Pride Winnipeg Festival | |
---|---|
Status | Active |
Genre | Festival |
Date(s) | May 26 - June 4, 2017 |
Frequency | Annually |
Location(s) | Winnipeg, Manitoba |
Country | Canada |
Years active | 27 |
Inaugurated | 1987 |
Most recent | May 27 - June 5, 2016 |
Attendance | 35,000 |
Website | |
www.pridewinnipeg.com |
Pride Winnipeg Festival is a 10-day LGBT pride festival, held annually in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It is one of the largest organized pride festivals in central Canada, featuring 10-days of community-organized events, a Dyke March, a rally, Pride Parade, outdoor festival and closing party.
The Pride Winnipeg Festival is organized by Pride Winnipeg, a non-profit, volunteer organization. Pride Winnipeg currently consists of a president, vice-presidents, directors, coordinators, and managers. The current president is Jonathan Niemczak.
On August 2, 1987, approximately 250 people gathered at the Manitoba Legislative Building to await the results of the provincial government's decision to include sexual orientation in the Manitoba Human Rights Code. The consensus was that if the government voted in favor of including sexual orientation in the code they would march in celebration, if the government voted against including sexual orientation in the code they would march in protest.
The provincial government voted in favor of adding sexual orientation to the Manitoba Human Rights Code, which sparked the first 'Pride Parade' in Winnipeg as the 250 people marched in the streets of downtown Winnipeg in celebration.
Over the years the festival has grown in size but despite the advancements of LGBT rights the event has battled mayors, most notably Susan Thompson, who refused to recognize the event with civic proclamations.
A theme is selected for each Pride Winnipeg Festival that reflects current events and contexts of the LGBT community and helps shape festivities. Previous themes included "Proud to Be" (2010), "Unity" (2011), "Pride 25" (2012), "equALL" (2013), "withOUT Borders" (2014) "EVOLution" (2015) and "Be Authentic" (2016).
In 2012, the Pride Winnipeg Festival celebrated its 25th anniversary. The Festival took place from May 25 - June 3 and was the largest LGBT celebration the city had seen at that time. The festival featured a record number of community events and received overwhelming support from both citizens and businesses.
As part of the 25th anniversary celebrations, Pride Winnipeg worked with the provincial government to light the six columns of the Manitoba Legislative Building in each of the colors of the rainbow flag (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple). On June 1, 2012 a small ceremony took place on the steps of the Manitoba Legislative Building to commemorate the event. The Manitoba Legislative Building was successfully lit in rainbow colors at dusk with the 'Pride 25' theme logo being projected onto the dome. In doing so, pictures of the building went viral on a global scale.