Pride flags raised at Owen Sound city hall and police station

Shawn Dubosq, from the city's corporate facilities, raises the Progressive Pride flag
this morning at the community pole beside Owen Sound city hall.

Pride rose over Owen Sound today. Twice.

More than 50 participants gathered beside city hall this morning as the Progressive Pride flag took its now annual trip up the pole.

And then Police Chief Craig Ambrose invited the crowd around the corner as the OSPS hosted a second ceremony in front of the force's headquarters.

Owen Sound Police Chief Craig Ambrose and Inspector David Bishop get the flag ready
for the OSPS flagpole, above. Rachel Paterson, below, of Grey Bruce Pride, raises the
Progressive Pride flag at the 2nd Avenue East facility Friday, June 9.

Grey Bruce Pride organized the events. They've been working hard getting ready for Pride month, engaging an expanding community.

Rachel Paterson helps lead their efforts, and once again she shared a deeply felt, deeply touching message to our community at Owen Sound city hall.

Rachel Paterson, Grey Bruce Pride, speaks before the Pride flag flies beside city hall.

Ms. Paterson's comments:

As Treaty People we seek to live peacefully, safely and harmoniously with all our relations.

A month ago I stared at my partner, I watched their smile, with a spark in their eyes. We were outside, just walking. Nothing special. Just amongst the trees.

Maybe it was because my culture tells me that the trees are our witnesses, but in that moment it felt as if time stood still. Perhaps it was the way they glowed as they watched the new life budding on the trees and bushes carpeting the forest.

Whatever the cause, the feeling was gratitude. For those who stood before them, before myself, before our generation, for all our queer leaders and allies, the ones who paved the way for us. To give me the right to stand here today on Turtle Island and love this being. To let us as non-binary queer individuals to love each other, safely, loudly. I couldn't help but cry with sincere appreciation for all those who came before us and made this possible.

For our own determination and strength to continuously fight against the systems that restrict us, at what could be construed as reckless abandon by some within our society to accept our identities, to accept ourselves, and our heart, without fear of consequences.

I was so grateful we made the choice – not to be queer, because that's not a choice, that's intrinsically who we are – I was merely grateful for our choice to be happy, to be courageous, to live authentically as ourselves.

I understood a new definition of enchantment.

When love is a risk, you know how fortunate your love is.

I may not be illegal in this country but a generation ago I would have been, and even still I am not widely accepted.

Not my pronouns.

Not my identity.

I face pan-erasure. I face pan-phobia. I am hated. I am fetishized. I am a slur. I am a risk.

I am all of these things and none of them as I choose to simply exist, and yet in my mere existence, I am at-risk. Our community is at-risk.

They say you cannot truly see light if you don't know darkness. Our community knows darkness. That's why I offer this personal moment. To let our community members know it can get better, it can get easier and it's worth it.

Also to offer to allies that this is not a moment many within our community knows, as too many are oppressed.

So many of us have lived in fear, coming out later in life.

So many of us live life half in the closet.

This is what was done to us. We were not empowered. We were not safe. We were not encouraged.

Not by our family, our friends, community, government, or society. We have been restricted, been refused to live to our potential.

That angst and unsettledness sits with us still. Internalized homophobia is very much a reality that many of us know.

So many are so busy fighting to live that they do not have the opportunity to love themselves or partners within their life. That has been stolen from them.

So I stand here today to fight for them so that they may know that experience of love of oneself and if so desired, of loving partners.

For too many, this oppression starts at home.

For too many, their parents reject them. For not being the fantasy they had envisioned when they were first born, when they walked their first steps, and spoke their first words.

As parents we often grieve, whether because our child is living with a disability, a mental health concern, or choosing a career different than what we would have wanted for them, for following their dreams that are not our own.

So I ask that you as parents quietly grieve if you must; but do not project that grief upon your child. Your grief is your feeling and is valid; however so too is your child's existence.

Your personal grief is not worth losing your child.

Your personal grief is from loving your child so much you can't let go, but little do you see you're only holding on to dreams and have let go of your child. Embrace them. Love them. For who they are.

Rejection from family increases suicidality and suicidal ideation.

For too many of us have to fight to make it through the day. It's encouraging that if we can make it through the next few hours, days, week, months, years ... that life will be worth living. But getting to that point seems impossible for so many.

Our youth are suicidal.

Currently.

Ask your kids about suicide and depression. And that of their friends.

From the youngest grades to high schools, our youth are currently suicidal. Blame covid. Blame separation from peers. Blame us as parents who couldn't fix the world, the bullying, the despair, the injustices, or ourselves.

There is no shame in it. It is a factor of our reality and we must support them. Our youth are our future generations. We have to help them create the world we wished to have when we grew up.

Our queer youth have triple the rate of suicidality than those who are not, yet having one supportive adult in their life decreases fatal suicide rates by 80%. It's worth being that supportive adult whatever role you hold within community.

Suicidal ideation is often tied to a desire for control within one's life so let's give our youth their self-automony.

Let's give our trans people their self autonomy.

Let's give our non-binary, our gender non-conforming, and our Two Spirit people, their self autonomy.

Give them their right to their bodies, and protect their right to choose for their bodies. Give them their right to walk their own path as their spirit needs. Recognize them so that we may watch them blossom. After all, trauma is rooted in changes we do not choose for ourselves. Let them take up their space within this world. It is healing to choose your own path. They are worthy and deserving of it.

Every year I stand here I try and speak about joy and love but every year the hate we are impacted by must be spoken about.

That's what this platform is for – to remind you that as I speak, local and national rallies against our queer community are planned, our queer youth are being beaten and removed from their homes, our national government parties have platforms about radical gender ideology attempting to make trans healthcare illegal, and queer individuals and within our community don't feel worthy of living.

I'm tired of hearing from suicidal youth.

I'm tired of seeing slashes covering their bodies.

I'm tired for my friends who are also in social work and see and hear worse than me.

I'm tired for the teachers who give and fight so hard for the safety of their students while battling their own personal challenges.

I'm tired of nothing ever changing.

I'm tired of standing here asking for the right to sit at your table only to be ignored when we finally reach it.

Things have to truly change. Urgently. Whether we are burnt out or not. We may be tired but still we'll listen to the sorrow and bear witness to them and validate them. We owe it to our community members of all ages to ensure there's safer spaces for them to live, love and thrive within.

You say you want diversity, equity and inclusion within Grey Bruce, for Owen Sound to be the place to live. Prove it.

We urgently need medical reform, we need trans healthcare, we need to be able to switch doctors if our local doctor is transphobic, we need intensive youth trauma services to prevent another generation of substance misuse and broken families, we need transportation, we need education, employment, and incentives for youth to stay local, we need queer foster families for queer youth who have been rejected and beaten out of their biological homes, we need gender inclusive sexually diverse education and anti-oppression training for community members, businesses, organizations, city and county representatives and staffers, we need gender neutral bathrooms in all public buildings including schools.

I don't want to hear another kid tell me that they have to use the washroom in the nurse's office like they're a sickness because it's the only gender neutral toilet they're allowed in their school.

We need seats in your washrooms.

We need seat and a voice at your damn table.

And when we get there, you need to listen ... and that's just the tip of the iceberg.

We cannot build a safe community on our own: it requires active allyship.

We do not need performative allyship: we need defenders, protectors – particularly for our youth and elders, our health care and our education which are being infringed upon.

Sign petitions, use gender inclusive language, use pronouns and remember they are not preferred, they simply are.

Support our amazing queer-owned businesses and artists.

Question your subconscious biases, we all have them.

Question your politicians, speak out against the transphobia and homophobia as it happens be it within schools, nursing homes, the medical system, sports leagues, anywhere within community.

Learn with us. Live with us.

I am blessed with so many memories I hope to cherish throughout my life seeing the changes that can come from bringing pride visibility to a rural community, hearing how we have created a opportunities they never thought they'd be privileged to experience in Grey Bruce.

I wish others could see those same joys. I invite you all to experience them. After all, that's all we're here for, the experience of life.

I ask that you experience life with us, with love and kindness, empowering each other, truly building safe communities.

Each of us using our platforms and privileges to help create safer communities for us to live together.

I hope to stand here next year and speak solely of joy and love and what an outflowing of support our community recieved this year.

We are all gathered here today here because we have made the conscious collective choice that we want Grey Bruce and Owen Sound to be inclusive.

We here at Grey Bruce Pride are here for allies to understand how to help and implement steps to supporting their community, whether you're an individual, a parent, a teacher, or a business, community group or government.

We are here to help make this community safer. One where we may all know love as we stand in strength together with pride, our trees, as always since time immemorial, our witnesses.

Miigwetch

– words spoken by Rachel Paterson, Grey Bruce Pride

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Pride celebrations in Owen Sound continue all through next week with the Pride Parade running Saturday, June 17, starting at 3:00 p.m.

Details, including lots of fun stuff, can be found on Grey Bruce Pride's Facebook page here.