P.E.I. Pride parade called 'largest yet'

Hundreds of people lined the streets of Charlottetown on Saturday for what organizers are calling P.E.I.'s largest Pride parade yet.

There were about 40 floats. Churches, community groups and all three political parties participated.

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"We have so many new floats today," said Tyler Murnaghan of Pride PEI. "I mean, even the fire department is here, the navy, the military. I'm blown away with the incredible people that have showed up."  

Zak Court said while the parade is about having fun, it's also an opportunity to tackle some of the challenges that still face the LGBT community.

"Coming from P.E.I., we are more of a rural setting, and discrimination and prejudice shows a little more on the surface and it's really good to come together and show solidarity where people who maybe haven't come out of the closet or teens can come and have a safe place to talk and be themselves." 

Jocelyn Claybourne said the large turnout is a sign of how far things have come.

"Whenever I was closeted, I didn't have anyone saying it's not OK to be gay, but I didn't have anyone saying 'it's OK to be gay'," she said. "Having all of this, you know, someone out there can say it's OK to be gay."

Murnaghan hopes the momentum from Pride Week continues in the future.

"This is our largest festival yet, so I mean, next year it's got to be even bigger."

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