For the first time in the City of Yorkton, the city is celebrating Pride Week, celebrating the local LGBTQ and showing support for sexual and gender diversity. The inaugural celebrations began with a flag raising at city hall.
Laura Budd with Moose Jaw Pride, says getting Pride outside of the two major centres in Saskatchewan is part of a project called the Saskatchewan Pride network, assisting communities which are trying to host their first pride events.
For Budd, efforts to get pride in smaller cities like Yorkton is a way to build a community and show support to people who might otherwise feel as though they not accepted.
“My heart is just beating in my chest knowing that this community is inclusive, that they are supportive and that they’re going to be vocally so. That means so much, because when you are part of a vulnerable sector of society, you have to protect yourself, both emotionally and physically, and you cannot assume that someone is an ally until they tell you. This community is now telling those who are LGBTQ2+ that they are supported and they do have allies here.”
The impact on people in a small community is what Budd believes will be the most important part of the Pride celebrations, and she hopes that events like Pride continue to build and have a positive influence on the community.
“In a small community like Yorkton or Humboldt or Moose Jaw, it’s all of those people. It reaches and touches the people who need it most. In a large centre yes, we have big celebrations and it’s wonderful, and you can see, yes, our province is moving forward. But you can see it and feel it in a community in the size of Yorkton. This will touch everyone in this community.”
Budd hopes that with Pride events happening throughout the province, people who left Saskatchewan because they didn’t feel welcome in their communities will come back, that it will reunite families and that it will make communities across the province more welcoming places.
