Halifax Pride

Saturday was the Pride Parade in Halifax.  The forecast was quite ominous -- rain / thunderstorms -- so we were lucky that there were just a few sprinkles.

Though the parade started at 1 p.m. Wendy and I were positioned near the end of the route with many other folk staring intently at the empty road in anticipation, when at 1:45 something unexpected happened; a volunteer stood in the middle of the street with one finger on her lips and her other hand raised with a finger pointed upward.  It took a few seconds for us to catch on.  Slowly the hubbub died down, and more hands began pointed skyward.  It was amazing as the street became silent.  Not a word.  Not at peep.  Fingers pointing toward the heavens.  We stood united united in silence.

No one needed to tell us why we were standing quietly.  We knew.  And we stood one minute, two minutes, and then a couple of minutes more.  Each of us thinking our own thoughts.

And then we saw a mounted police officer coming and knew the parade had arrived.

There were a number of floats but mostly there were various groups, marching, sashaying, dancing, vamping and parading past us.

There were lawyers, teacher, doctors, and nurses.

There was the R.C.M.P. and local police.

There were banks, grocery stores, and churches.

"Gay by God"

 This couple along with their children were part of the CBC group.

Wouldn't it be lovely if the couple in the image below could fearlessly walk hand-in-hand on the other 364 days of the year  ?  

 Pride parades are not about just supporting our gay brothers and sisters.  There are so many different sexual realities that we need to educate ourselves about and support.

It's more than just rainbow colours.
 

NDP (political party) float.

A few years back the Progressive Conservative Party of  Nova Scotia had a very minimal showing in the parade.  This year they had a much higher profile handing out rainbow coloured cards that read:

RESPECT

Treat all citizens equally, regardless of ability, race, gender, religion, language, First Nations status, marital status and/or sexual orientation.

We are moving forward but we still have a very long way to go.   An acquaintance the day after the parade asked me "Did you see me at the parade?".  "No I didn't", I replied, "were you there?".   "No" he responded.  "Why would I go to THAT !?" his voice indicating his disapproval.  

As I said.  We still have a  long way to go.

This link takes you to a page with helpful definitions of some LGBT+ terms.  For example, are you cisgender ?  Are you an ally ?