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