DRYDEN – The conversation is fairly clear among the Pride organizations around Northwestern Ontario -- they will stand against all discriminatory policies that denounce or deny the rights of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community.
However, a recent falling out between three NWO Pride organizations (Rainbow Alliance Dryden, Borderland Pride, and Rainbow Collective Thunder Bay) and Kenora Pride not only shows that Pride has a social obligation to foster diversity and inclusion but Pride at its very core is rooted in politics.
“I think it's embarrassing for all queers across the world that this kind of infighting (is happening). I don't know what kind of example this is setting to our community that this is what happens if you get involved in our political system or the queer movement,” chair of Kenora Pride Andrea Campbell stated in response to the joint press release from Rainbow Alliance Dryden, Borderland Pride, and Rainbow Collective Thunder Bay.
In the release, the Pride organizations put into question Campbell’s leadership role.
“We have been disappointed that we have been unable to count on Kenora Pride, through its current leader, to work with us. Repeated requests for support of our joint initiatives have been met with disrespect, micromanaging, and gatekeeping of the support of the 2SLGBTQIA community in Kenora,” the release said.
After speaking with the chair of Rainbow Alliance Dryden, Caitlin Hartlen, it seems one of the initiatives the Pride organizations were collaborating on stems back to a signed letter to Kenora MP Eric Melillo back in Sept. 2023.
In the letter, the Pride organizations, including Kenora Pride, asked to speak with Melillo about several homophobic and transphobic policy resolutions that were presented at the Conservative Party of Canada convention.
It has been five months and MP Melillo has still not been in contact with the NWO Pride, according to Hartlen.
“And as we're seeing it unfold in Alberta right now, this can be very dangerous. Because the policies that they're proposing will actively harm trans kids. It'll force them to come out to parents who may not be safe and it will disrupt their journey as trans individuals in figuring out their identity," Hartlen said.
“They will have all these new roadblocks in their way that weren't there before because it's been a fight to get these rights in the first place and we're still not there yet. And now the Conservative party is attempting to regress and remove what little progress we've made over the last few decades.”
Wanting to put a little more pressure on Melillo for a response, the NWO Pride groups decided to issue another joint statement that would actively ban Conservative members from Pride events.
However, Hartlen said this decision was blocked by Campbell.
Campbell said: “we stand firm that we have a democratic process and this has been a unifying experience for Kenora Pride.”
“I knew that they were unhappy with the fact that we have a democratic process that everything needs edits. They seem to wish that I would just happily sign our name to anything that they want us to and that's just not how our internal process works,” Campbell continued.
Kenora Pride’s current memberships are a total of 19. However, only a select handful of volunteers make up their governing body.
Campbell admits that her leadership role as chairperson was entire because “nobody else put their hand up” to take on the role.
With a small number of people volunteering, Campbell stated that most of Kenora Pride’s primary focus is the festival in June and small events throughout the year.
Nevertheless, what Hartlen and other Northwestern Ontario Pride groups were asking for was a united advocacy to address the current anti-2SLGBTQIA+ rhetoric coming from the Conservative Party of Canada.
Since Rainbow Alliance Dryden, Kenora Pride, and newly formed Queers in Sioux Lookout (QuISL) all fall within Melillo's riding, the most impact would come from them.
“We would love it if Kenora Pride could throw their weight behind it because Kenora is where Eric Melillo tends to pay attention because he knows that's where his largest voter base is,” admitted Hartlen.
They also stated that the chair of QuISL, Reece Van Breda, had reached out to Campbell asking for advice, but was met with answers that were “condescending and a bit insulting.”
After reaching out to QuISL for their point of view on advocating for a statement from Melillo, Van Breda stated their concern is with Kenora’s 2SLGBTQIA+ community, “not just the leadership's viewpoint and opinion which excludes community members from being at the table.”
“Over the past year, we have seen the federal Conservative party take a hard-right turn on social issues, and we have no interest in giving Eric Melillo a photo-op when he continues to be silent on a public platform concerning policy creation, and actively and openly endorse a party leader that pushes this right-wing agenda.”
Although Campbell admits that “Pride is political,” Campbell insists their organization is not capable of being an advocacy group.
“We're not a communications shop. We're a handful of volunteers and no one in our organization has the capacity and the talent to publish on social media every two days. We're primarily Kenora-focused and festival focused. It doesn't mean that we don't have politics,” said Campbell.
Hartlen wants Kenora’s 2SLGBTQIA+ community to know that Rainbow Alliance Dryden stands with those who are politically active and advocates for a government that will protect their human rights.
“We want them to have a strong Pride presence in our region just like every other Pride. But we think that the issues with the leadership have to be addressed from within, from a governance perspective,” said Hartlen.
Melillo did not respond to a request for comment by deadline.
