Though the plans to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Pride in Sudbury are being set, you won’t find many details, such as locations, on the Fierté Sudbury Pride website and there’s a very good reason for that, the chair of the event told Sudbury.com this week.
The reason, said Katlyn Kotila, is out of a concern for the safety and comfort of those who want to participate.
“Safety is our No. 1 priority,” Kotila said. “Safety within these spaces is the most important. And this year, watching the political climate, we've seen these threats as more of a concern. And so we've had to really step up to make sure that if we are creating these spaces that everyone can feel and be safe in them.”
Kotila said there have certainly been threats to the festivities before, but none quite so real as in previous years. She mentions the recent cancellations due to bomb and death threats to all-ages and often library-hosted drag shows, with instances in both Montreal and Victoria, as well as in Orillia.
Kotila also points to similar incidents in the United States, where recently a large group of far-right groups, including the Proud Boys and Patriot Front, have been protesting Pride events.
In particular, she highlighted an incident at a Pride event in Idaho where a group of 31 Patriot Front members, armed with riot shields and body armor, were arrested before their plan to disrupt an event could unfold.
“Just seeing those people armed and heading towards Pride, and seeing it in real time, was unbelievable,” she said.
And while Idaho is a long way from Sudbury, local threats to disrupt Pride events in the Nickel City have been circulating on social media, Kotila said.
“There's been some social media stuff locally. I don't know the validity of all of them, but we take everything seriously,” she said. “We still need to see it as if it is a threat and make sure that we're acting accordingly.”
But part of making the space safe for all is to help people feel safe, Kotila said, which is why Greater Sudbury Police Service has been asked not to participate.
Although supportive of Pride in the modern day, Kotila said many members of the LGBTQ+ community don’t feel safe around police officers who, she said, have potentially harmed the movement in the past.“We plan to let them (the police) know what's going on, but we don't intend to work with them,” said Kotila.
“Part of making sure people ‘are’ safe is making sure people ‘feel’ safe, and we recognize that a lot of people in our community have trauma when it comes to policing; we know that if we invite the police in, it's going to isolate these community members even more and make them not want to participate this year and potentially in the future.”And so, the board of Fierté Sudbury Pride got creative.
“We've gotten together a group of people who have experience when it comes to creating these safe spaces and making sure that we have the security,” she said. “We have marshals who are trained in de-escalation and who are trained in keeping people safe.”
Kotila said that because safety is of the most importance to them, they decided to delay announcing some of the details of the Pride Week celebrations, happening July 11 to 17. Events like clothing exchanges, open mic nights, learning opportunities and game nights, as well as the Pride March and gala, are all planned, but much of the specific information about the events is being kept quiet.
“Before we released it to the public, we wanted to make sure that it is going to be safe for everyone, we wanted to make sure we've done our due diligence to create a safe-as-possible experience.”
Kotila said the delays feel awful, especially with messages and requests for information coming in from those who wish to attend, but they are necessary.
“I keep saying, I appreciate your enthusiasm and your excitement and I hope you can appreciate that we are taking the time we need to make sure that you're staying safe.”
Keep watch on Sudbury.com or the Fierté Sudbury Pride website, found here, for more information closer to the events.
Jenny Lamothe is a reporter with Sudbury.com. She covers the diverse communities of Sudbury, especially the vulnerable or marginalized, including the Black, Indigenous, newcomer and Francophone communities, as well as 2SLGBTQ+ and issues of the downtown core.
