Lake Country Pride held its second annual Pride march in downtown Orillia on Saturday afternoon.
Hundreds gathered at the Orillia Public Library to rally and march down Mississaga Street, playing music along the way and chanting “trans rights are human rights” as they made their way to the waterfront.
Organizers with Lake Country Pride, now in its second year, told OrilliaMatters the annual Pride march is part of broader efforts to bring more LGBTQ+ events to the community.
“There was definitely a gap. It was something that really bothered me,” said Lake Country Pride’s Celeste Lalumiere. “You can’t complain about it; you’ve got to do something, so we started meeting … and then had our first Pride march the following June, 2023.”
Since then, there has been a lot of community support.
“It’s amazing. We’ve had nothing but incredible support from so many different community partners and organizations,” Lalumiere said.
However, it hasn’t always been that way for the LGBTQ+ community.
Ahead of the march, Katherine Betts — speaking on behalf of her aunt, Ellen Cohen — shared Cohen’s experiences growing up as a gay woman when LGBTQ+ people were still legally discriminated against.
“Until 1969, which was only 55 years ago, same-sex activities were considered illegal and criminal and punishable by imprisonment. Yes, you could go to jail, and love was not love back then,” said Cohen’s statement. “I was 18 years old when the new law was passed, and 21 years old when I felt brave enough to go out to a lesbian club on the weekends.”
The club she went to, like many in the era, was “hidden away,” and Cohen noted police would often drop by under the guise of checking the club’s liquor licence, and that a friend of hers would hide in the back for fear of being fired from her job due to her sexual orientation.
“Unbelievably, it wasn’t until 1996 that this changed, a new law protecting people of all sexual orientations from being fired just because of who they were,” said Cohen’s statement.
Decades later, Cohen said, she finally feels free, both for herself and other LGBTQ+ community members.
“It’s hard for me to express how I feel today, except to say that I feel thrilled and I feel free,” she said. “I feel this every time a man introduces his husband, a woman introduces her wife, and every time I see young queer members in our community live their true lives.”
Although many gains have been made since Cohen grew up, other speakers highlighted there are still barriers ahead.
“In Canada, we’ve enjoyed our Charter rights since the ’90s, and in 2005 same-sex marriage did become legal, but right now we are not as safe as we’d like to believe ourselves to be,” said Lake Country Pride’s Alyssa LaPlume.
LaPlume highlighted proposed and passed legislation in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia that could impact the ability of trans youth to access gender-affirming care, use their preferred pronouns at school without parents being notified, and more.
“We are seeing our rights being treated like privileges that can be revoked,” she said.
“While we march today, I want us to keep those kids in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia in our hearts. They’re watching legislation get rolled back. Let’s promise each other that we will do everything we can to protect our youth, and make sure that what’s happening in other provinces does not happen here.”
LaPlume also spoke about the recent defacing of a rainbow crossing at Orillia Secondary School, and she hopes Saturday’s gathering can give LGBTQ+ students “the courage to not give up.”
“I know that’s tough in high school to see that, but know that you’ve got us and we’re not going anywhere.”
More about Lake Country Pride may be found here.
