 2020 • 50/50 RAFFLE • FUN VIRTUAL ACTIVITIES • PRIZE DRAWS

NEW DIRECTIONS FOR CHILDREN, YOUTH, ADULTS & FAMILIES

NINECIRCLES.CA/REDRIBBON

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At Heartland Fertility Clinic , we take PRIDE in our patients because family is not defined by gender, race or sexual orientation. Our team is honored to support the LGBTQ2S+ community on their journey to becoming parents.