Halifax Pride faces boycott from some LGBT community members
'It's going to be a very different festival next year,' says Áine Morse
Some members of Nova Scotia's LGBT community are boycotting Halifax Pride after growing tension within the organization in recent months.
The prominent organization is entering its 30th year on what could have been a high note, after its flagship parade attracted more than 100,000 people.
But in recent months, the community has become "splintered," says Áine Morse, an executive member of the Nova Scotia Rainbow Action Project (NSRAP).
"It's a tragedy of epic proportions," Morse said, noting some activists believe "this is the worst crisis to hit the Halifax queer and trans community in over 25 years."
'For the smallest voices'
Mount Pride, a student group at Mount Saint Vincent University, announced last week it will boycott Halifax Pride.
"We feel that for Pride to continue to go forward, it has to be for the smallest voices, the voices that get stomped on constantly, that are the most marginalized and the voices that need the Pride movement the most," president Leslie Allen said.
A boycott is on the table for NSRAP too, Morse said.
The tension has been building for some time, but it came to a head earlier this month at Halifax Pride's annual general meeting.
'Pinkwashing' vote
The membership was faced with a motion to ban pro-Israel tourism materials from a table hosted by the Atlantic Jewish Council at the summer festival.
Some members of the society had complained the table was an example of "pinkwashing," which means to promote a product or group by looking queer-friendly.
Queer Haligonians with roots in the Middle East came forward to say the marketing made them feel unsafe or unwelcome at Pride festivities, especially if they had been Palestinian refugees from the conflict with Israel.
Halifax Pride waived membership fees, and saw meeting attendance swell from 30 in 2015 to more than 300. LGBT participants, especially people of colour, reported their views were met with disrespect. The motion was defeated.
Representatives of Halifax Pride declined to answer questions Sunday, but said the group would meet this week to discuss the issue.
Not for 'the loudest voices'
Allen said at issue is that members of the queer and transgender community need to be heard first and foremost in society decisions.
"Halifax Pride, as it currently stands, is for the people with the loudest voices and the most numbers, which isn't right," Allen said.
"You've not only ignored voices that needed to be heard, but silenced them."
On its website, Halifax Pride said its board "wholeheartedly and unreservedly apologizes for the role we played in causing considerable pain to members of our community, specifically the queer black, Indigenous, people of colour (QBIPOC) community."
The group is undergoing a review of its processes, which includes accepting community feedback and earmarking new funds. Findings will be reported in May 2017, the site said.
'Unified citywide boycott'
That's not enough, Allen said. Mount Pride is calling for a "unified citywide boycott of Halifax Pride," she said, "until they accept the fact that they've messed up."
NSRAP and the student group want to see decisions made at the AGM overturned, a special general meeting held, membership altered to better hear community voices and possibly a discussion mediated.
"No matter what Pride does to reconcile what has happened, it's going to be a very different festival next year. It's not going to be 'business as usual,' that's for sure," Morse said.
"Folks feel really disenfranchised from Halifax Pride. They feel like queer and trans people don't have a voice within the society anymore, and that's something that needs to be fixed."