Black Lives Matter Vancouver to hold March on Pride protest in West End

While the Vancouver Pride Society announced its final decision for conditional police participation in the 2017 Pride parade, Black Lives Matter Vancouver (BLMV) expressed how displeased they are with this compromise.

Consequently, BLMV is launching its own march separate from and to protest the Vancouver Pride parade.

BLMV explain that "the city of Vancouver lacks an inclusive Pride march; one that centres marginalized LGBTQ/2S populations and is actively against institutions of power and oppression".

They add that "the institutions of policing, state-violence and incarceration have dominated a protest that was started by trans women of colour" and that "capitalism, pinkwashing, and corporatization have erased the political origins of community-led LGBTQ/2S events".

The March on Pride, which is an effort "in divesting from parades that are unsafe and exclusive", will be held on June 25 from noon to 3 p.m., starting at Emery Barnes Park (1188 Richards Street). The park is named after the first black male elected to the B.C. legislature.

After speeches and performances, the march will proceed along Davie Street to Jim Deva Plaza located at the rainbow crosswalks at Davie and Bute streets.

While almost everyone is welcome to attend, "institutions that criminalize, brutalize, and kill black people and other marginalized groups" are not. Businesses and corporations are also not allowed to participate.

For more information, visit the march's Facebook event webpage.

Meanwhile, the Vancouver Pride Legacy Group, a group of concerned LGBT community members who organized the counterpetition against BLMV's petition (the latter requested to have armed, uniformed police removed from Pride), has launched a Facebook group and website. This group is independent of and not affiliated with the Vancouver Pride Society.

The Vancouver Pride parade will be held on August 6.