Pride week organizers say support is growing in Greater Moncton

WATCH ABOVE: This year’s Moncton Pride Parade will be a special one for a young woman, because it’s her first time donning her rainbow colors. Global’s Shelley Steeves reports.

MONCTON – Pride week in Moncton wraps up Saturday and Catherine Dégarris-Délage is getting her rainbow outfit ready for her special day.

“It’s beautiful, it’s natural, it’s the light. It’s like the rainbow when it is raining and it’s sunny at the same time, it is bad and good and ends up something beautiful.”

Which is how she feels about coming out a bisexual this past spring. This weekend will be the first time Dégarris-Délage will take part in the parade.

“I am just happy to be able to be myself and everything and I hope that everybody can do that.”

Jacob Beal is president of this weekend’s pride parade. He says coming out is not easy to do.

“That’s why we do it is to get more acceptance and to educate and to move it forward and to advocate for the LGBTQ community,” he said.

New Brunswick has among the highest suicide rates in the country, especially within the LGBTQ community.

Beal says the turnout at last year’s parade was disappointing.

“I had some descriptions of it, like it was a blink of an eye,” he said. “I went to go get coffee and I came back and the parade was done.”

But he says support in the community is growing. At least 400 people are registered to take part in Saturday’s parade and corporate sponsorships have more than doubled over last year.

“This is Greater Moncton and our pride is growing but it is still not where I dream it to be which is 100,000 or more people in the parade on Main Street.”

Dégarris-Délage doesn’t need a crowd quite that big. But she hopes people will support her as she flaunts her rainbow of pride for the very first time this weekend.