By James Bowler

Prince Albert to celebrate 6th annual Pride Week

May 28, 2013 | 5:20 PM

An annual celebration is about to hit Prince Albert once again.

The 6th annual Pride Week kicks off next week and the Prince Albert Q-Network could not be more excited.

Jennifer Brockman, co-chair of the Q-Network said every day of the week will offer something for those of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual (LGBT) community, as well as many others.

“We have a week of a lot of fun events, and a few new additions that are being well received,” said Brockman. “We have a couple diversity services and the weekends with another diversity service on June 9.”

Brockman said this year’s event has a lot to do with bringing the community together to create awareness and build partnerships.

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“It’s in terms of creating more awareness and having discussions around building on community partnerships and community awareness, and strengthening within families,” said Brockman. “[It’s about] how to do all those things in a positive way when we are faced with homophobia and transphobia and opposition to the sexual and diverse communities.”

Two of the new events this year will feature more of the arts than has been seen in past Pride Week’s.

“On Thursday the Indigenous Peoples Artist Collective (IPAC) is doing a mini-film festival and performance art event with a focus on two-spirit culture,” Brockman said.

The two-spirit theory is part of the indigenous American culture, documenting those who are born with male and female gender roles and who are recognized as a ‘third gender’ in the aboriginal culture.

“There is also the Rainbow Expresso, and that has some authors and novelists reading from their works,” said Brockman. “So we have [authors] who will be reading from their short stories and poetry.”

This will run at the Bison Café with authors like Wes Funk, Fawn Neilsen, Carey-Rigby Wilcox, Todd Devonshire, Xander Richards and a few others.

Along with these new additions Pride Week will continue some of the same events that were popular last year including the famous Pride Parade, which has been running since 2007.

“On Saturday, of course, is our annual Pride Parade and rally. It winds through downtown and ends at Memorial Square,” Brockman said. “So this year we have some community display booths and some entertainment.”

Brockman said a few years ago Q-Network faced some challenges due to the fresh ideas of the event, “but over the years it’s gotten a lot more acceptance and a lot more interest.”

Brockman said their volunteer list has expanded quite a bit this year, but despite an expanding acceptance, there are still those who are opposed to the idea of this event running in Prince Albert.

“You know having the parade and having the events and diversity church service, there have been those people who aren’t supportive and who are against that and voice their opinions in different ways,” said Brockman. “However that just makes us want to work harder to overcome that and to create more awareness.”

She said this year’s theme is based on this opposition.

“Apparently one of our community members was gay-bashed last year, and so we wanted to bring awareness that there is still homophobia and transphobia in our community, and our people still get hurt,” Brockman said. “We want to create awareness in a positive way and just build on the good that is happening, despite some of the challenges and people who are against the week.”

Pride Week starts Sunday with a diversity service at the Wesley United Church.

EVENTS LIST

Monday, June 3

Pride Flag raising and proclamation at City Hall, Memorial Square, 5 p.m.

Potluck Social at Mutchmore Hall, Wesley United Church, 5:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.

Tuesday, June 4

Building the Love at Prince Albert Multicultural Council, 6:30 p.m.

Wednesday, June 5

Queers on Quads at Wheel-a-While, 8:30 p.m.– 9:30 p.m. Cost: $10

Thursday, June 6

Pitos Waskochepayis II at Mann Art Gallery, 7 p.m.

Friday, June 7

Rainbow Expresso at Bison Café, 7 p.m.

Saturday, June 8

Pride Parade beginning at 1 p.m. at the intersection of Fourth Avenue and River Street West, leaving at 1:30 p.m. and concluding at City Hall, Memorial Square

Community Rally at Memorial Square, City Hall, 2 p.m. – 4 p.m.

Sunday, June 9

Affirming Diversity Service at Calvary United Church, 10:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.

Family Bar-B-Queer in the Park at West Side BBQ Shelter, Kinsmen Park, 1 p.m. – 4 p.m.

If you have any questions about the events please contact Jennifer Brockman at 306-940-6836 or pa_pride@yahoo.com

jbowler@panow.com

On Twitter: @journalistjim