UBC Equity and Inclusion vice-president Sara-Jane Finlay stated in a February 11 news release that UBC is confident that they have identified the person responsible for burning the rainbow flag on campus. Finlay added that UBC is working with the RCMP as they continue their investigation. The name of the individual has not been released.

The Pride rainbow flag, raised on February 5 for the university's OUTweek, was discovered on February 9 to be burnt.

Although the Pride Collective at UBC cancelled their Fuck the Cis-tem March on February 10, all other OUTweek events continued as planned. The week concludes today (February 12) with a discussion.

On February 10, Vancouver school trustee Patti Bacchus tweeted that the Vancouver School Board also flew the Pride flag in solidarity with the City of Vancouver (which flew the Pride flag at City Hall at the request of Mayor Gregor Robertson) and UBC.

https://twitter.com/pattibacchus/status/697544260615147520

Meanwhile, the Pride Collective at UBC posted a statement on Facebook on February 11 to thank those who supported them and to address reactions and criticism about the cancellation of the LGBT march scheduled for February 10.

The Pride Collective would first like to thank the wider UBC and Vancouver communities for their solidarity since releasing yesterday’s statement. We are still finding ourselves overwhelmed with what happened and how much attention this has received, but we greatly appreciate the support and care that our communities have given.

However, we have also received a number of critiques, concerns and questions from our communities regarding why we decided to cancel our Fuck The Cis-Tem march, which was originally scheduled for this afternoon. While we are hearing your concerns, there are a number of important things that we would like to address to the wider community as we move forward. We would like to take some space to further explain our reasons for cancelling today’s march, as well as to address some of the comments that our communities have shared with us.

First, The Pride Collective is a relatively small collective that mostly consists of undergraduate students between the ages of 18-20, who are working to support the wider LGBTQ+ communities at UBC. Many of Pride’s volunteers are full-time students and are additionally balancing their volunteering with part-time jobs, time with friends and family, and other volunteer commitments. We are still trying to put on as many OUTweek events as we possibly can, including a performance night and a huge Valentine’s dance, and this takes a lot of time, energy, and resources from our collective in order to happen.

Additionally, many of us are closeted in certain spaces and contexts, including the wider university community. When we are aware that someone who is likely a part of the university community burned our flag and could attend the march that we planned to organize, this makes us feel unsafe.

Again, we would like to stress that The Pride Collective is student-run and volunteer-run, and even after some of the support that we have received since yesterday, we are still on a campus that has given us little to no external support in the past. Many people who want to see us hold the march have shown little support prior to releasing yesterday’s statement. It therefore seems as though many of the critiques and shameful comments that we have received are coming from folks who would not have attended our march in the first place. Unfortunately, their desire for the event to happen does not make it safer for the collective to facilitate the march. Even with the possibility of campus security or the RCMP being there as extra safety protocols, the fact of the matter is that we feel that the size, experience levels, and comfort levels of the collective are not strong enough to march and be externally visible on campus less than 24 hours after releasing our statement.

As mentioned in our previous statement, we are putting the safety, healing, and comfort of our members first and foremost - this is the primary reason why we cancelled the march yesterday. We are taking care of ourselves the best that we can right now, and we are thinking about how we can move forward from here. We have not completely ruled out the idea of a march, and we hope that we are able to have one in the near future - but as it stands right now, postponing it to a later date and carrying forward with the rest of our OUTweek events helps the collective feel a lot safer in the middle of a very difficult and emotional week.

Another thing that we would like to make clear is that as many folks outside of the collective would like to be in solidarity with us, we need our communities to listen to us and our needs at this time, rather than try to criticize and shame our decision to cancel the march. There is not a universal level of hostility that needs to occur in a space in order to justify cancelling a march - many folks in the collective feel unsafe, and that is why we cancelled it. We need our wider communities to listen, respect that decision, and ask what they can do to support us as we move forward.

Being supportive, rather than combative, to a small group of university students is the best thing that our communities can do right now, regardless of if a march exists. We need as much external support as we can, and critiquing the cancellation of an event that could make many participants feel unsafe is not the best way to show that support.

If you are looking for tangible ways that you would like to support us, either for the rest of OUTweek or as we move forward, please let us know and we would be happy to talk with you. Some ways that our communities can support us for the rest of OUTweek are to share this statement if they are able to, and to support the rest of our events. Right now, this conversation is not the support that we need, and that is what we need our communities to know.

The Pride Collective at UBC