The Georgia Straight's guide to Vancouver Pride
If you think of Pride as only benefiting LGBT people, you might want to think again. The acceptance of diversity and liberation from gender restrictions, sexual pigeonholing, and discrimination extends to everyone. From the straight male who feels he has to hide his emotional sensitivities in fear of being mocked to the cisgender woman who relinquishes her assertiveness to avoid being perceived as a problem, what parts of yourself do you hide in order to feel accepted by others?
The freedom to be yourself is reflected in this year’s theme for the Vancouver Pride parade: “Be you: bring all of you.” It’s also an inherent part of the subject of intersectionality—or how social categories such as ethnicity and culture, gender, sexuality, economic status, and more are interconnected—which has increasingly come to the fore in recent years.
In the lead-up to the Vancouver Pride parade (which takes place on August 5), the following collection of profiles of LGBT community members offers just a brief view of the many stories out there that illustrate how multiple identities overlap, interplay, and interact to make up each individual’s totality.
After all, as Pride reminds us, when all of the colours of the rainbow are able to shine, it’s high time to celebrate.
