June is Pride Month and that means rainbow flags are up all around the world. The Niagara Region held many flag-raising ceremonies on Monday to honour the 2SLGBTQ+ community.
Pride Niagara says it cancelled one event this month due to safety concerns, and next weekend’s Pride in the Park will have more security measures in place.
READ MORE: Rural communities around Hamilton celebrate Pride Month
The City of Niagara Falls, St. Catharine’s and all of the 12 municipalities that make up the Niagara Region are now flying a Pride flag and the month will be full of events.
At the Pride raising ceremony in West Lincoln on Monday, mayor Cheryl Ganaan said, “well we’re really desperately trying to make sure our community feels included. We want everybody to feel that they are safe living in West Lincoln.”
Pride Niagara says it cancelled its annual Pride Prom this year because of online threats. The City of St. Catharines says it will be building temporary fencing and adding extra security around Montebello Park next Saturday for the big Pride in the Park festival.
This is all the more reason why the community says flying the Pride flag is important.
Darryl Dyball from Pride Niagara said, “It’s sad though that we have to go that far to ensure safety. Our pride community, we are just living our lives, it’s those people who, I’m not going to call them protesters because they’re not protesters, they’re hateful people. They are the ones who are making us go to these extra lengths for safety…”
Pride Niagara says while security measures are in place, it will be focusing on the celebrations happening at the many community events across the area.