By Sarah Stone

Rainbow to fly over Prince Albert City Hall for Paralympics

Feb 28, 2014 | 4:12 PM

In light of the recent gay rights issues at Russia’s Sochi Olympics, the rainbow flag will be raised in the Prince Albert—but this time during the Paralympics.

Jennifer Brockman, chair of the Prince Albert Q-network said they had originally wanted it to go up during the Olympic Winter Games, but that wasn’t possible.

“It’s something we asked for in alternative to [since we were not] able to have it during the Olympics because of the Winter Festival’s flag being raised and city council not being able to meet to have it before or after the Winter Festival’s flag,” Brockman said.

“We were disappointed, but we also understood that there are only so many flagpoles and we just didn’t get our request in in time and yeah so it was disappointing not be able to have it.”

After realizing it wouldn’t be up at the same time as many other communities in the province, they had to find a backup plan.

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“So the board got together and figured the next best option was the Paralympics, so we feel happy that it’s being flown for that time,” she said.

The rainbow flag will be go up March 7th just after 12 p.m. and will fly until March 16.

Brockman said this act highlights what’s happening in other countries such as Russia. “It was quite disturbing to see some of the videos that I saw.”

However, it also draws attention to the discrimination and oppression against the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender (GLBT) community in the province.

“It definitely does happen. I know different people that struggle to find work. I know different people who struggle to find housing. Some have faced violence, but they’re not always comfortable to go and report that,” she explained. “And of course it’s within their own families and their own homes too,” Brockman sad of further discrimination.

For those who do face discrimination, Brockman suggests taking it to Human Rights Commission if it’s necessary, or go to the Q-network if it’s something they can advocate for or provide support in.

During this week the Q-network will use the opportunity to bring awareness to the Time4Rights campaign. It’s a movement calling on the government to add gender identity and gender expression as protected categories in the Saskatchewan Human Rights Code.

“Talking about, and educating and making people aware that it does happen, I think that’s the most important thing is getting the awareness out there.”

City manager Jim Toye said they hope to help the group do just that.

“This is something that’s going on right across the world and we want to make sure that we have people free to express themselves and we want to ensure that Prince Albert fits in with the rest of the world regarding the pride flag,” he said.

Although, because of the Saskatchewan Winter Games, the rainbow flag couldn’t be raised during the Olympics, Toye said in hindsight the city could have made a proclamation during the Olympics.

“We had already made a commitment to another organization … so this is still a way we could recognize that even though it’s not the date they had requested, it’s probably the second best thing we could do.”

sstone@panow.com

On Twitter: @sarahstone84