More than 50 people gathered at Gibsons Town hall June 20 to see the Pride flag raised for the first time. Council has issued Pride Week proclamations in the past, but never had a request to fly the flag until this year.
After thanking council and Town staff, Fraser Biggs, who made the request to raise the flag, told the crowd, “It shows that Gibsons will not tolerate harassment … It also shows that they’re welcoming – they welcome diversity in the community, which makes us one of the greatest small communities in the world [in which] to reside.”
“I like to think we have a pretty inclusive community here on the Sunshine Coast and we don’t have to make an event [out of raising the Pride flag], but we do, particularly with what happened in Orlando this last week,” Mayor Wayne Rowe said. “It’s something we have to do to remind people we’re all equal here, we all share this space, and there should not be any discrimination.”
MLA Nicholas Simons also touched on the Orlando shooting. “Yes there’s sadness in the world,” Simons said. “And I think, the only antidote to that is to express our love of each other, and our love of place, and we’re doing both of those today.”
A memorial banner for the victims was on site for the ceremony. It was already covered in messages from the June 19 Sunday in the Park with Pride event. Messages written on separate squares of cloth at other Pride week events will be stitched to the main banner later.
