Lauren Boothby - Edmonton Journal
People dance and wave flags in front of street preachers at the corner of 104 Street and Jasper Avenue, in Edmonton Friday June 4, 2021.
Violent threats against youth and volunteers have prompted Pride Corner on Whyte Avenue to cancel its event this week, but organizers say they won’t be silenced.
Pride Corner is seeing an influx of hate, aggression and harassment against its 2SLGBTQ+ teenagers and adult volunteers, according to organizers. Two weeks ago on Sept. 2, they say a man with a bat walked through the crowd menacing them and making homophobic remarks. Last Friday, organizers got an anonymous message to their Instagram account allegedly saying they had a gun and are two kilometers away.
Volunteer Erynn Christie was there when the man with the bat arrived. He walked through the crowd in a “very poised, aggressive, puffed-out manner,” she said, adding the experience was traumatizing, especially for the youth. One volunteer told Christie the man said he wanted to “beat the gay” out of them. They separated the children from the man, told him to leave, and contacted police.
“I was very scared, to be honest. I’ve never dealt with something like that in my life. Even right now I want to cry about it,” she told Postmedia. “I don’t identify as queer but that doesn’t mean that I don’t see the pain and the struggles and the difficulties that these people and youth face just to be themselves. We’re in 2022 — I don’t know why this continues to happen. If you don’t like the way somebody lives their life, if they’re not hurting you, then it doesn’t affect you.
“To have it change into a gun threat the following week, we don’t want anything bad to happen to anybody, especially the kids on the corner.”
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Around 50 to 100 people have been rallying and dancing at the intersection of Whyte Avenue and 104 Street for the last 18 months. It started as a protest against homophobic comments made by street preachers.
This week’s event was cancelled to assess the group’s safety plans. Rallies are expected to resume next week.
Christie said the youth are getting support, such as counselling, and they’re working with other organizations and activists to make sure the security plans are effective. They’re also asking local businesses nearby to install cameras facing the corner, and have filed reports with the police.
But Christie says they won’t let threats hold them back.
The space has become really important, especially for young queer youth, she said.
“The city really does love us. We’re not going anywhere … If anything, we’re kicking it into overdrive and Pride Corner is going to continue to grow and be better than ever,” she said.
“It is very important to the kids. It allowed a community to grow when we were stuck in a pandemic and they really didn’t have anybody. If you imagine a queer young person trying to discover themselves and find people like them, and they’re left at home … to come out to a corner and be able to meet other like-minded peers and be able to grow together is something that is indescribable to watch.”
Postmedia has reached out to Edmonton Police Service for comment.
More to come…
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