The Flin Flon Pride committee is stepping up its game for this year’s Pride celebrations. It’s on a journey to serious inclusivity, and it is seeing more success than perhaps anyone expected.
Members of the pride committee were in council last week to ask for support for this year’s celebrations, including the painting of a rainbow crosswalk outside of city hall. Council decided to jump on board with the idea right away, and throughout the discussion, stories flowed as councillors and pride committee members shared stories they had heard from former Flin Flonners who identified as LGBTQ when they heard the news Flin Flon held its first Pride celebration last year.
Some members of the Pride committee relayed emotional meetings during last year’s Pride Festival, Trout Festival and homecoming, in which former Flin Flonners, several of them now aging, approached committee members and relayed stories of how they had moved away from Flin Flon to come out.
“It was a testament to the value of it. They said it was something they thought they would never see. We were all in tears. It was beautiful,” one committee member told council.
Jordana Oulette, executive director of the Flin Flon Pride committee chuckled as she remembered how a partner and mentor who helped the committee organize its first event in 2017 saw the magnitude of the event and promptly told her they didn’t need help.
There are some who don’t perceive Flin Flon as a place that is inclusive or openly accepting of people who identify as LGBTQ, and there are, no doubt, good reasons for that perception.
Pride members reported instances of homophobic slurs and comments such as, “Where’s our straight parade?” made toward them during Pride celebrations last year.
When Hapnot’s Gay-Straight Alliance/Equality Social Justice Club received an award from the Manitoba School Boards Association last month, teacher Daniel Dillon told the Flin Flon School Board, “Starting an equity and social justice and gay-straight alliance in a small mining town in northern Manitoba – when I first thought about it, I didn’t’ think it was going to fly.”
But more and more people and organizations are getting on board – from the city to the school division to community members of all ages.
This year, the Pride committee has a youth contingent, and it is hoping to reach more youth with its message of acceptance. It is also planning a transgender march following this year’s pride flag raising outside city hall. Oulette noted it would be a first for Flin Flon, and that there is a margin of people who identify as transgender in the community who need that acceptance as well.
Online support of Flin Flon Pride is fairly significant – its Facebook page has 1,347 likes, more than the Pride organization for Thompson, which has more than twice the population.
If the Flin Flon Pride committee along with its allies continue their upward momentum, they may be on the way to making Flin Flon one of the most inclusive communities in northern Manitoba.
