'We wanted this intersection to be safe': Pride Corner on Whyte Ave a big win for local queer community
Edmonton’s newly minted Pride Corner is the culmination of over a year of work by queer activists and allies - and all those who came before them.
Nested at the intersection of 104 Street and Whyte Avenue, Pride Corner started small when Clarie Pearen started protesting the street preachers who congregated on the corner every Friday. With microphones and bibles in hand, to claim the busy intersection as a temporary pulpit.
Pearen was there to dispute what she, and others from the queer community, say was homophobic comments and hateful speech against the queer community - something she says put the safety of queer youth in the area into question.
With the Old Strathcona Youth Society and the Youth Empowerment and Support Services in the area, Whyte Avenue is home to many queer and unhoused youth. Organizers say these kids were a driving force in the initial protests, as they tried to make the streets a safer place, free from hateful or hurtful rhetoric.
“We wanted to just start showing up and change the narrative because ultimately we’re here for them,” organizer Erica Posteraro said. “And it’s been really nice seeing the great bulk of queer kids and allies that have come to support.”
Every Friday, when the preachers would come out, so would the rainbow flags. Eventually they took over, and a year and almost 11,000 signatures later, the corner was officially recognized by the City of Edmonton.
“We roll in with our wagons and our rainbows, and they pack up almost immediately,” Posteraro said. “It is a big win for us to arrive and them to leave. And that’s ultimately what we wanted.
“We wanted this intersection to be safe.”
HATE SPEECH
While some members of the LGBTQ2S+ community have expressed feeling unsafe or harassed by street preachers in Edmonton, it’s difficult to lay charges because street preaching is protected by the Canadian Charter of Right and Freedoms.
Some preachers have been charged with noise complaints by EPS. In 2020, a prominent street preacher was given a ticket for a noise complaint in the intersection where Pride Corner now exists, but it was dropped after his lawyer argued that the ticket was being used to stifle his right to peaceful public expression.
This is something the Pride Corner hopes to change.
Postero said there aren’t strong enough federal or provincial hate speech laws, and the next big steps for the group would be to try and bring in stronger legislation to protect queer people from hate speech.
However, she is clear that the group has nothing against religion or religious expression - granted it isn’t used to demean or deny the queer community. They don’t want conflict, just safer spaces for everyone.
THOSE WHO CAME BEFORE
At Pride Corner’s recognition ceremony, stonewall rioter and advocate Martin Boyce spoke about recognizing those who have fought in the past - chasing away street preachers of their own.
Like Michael Phair, who was arrested during the Pisces bath raid in May 1981. Him and 55 other men were arrested and charged with being found in a common bawdy house - a place where prostitution or indecent acts occur. During the trials, they were outed and ostracized. Many lost their jobs and reputations and families.
But it sparked something - a movement by the community to fight back and the protests that followed are a part of the city’s queer history. Phair went on to be the first openly gay elected official in Alberta and a former Edmonton City Councillor. He now has a school named after him, and was recently granted an honorary doctorate from MacEwan University.
Boyce gave the Pride Corner group an award for LGBTQ2S+ Action, and congratulated them for taking up that space as they continue to fight for queer poeple. Postero says the group is honoured by the group’s recognition by the city and Pride Corner’s acceptance into the area. She says there has been far more positive feedback than negative, and that says something about Edmonton.
“I think that it just shows how much this city is progressive, how they do want to show that there is support for the queer community, and acceptance and that we’re seen.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING New York appeals court overturns Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction from landmark #MeToo trial
New York’s highest court on Thursday overturned Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction, finding the judge at the landmark #MeToo trial prejudiced the ex-movie mogul with improper rulings, including a decision to let women testify about allegations that weren’t part of the case.
BREAKING Monthly earnings rise, payroll employment falls: jobs report
The number of vacant jobs in Canada increased in February, while monthly payroll employment decreased in food services, manufacturing, and retail trade, among other sectors.
Doctors say capital gains tax changes will jeopardize their retirement. Is that true?
The Canadian Medical Association asserts the Liberals' proposed changes to capital gains taxation will put doctors' retirement savings in jeopardy, but some financial experts insist incorporated professionals are not as doomed as they say they are.
Remains from a mother-daughter cold case were found nearly 24 years later, after a deathbed confession from the suspect
A West Virginia father is getting some sense of closure after authorities found the remains of his young daughter and her mother following a deathbed confession from the man believed to have fatally shot them nearly two decades ago.
Something in the water? Canadian family latest to spot elusive 'Loch Ness Monster'
For centuries, people have wondered what, if anything, might be lurking beneath the surface of Loch Ness in Scotland. When Canadian couple Parry Malm and Shannon Wiseman visited the Scottish highlands earlier this month with their two children, they didn’t expect to become part of the mystery.
Metro Vancouver mayors call for serial killer Robert Pickton to be denied parole
A dozen mayors from around Metro Vancouver say federal Attorney General and Justice Minister Arif Virani should deny parole for notorious B.C. serial killer Robert Pickton, and reassess the parole and sentencing system for 'prolific offenders and mass murderers.'
What do weight loss drugs mean for a diet industry built on eating less and exercising more?
Recent injected drugs like Wegovy and its predecessor, the diabetes medication Ozempic, are reshaping the health and fitness industries.
2 military horses that broke free and ran loose across London are in serious condition
Two military horses that bolted and ran miles through the streets of London after being spooked by construction noise and tossing their riders were in a serious condition and required operations, a British government official said Thursday.
'It was instant karma': Viral video captures failed theft attempt in Nanaimo, B.C.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.