Kincardine celebrates Pride

To the Editor:

In a long and proud line of Pride celebrations in many locations throughout Pride month, Kincardine Pride gets it done.

In a show of and celebration of human rights, LGBTQ2SI rights and the belief that we love who we want to love not who we are told who we can love, the Kincardine community and well over a thousand people embraced the day and the vision of love and hope.

Grand Marshals and guests of honor such as CUPE Ontario Division President, Fred Hahn, and Kendra Fisher along with Kincardine Pride President, Fort Papalia, put the sentiments of the day into words at the end of the parade when they spoke of the freedom to love whoever we want to, the voyage of self discovery and a stern reminder that even though the government in Ontario has changed “we are not going backwards”.

Kevin Smith, Grey Bruce Labour Council President, was not only leading the labour council delegation of several affiliated unions but spoke of his “overwhelming sense of pride that Grey Bruce Labour Council has been on the ground with Kincardine Pride since day one”. “Pride celebrations, events and parades tell the story of who Canadians are. We are a welcoming nation built on the foundations of optimism and the belief that we are best served when we love and accept each other for who we are”.

Labour Council VP, Dave Trumble, who was the initial contact between Kincardine Pride and the Labour Council and when he heard, Fred Hahn’s comments that “no child will be born in Kincardine from this day forward and not know a Kincardine Pride celebration” he was moved very deeply. Having new grandchildren in his family, Trumble said “he could see the future where these children will live in a community and a nation where as Martin Luther King said, people will be judged by the content of their character”.

The labour movement in Canada places the Pride movement at its core and in this places human rights and labour rights at the forefront of initiatives and campaigns to make sure Canada fulfills its potential as a leader in compassion on the world stage.

Happy Pride
 
Kevin Smith
President
Grey-Bruce Labour Council