Fierté Sudbury Pride hosted a vigil to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Protests Sunday, celebrating life, change and hope for the future, at Sudbury's Indie Cinema.
The Downtown establishment welcomed 30 community members to its theatre for the special event, which included speeches by members of Fierte Sudbury Pride and LGBT activists, followed by a presentation of "Stonewall Uprising."
The Stonewall Protests, as they have been referred to since, occured June 28, 1969, in Greenwich Village in New York City, during one of the police departments infamous raids of the city's gay bars.
Among the speakers at Sunday's vigil was Dr. Laurel O'Gorman, a professor of Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies at Thorneloe University.
"It was really common at the time for gay bars to be raided by police," O'Gorman said. "You could get arrested, you could get your name in the newspaper, you could lose your job ... for being at a gay bar."
Generally when police entered an establishment, O'Gorman told Sudbury.com that members of the LGBT community would line up quietly, give their information and accept the arrest, but this was not the case for the Stonewall Inn. The raid sparked a riot among bar partrons and nearby residents, leading to six days of protest and the beginning of the LGBT liberation movement.
O'Gorman said there had been a number of riots before Stonewall, but with the support of the black liberation movement, the women's movement and the anti-war movement, this protest in particular was able to reach national and international attention.
Through Sunday's vigil, O'Gorman said Fierté Sudbury Pride hoped to pay hommage to what life was like for LGBT people 50 years ago, reflect on where they are now, and consider just how much is left to go in the fight for equality.
"We often see progress as linear, that things keep getting better, but that's not always the case," she said. "We sometimes forget that it was black and brown trans people, Puerto Rican drag queens, homeless people – some of the most marginalized LGBT people that started this fight, and they're the ones that benefit the least."
"So we're trying to draw attention to that, to remember the people who have fought to get us where we are now and make sure we don't get complacent, otherwise we could lose some of those rights."
In this year alone, the Conservative government has chosen to remove gender identity from the sex education curriculum and a protest occured in Vancouver to remove trans people from the sex education curriculum.
In addition to this, there will be a straight pride parade taking place in Boston and President Donald Trump have banned trans people from serving in the military, as O'Gorman pointed out.
"It's a bit scary," she said, especially as the effects are being felt a bit closer to home.
"I don't think we have a strong, cohesive community right now," added Paul Pasanen, a queer activist from Sudbury. "There is no everyday safe place for people to come and just experience their identity.
He said the Sudbury All Gay Alliance (SAGA) (later changed to the Gay, Lesbian Association of Sudbury) used to be that safe place, and without it the community lacks something to coalesce around.
"We had a community organization that was responsible for connecting people, for bringing people together, for having regular events and creating a sense of social interaction that really helped people belong...(but) for a number of reasons we have lost that," said Pasanen.
"Its a very diverse population, so building community out of that diversity is a huge task but i think it's important to try, because we need that inclusivity, we need those spaces, because we can't live here."
O'Gorman hopes that Fierté Sudbury Pride can be a place where the LGBT community can come together, find activism and seek support through shared resources.
"For us, pride is a party and a fight," said O'Gorman. "If you dont have the party, then people get tired and they don't want to show up to keep fighting to gain mroe rights, to keep the ones that we have, and to work towards liberation."
When asked what she hopes Fierté Sudbury Pride means for the LGBT community of Sudbury, O'Gorman stated, "I think for some people, it's everything."
Dr. Laurel O'Gorman and Vincent Bolt address the crowd at the Stonewall Vigil
Iconic queer activist Ziggy, talks about the LGBTQ community in Sudbury over the years
