Pandemic Pride: Take Two

Written by Caitlyn Skelhorn

@caitlynskelhorn

Thumbnail and Header Photo by Hannah Voggenhuber on Unsplash

Although June is widely recognized as Pride Month, July is when Haligonians typically celebrate LGBTQ+ pride. The Halifax Pride Festival usually happens over the course of ten days in mid-July, and features events like the Pride Parade, the Dykes vs Divas softball game, and the Gottingen Block Party. However, due to the pandemic, Halifax will be celebrating Pride in August this year. The celebrations will happen from August 12th to August 22nd, and events will take place both in-person and online.

Halifax’s Pride Festival gives the LGBTQ+ community a chance to express themselves and showcase their work, talents, and community spirit. It also provides an opportunity for people to be in a safe and inclusive environment (sometimes, for the first time) where they can be themselves. This is why Pride festivals are essential, especially during a pandemic, as unfortunately, not everyone is safe to be themselves at home. Pride Festivals worldwide and all throughout Canada reflect how vital it is for LGBTQ+ people to feel safe. Halifax’s first official Pride Parade was in 1988 along Gottingen St, and there has been one every year since.

 In July 2020, Halifax Pride hosted a modified festival that emphasized BIPOC LGBTQ+ voices. The festival reminded people that Pride isn’t just about parties and parades, but it is a chance to remember queer history, celebrate all that the LGBTQ+ community has accomplished, and advance queer acceptance. Pride 2021 will be a chance to continue these sentiments and keep celebrating love, acceptance, and queerness.

Photo by Ian Taylor on Unsplash

 One Pride staple that will be sorely missed this year is the Halifax Pride Parade, which was cancelled due to the current physical gathering limits. Unfortunately, there is no realistic way to host a successful parade while following the guidelines, given that it is one of the most popular events at the Pride Festival. In years past, thousands of people have lined Barrington St and Spring Garden Rd to celebrate as the rainbow-themed floats, organized by many Halifax businesses and groups, drive past them. Any organization that strives to be inclusive, respectful, and proud of the LGBTQ+ community is encouraged to register a float. Registration for parades is on the Halifax Pride website shortly before the parade date. The Pride Parade is important to those in the LGBTQ+ community, whether they are out of the closet or not, because it celebrates queerness in an exclusively accepting environment. The Pride Parade is an event that showcases Halifax’s Pride and shows LGBTQ+ people that they are welcome. It also lets LGBTQ+ people connect with each other and find new people to relate to and bond with. Unfortunately, this will be the second Pride Parade cancelled due to the pandemic, but these cancellations will make the next one even more special.

 Many LGBTQ+ people attend the Pride festival before they come out and then look forward to the first festival they attend after coming out. It allows them to be in a place where they can be loud and proud about their sexuality. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, many freshly out-of-the-closet LGBTQ+ people are left to wonder when they will be able to experience their first Pride post coming out. The first Pride Festival one experiences after coming out is like a breath of fresh air – there is a weight lifted off your shoulders. You feel free to celebrate yourself and everyone else in an environment that accepts you as you are. Though while the Pride Parade is an integral part of queer expression, it is not the only Pride event Halifax hosts. There are many other events in the Pride festival, some of which will still happen during the pandemic pride.

Even though there won’t be any large in-person events during the 2021 Pride Festival, there will be online events and smaller in-person events. Most of the in-person events will be hosted at the Garrison Grounds, a festival site located on the south side of Citadel Hill, which will feature local queer talent. Other locations include M&J’s, a queer-friendly restaurant in Bedford, and House of Eights, a dance studio on Barrington Street. The modified Pride Festival will also include a two-day community market at the Garrison Grounds - a place where queer vendors and artisans can sell their products and queer-focused organizations can host information booths. There will also be a  beverage garden and the Halifax Pride Comedy Show. The Pride Festival will also provide a space for Two-Spirit people, which is organized in partnership with the Wabanaki Two-Spirit Alliance, and an area for decompression. The decompression site has enclosed spaces, tools to help with sensory regulation, and active listeners. These areas will be in-person, but they will follow the gathering limits in place at the time.

The live Pride Festival calendar is now active on the Halifax Pride website. For each event, it includes the time, location, and accessibility information. The accessibility information includes whether an event is wheelchair accessible, sensory-friendly, dry (no drugs or alcohol), or has closed captioning. In addition, Halifax Pride has unveiled their site map, showing how the Garrison Grounds will be set up. There will be an all-ages area and a 19+ area requiring a valid ID, which will have separate entrances and exits. You can only be admitted to one zone per event. The all-ages area will include the Two-Spirit space, which will have a Teepee on-site and the decompression site.

Even though the LGBTQ+ community can still host and attend a Pride Festival, the modified format leaves a lot to be desired. For many LGBTQ+ people, Halifax’s Pride Festival is the first time they feel not only accepted as queer people but celebrated and loved. While the modified format is still able to deliver an overall sentiment that the LGBTQ+ community is an essential part of Halifax’s culture, it leaves many queer people unable to experience the feeling of being completely surrounded by the LGBTQ+ community. The inclusion and immersion in the LGBTQ+ community is perhaps the most important part of the festival, so hopefully, the blended format of this year’s festival will still be able to capture this experience. If you can, make sure to visit the Halifax Pride Festival either in-person or online between August 12th and 22nd.