Pride, apart: Regina's LGBTQ community celebrates Pride Week at a distance

In any other year, this week would have seen downtown Regina full of music, dancing and rainbows. 

This was supposed to be Regina's Pride Week, the annual festival celebrating the city's LGBTQ community. For more than 30 years it has featured community gatherings, educational events and, of course, the Pride Parade. 

This year the COVID-19 pandemic has changed those plans. While some community members are facing an increased sense of isolation, others are finding new ways to engage. 

Regina Pride on the global stage

One of the biggest Pride events in the world this year — Global Pride 2020, a livestreamed event on June 27 — will have a Regina twist.

Dan Shier, co-chair of Queen City Pride, spent April and May thinking about what Pride was going to look like this year. 

"Almost on a daily basis, we were hearing updates about yet another Pride having to cancel or postpone," Shier said. "You just started waiting for the moment where you had to add yourself to the list, and asking what it would mean to our community to not have a Pride celebration."

Shier got involved with Global Pride, which will feature performances and speeches from all over the world. 

"Since I'm part of the organizing committee [for Global Pride,] a lot of the promotions are featuring little snippets of Regina," said Shier. "So that's kind of exciting."

Alternative events in the city

While Queen City Pride (QCP) is planning to postpone its full Pride Festival to the fall, QCP and the Regina chapter of PFLAG Canada have invited the city to a Pride Motorcade Saturday.

Shier said the organization is also working on events including a virtual dance party and a self-guided audio tour for those who want to celebrate.

"Our priority has been to seek out what our community is doing, whether it's hosting virtual panels or doing porch pictures and things like that," said Shier. "We're heavily promoting alternatives to what we normally would have had for this week."

At the same time, he acknowledged that some members of the community are missing the regular festivities.

"For a lot of people, Pride is that one time of year where they can truly feel like they're themselves and feel that sense of freedom to be who they are."

QCP often includes panels and classes. Last year's offerings included a drag workshop, a panel on body politics and a discussion on books that build pride. 

More than visibility

Earlier this week, the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour (SFL) partnered with the YWCA of Regina to bring an annual discussion panel online. 

"We thought it was important, because we've all felt the impacts of COVID-19, and it's been isolating for folks," said Kent Peterson, strategic advisor for the SFL. "We've got a few really vulnerable groups in the LGBTQ community that we wanted to get together — even virtually — to discuss what some of those impacts have been on our community."

Peterson said this physically-distant Pride can be an opportunity to look beyond the festival's colourful image and listen to what LGBTQ people need beyond simple visibility. 

"[During the panel] we heard about members of the two-spirit and LGBTQ community that are homeless or live in poverty and don't have access to things like laptops and Zoom and the internet," he said. "They're having a really hard time accessing services [like] in-person counseling."

He said many of the younger and older members of the LGBTQ community are facing a particularly challenging situation during this pandemic. 

"[There are] LGBTQ seniors who are in long-term care, who no longer have the ability to have friends and family come and visit, and who aren't as good with the technology we've been using to communicate," Peterson said. "Even young folks, maybe their only opportunity for a safe space was their GSA meeting in school."

Pride organizations have been working to support intra-community efforts to maintain LGBTQ spaces through the lockdown and gradual reopening. 

"A student that's part of the Prairie Valley School Division has started a virtual GSA," said Shier. "So Queen City Pride reached out to offer our support in anything they need to ensure that can happen, so the students can feel supported."

Peterson also emphasized the importance of engaging politically with the continued fight for LGBTQ rights, beyond attending a parade or putting up a flag in June. 

"We've got a school board election later this year," he said. "If allies are really concerned about diversity and inclusion — which I hope they are — then I hope people will vote in school board elections for candidates that support inclusion in our schools."