Organizers of the Lac La Ronge Regional Pride Parade are calling on council to raise the LGBT pride flag for the remainder of June.
They will be at the council meeting on Wednesday to formally put the request forward.
The annual pride parade is scheduled for June 29.
“Raising of the LGBT pride flag signifies the support from leaders within their community of a safe and welcoming place,” pride parade organizer Colin Ratushniak says. “It also reinforces the legal human rights and equality as laid out in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.”
The pride flag was raised at town hall in 2014 but has not been raised since.
In 2017, Councillor Jordan McPhail put forward a motion to hoist the flag once again but the motion was defeated four votes to three.
“That sent a clear message that further education was needed on the flag’s visible importance,” Ratushniak says. “That by raising the pride flags that it shows that the people of La Ronge can be on right side of history in the global fight against oppression, acceptance and to be leaders in creating a safe community for all human beings.”
In 2016, Beardy’s and Okemasis Cree Nation became the inaugural First Nation in North America to hold a pride parade.
This year, following their flag raising ceremony, Beardy’s will be hosting the first two spirit powwow.
Pride month is celebrated every June to honour the Stonewall Riots of 1969.
The riots took place in the early morning of June 28 outside of a bar called Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village, New York City.
City police and gay rights activists clashed in violent confrontations for two days.
A year later, the first pride march took place to commemorate the riots and the activist organizations that were created because of the events.
“We are extending an invitation to anyone who stands for human rights and equality to join us on Wednesday, June 12 at the meeting located at the town office from 6:30 pm where we will be rallying to show support of this important global fight,” Ratushniak says.
The council meeting begins at 7 p.m.
(PHOTO: Pride parade participants marching up La Ronge Avenue during pride events. Photo courtesy Kandis Riese, La Ronge Facebook page.)