The organizer of Edmonton’s Pride Corner has had her activism efforts interrupted by a string of restraining orders.
Three civil restraining orders have been filed against Claire Pearen since October. Pearen believes all are connected to local street preachers, who demonstrators at Pride Corner protest against.
Pride Corner gathers every Friday at the corner of Whyte Avenue and 104 Street and was created by Pearen as a counter-protest to the street preaching that also happens in the area.
Organizers say that for about a decade, street preachers have chosen that particular spot to share “messages of condemnation” that are “quite queer-phobic” either on written signs or verbally.
Pearson began counter-protesting out of concern for the high population of unhoused LGBTQ2 youth in the area.
“The last thing you want to hear when you’re trying to find your own identity is that you are wrong,” Pearen said when speaking about how Pride Corner creates a safe space for LGBTQ2S+ community members.
The restraining orders have been filed by two women, including Olga Podgornaja — a street preacher who is active downtown.
On May 12, a judge ruled that Podgornaja’s initial restraining order would be dismissed, stating it did not fit the appropriate use of a restraining order.
Eighteen days later, Podgornaja filed another restraining order.
“As we successfully navigate through a restraining order, another one gets filed. That seems to be a pattern,” Pearen said.
That restraining order inhibits Pearen from participating in “pop-up” protests downtown, because the restraining order prohibits Pearen from being near the street preachers.
“It really sent a chill to Pride Corner organizers and effectively silenced them because they didn’t want to risk jail in order to protest,” said Avnish Nanda, a defence lawyer who is representing Pearen.
Court documents show the civil restraining order filed by Podgornaja reads “every time when my friends and I go downtown, Claire and her friends come and harass us.”
It alleges that Pearen has “emotionally harmed” the applicant and states that she is “afraid that she will physically harm me and find my address and harm my home as well.”
It states that Pearen danced around Podgornaja — about one to one-and-a-half feet away — with flags and signs and screamed at her in downtown Edmonton.
A May 5 affidavit states Pearen believes the applicant filed the restraining order against her at the request of a street preacher who frequents Pride Corner gatherings.
“Although the previous restraining order was eventually dropped after a few months, I was restricted in my involvement with Pride Corner and expressing my opposition to the hateful views espoused by street preachers in Edmonton,” it reads. “I have never put my hands on the applicant or another protester. I do not act aggressively towards other people.”
In court Monday, Podgornaja denied she is being hateful toward the LGBTQ2S+ community.
Podgornaja denied an on-camera interview with Global News, but spoke over the phone.
She believes the dismissal of her first restraining order was an error and denied her restraining orders are part of a tactic to silence the LGBTQ2S+ community.
In a statement, she writes: “I am not happy to be involved in this court issue, but it looks like that Claire Pearen does not want stop to harass me only because I am a Christian.”
The court matter has been put over until July 5 so Podgornaja’s lawyer can attend.