Pictou County kicks off Pride Week with flag raisings
NEW GLASGOW, N.S. — Pictou County kicked off Pride Week with a series of flag raisings.
The Pictou County Pride Society welcomed a small crowd in New Glasgow on Monday afternoon to celebrate and continue supporting the 2SLGBTQ+ community. Wanda White, one of the co-chairs of Pictou County Pride, was first to address the crowd, thanking everyone for coming.
“I want to say that flag raisings are always beautiful, and they’re amazing shining star to support the people in our communities and let them know that we are here and that we are seen. But as amazing as they are, they are a start. This has been a hard year for our community. But that makes things like this all that much more important,” said White.
The flag raising in New Glasgow was one of five flag-raising events Pictou County Pride had organized throughout the county. They had a flag raising in Pictou and Westville earlier in the day, and following New Glasgow, the society was going to Trenton to do the same. A flag raising in Stellarton will happen Tuesday afternoon.
White challenged all people present in the audience, including New Glasgow’ Mayor Nancy Dicks and Pictou Centre MLA Pat Dunn to be allies to members of the 2SLGBTQ+ community, to speak up for them, and continue to support them in spaces where they aren’t present.
“We need you to be our voice in the rooms that we are not in. We need you to speak loud when we are not able to speak. We need you to be our ally,” she said, “If you are worried that you will lose customers and friends, then the only thing I can say is that those are not the people that you should want to have support you because we are a community of love. We are a community of trust and a community of support. And so, I ask you today to stand up and say that you will be an ally.”
Dicks came up to the podium after White and expressed how proud and happy she was to celebrate the Pride festivities this week.
“We continue as a community, with mutual respect, to celebrate our diversity and equality,” she said.
Dunn also took to the podium to celebrate.
“It’s great to see everyone here. Nova Scotia is certainly a friendly and open province. This community, Nova Scotia, is going to be proud of our province’s diversity, and we can all do our part to create a stronger, more inclusive community for everyone,” he said.
He added that everyone has a right to feel safe in their communities and commended the hard work that Pictou County Pride has been doing to support and uplift the 2SLGBTQ+ community in Pictou County.
You can learn more about the local Pride festivities on Pictou County Pride’s Facebook page.
