Halifax Gay Pride with Police
Isn't this a delightfully cheery headline to see in a Canadian newspaper:
Police force joins gay pride parade
Just imagine seeing that in a US newspaper! This happened in Halifax, Nova Scotia, known hotbed of gay rights activists. (Remember those two Mounties who were to be married this summer?)
As reported by the Chronicle Herald*
For the first time in the event's 19-year history, Halifax Regional Police officially took part in the long march. A senior officer and a few other members of the force were in uniform at the front of the procession, walking behind a police cruiser flying small rainbow flags.
They were joined by folks from all walks of life: students, seniors, children with their parents, trade unionists, dog walkers, metro firefighters and local politicians. Last year, Halifax police said about 7,000 marched in the carnival-like parade. This year's version clearly attracted more participants, but police could not provide an estimate.
It is the city's second-largest parade after the annual Parade of Lights, which is staged for the holiday season.
Deputy Police Chief Chris McNeil, one of the gay pride marchers, said his department wants to reflect the community it serves. He said the police force "is a microcosm of society" and joining the parade was the right thing to do.
Isn't that wonderful: the gay-pride parade is the second-largest parade in Halifax. And read how people responded:
Scores of spectators applauded or waved to happy people staffing floats or carrying banners; other onlookers snapped photos of parade revellers. Among those in the throng were parents of homosexual or lesbian children, drag queens, gay high school students, lesbian teachers and models of the famous cast of the Wizard of Oz who entertained spectators with verve.
Some marchers wore rainbow hats and/or capes; others carried signs and jived to music oozing out of speakers attached to vehicles in the parade. We Do Weddings, one placard read. Another had two messages separated by a crucifix: Love Every Person and No One Excluded.
On Citadel Hill, dozens of spectators hollered and waved to friends in the parade. Others, perhaps tourists who happened to be visiting one of Halifax's landmarks during a Nova Scotia holiday, recorded video images of the colourful event.
Isn't that something! "Colorful"! It begins to sound like Canada is in an alternate universe where people are sensible and everyone comes out to celebrate diversity and join in a colourful parade, the second-largest in the city.
Deputy Police Chief Chris McNeil, one of the gay pride marchers, said his department wants to reflect the community it serves. He said the police force "is a microcosm of society" and joining the parade was the right thing to do.
———-
*Michael Lightstone, "Police force joins gay pride parade", Chronicle Herald [Halifax, Nova Scotia], 25 July 2006.
2 Responses
Subscribe to comments via RSS
Subscribe to comments via RSS
Leave a Reply
To thwart spam, comments by new people are held for moderation; give me a bit of time and your comment will show up.
I welcome comments -- even dissent -- but I will delete without notice irrelevant, rude, psychotic, or incomprehensible comments, particularly those that I deem homophobic, unless they are amusing. The same goes for commercial comments and trackbacks. Sorry, but it's my blog and my decisions are final.
on Wednesday, 26 July 2006 at 16.16
Permalink
Yes, it's a nice thing. It appears the community was at no time in danger of a biblical-type calamity. I'd bet my last buck no innocent youths were in any way corrupted. And, I'd be surprised if so much as a single conventional marriage was impinged on in any way, much less undermined or destroyed.
It's a shame in a way that Sen. "Man On Dog" Rick Santorum couldn't be there to observe. However, I suppose the chance he might learn something is remote compared to the likelihood of him finding some way to draw attention to himself and try to spoil things for others. (Or maybe that's just gratuitous bashing on my part because I find him so insipid, ignorant and obnoxious.)
on Wednesday, 26 July 2006 at 16.50
Permalink
If Halifax was in no danger of retribution from God, I suspect that the only reason was that He was already too busy meddling in that Israel/Lebanon/Hezbollah mess either 1) because the end-times are near and Armageddon has to get started (popular among fundamentalists); or 2) in retribution for Israel's allowing a world-wide gay-pride celebration to take place in Jerusalem (popular among fundamentalists), which celebration was cancelled ultimately because of all the explosions.
Perhaps Halifax should host the next world-price celebration?