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Edmonton’s Pride Corner celebrations are back amid threats made against 2SLGBTQ+ group

Click to play video: 'Edmonton’s Pride Corner celebrations are back after threats made against 2SLGBTQ+ groups'
Edmonton’s Pride Corner celebrations are back after threats made against 2SLGBTQ+ groups
WATCH ABOVE: Pride Corner celebrations are back in Edmonton after taking a week off due to recent threats of violence towards 2SLGBTQ+ groups. As Chris Chacon reports, organizers say they will be louder and prouder than ever. – Sep 23, 2022

Pride Corner at the corner of 104th Street and Whyte Avenue is once again buzzing with activity, but the celebrations this week are a little different. They’re about pride and resilience.

“We just wanted to come out in full force and show Edmonton we aren’t going to back down when people are going to threaten us in this way,” Pride Corner organizer Erica Posteraro said.

Last Friday, organizers cancelled the weekly pride corner celebration due to safety concerns. Somebody threatened the group, telling them he had a gun.

A week earlier, a man approached the 2SLGBTQ+ group with a bat, making threats. A 32-year-old man was later charged.

“After we received the gun threat, I don’t think any of us felt that intense level of fear. Because it could happen, we had to run through all those scenarios in our minds,” Posteraro said.

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Janis Irwin, the Opposition critic for women and 2SLGBTQ+ issues, said these acts of violence don’t belong in Alberta’s capital city.

Click to play video: '1st Pride Cup ball hockey championship comes to downtown Edmonton'
1st Pride Cup ball hockey championship comes to downtown Edmonton

“Many of them who are young people, who are kids, who are just here to have a safe space — threats of violence, hatred directed towards them is entirely unacceptable,” Irwin said.

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The anger over the threats reinforced the importance of returning to Pride Corner.

Although this time, there are new safety measures and protocols in place .

“It wasn’t a decision that we made lightly and we only felt comfortable doing it after we had a meeting with [the EPS] hate crimes unit which was quite productive,” Posteraro said.
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Organizers said despite the threats and lingering fears, they will continue their pride corner celebrations louder and prouder.

“Its unfortunate that it took an event like this for us to really ramp up our safety protocols,” Posteraro said.

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