EDITORIAL – Yes, we still need pride parades in Kamloops

An ArmchairMayor editorial by Mel Rothenburger.

AN EDITORIAL by CHNL news director Jim Harrison published on this website Monday generated a lot of comments, virtually all of them negative to his point of view.

It was to be expected. Harrison has a way of riling people. In this case, he questioned the need for pride parades, citing this year’s event at Thompson Rivers University. The gist of his point, if I interpret it correctly, was that gays are now well accepted in our society so they shouldn’t feel the need to keep marching.

I agree with Harrison on one thing — we shouldn’t need pride parades. The LGBT, or LGBTQ, or LGBTQ+ community shouldn’t have to march in parades to make a statement on acceptance.

And, true, advances have been made in recent years.

But the sad fact is, the case hasn’t been won yet. Parades are still needed. And even if you could make the argument that the LGBTQ case has been made, and that society is now moving in the right direction, we’d need pride parades anyway.

We need them to remind ourselves that we as Canadians and Kamloopsians have some distance to go, and maybe to remind ourselves of the distance we’ve come.

The parade at TRU is nothing to fear. I was out of town when this year’s parade was held but I’ve walked in a couple of them, listened to the speeches, and felt inspired.

Rather than gays, lesbians, bisexuals, transgenders marching alone to demand fairness and recognition, it is a walk joined in by heterosexual students, faculty and off-campus residents. It’s about celebrating diversity.

Do we need a parade to do that? Well, do we need Take Back the Night? After all, everybody knows women deserve to live in a safe community.

Do we need First Nations rallies? Because we certainly know that First Nations have a long history of grievances, and deserve better.

Do we need peace marches? We all recognize that peace is the better option than slaughtering each other.

How about the Day of Mourning? Haven’t we gotten the message about work-related accidents and deaths, and the importance of improving health and safety in the workplace?

The answer is, yes, we need to keep on marching and talking and reminding ourselves about where we’ve come from and need to go, and getting together once a year to walk around campus isn’t too much to ask. (It’s not really a “march,” by the way; it’s more of a pleasant stroll with friends.)

I disagree with the main point of Harrison’s editorial, but although his wording is provocative I didn’t find it intentionally offensive, yet I haven’t experienced the discrimination of the LGBTQ community. The strong reaction to it is born of the sensitivity and pain many have felt over the years.

But the near-unanimity of the outrage that greeted it is a good sign, because one need only think back a very few years to when open outrage was being expressed about that parade, not because anyone thought it wasn’t needed, but because they thought it shouldn’t be allowed.

Maybe the time will come when we don’t need parades, but it hasn’t arrived yet.

Got an opinion? Leave a comment here or send us a letter.