CK Pride marks 20 years of celebrating Gay Pride Week – Chatham Daily News

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Monday marked the 20th year the rainbow flag has been flown at the Civic Centre in Chatham to kick off local Pride week, signalling how diversity has long been embraced by the community.

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“It is just such a huge warmth in my heart to see how this community has grown in it’s diversity and embracing … the sense of inclusion in this community of all people,” said CK Pride Association president Marianne Willson while addressing those gathered for the flag rising.

“As we work towards equity in Chatham-Kent, it is such a fulfilling feeling and I could not be any more proud to be a resident, a native of Chatham-Kent.”

Calling the changes in the community a “breath of fresh air,” Willson said she believes the greatest pace of change has happened in the past five years.

“It has been so wonderful to feel safer, to feel more present, to feel more at ease to live here, to play here, to work, to not have so much worry to be in Chatham-Kent,” she said.

But it took a little arm-twisting to get the rainbow flag raised for the first time at city hall, remebered Mike Ondrovcik, the first CK Pride president.

“Twenty years ago when we started Pride, it was a fight to get city hall to fly the flag,” he said.

However, Ondrovcik persisted and the flag was eventually raised.

He recalled the change in attitude towards the LGBTQ2S+ community started with the passing of same-sex marriage rights in 2005 and continued to improve with the passing of anti-harassment legislation.

The most rewarding change Ondrovcik has seen, however, is within families.

When CK Pride began, Ondrovcik said he remembered getting calls from some parents: “Get this queer person out of my house. I don’t want anything to do with them.”

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By 2010, Ondrovcik said the calls from parents had changed. Instead of that intolerance, they were asking how they could help them, he said.

He added it was a fantastic change in attitude, “and we’ve just kept going forward since then.”

Mayor Darrin Canniff said Chatham-Kent was declared the very first welcoming community in Canada in 2016

“That was a big honour to us, and we have a lot of to live up to and we’ve have been working towards that.”

Noting that “hate has no place here,” the mayor said he feels a positive momentum in the community.

Canniff acknowledged there’s always an element of the population who remain opposed, “but I believe a vast of majority of the people in Chatham-Kent celebrate diversity.”

Although COVID-19 restrictions have, once again, cancelled a local Gay Pride Parade, there’s still a full slate of events planned.

Willson said holding the events was critical as a continuing show of support for the region’s LGBTQ2S+ community.

“When you take a community that’s normally isolated and you stick a pandemic on top of it, they tend to be at even greater risk,” she said.

She noted there are both virtual and safe, socially distanced in-person events planned to give people a change to be engaged, feel seen and feel valued.

CK PRIDE EVENTS

Tuesday — Window display at ARTspace, 165 King. St. W., Chatham will show History of Pride,

Wednesday — Chatham-Kent Public Library will host Pride Trivia Night on their Facebook page from 6 p.m. to midnight.

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Thursday — Chatham-Kent Children Services holding Pride in CK barbecue from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at 425 Grand Ave. W. Chatham.

Friday — CK Pride presenting a virtual Pride Drag Queen Show, beginning at 8 p.m. Register at frobyn@hotmail.com to see the show.

Saturday — Chatham-Kent Public Library hosting Drag Queen Story Time with Fay and Fully at 10 a.m. To register, email cklibrary@chatham-kent.ca.

Saturday — CK Pride Bonfire being held from 8 p.m. to midnight at 21118 Base Rd., Blenheim, with special guest Estella performing from 8 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Sunday — St. Andrew’s United Church, 85 William St. S., Chatham, hosting Sunday Pride Worship Service in-person as well as on their Facebook page.