Worldwide Pride: InterPride's Vancouver Conference
by SHERRI RASE
photo by Sherri Rase
Vancouver AIDS Memorial
InterPride's 27th Annual Meeting was hosted in Vancouver, Canada, this year by the Vancouver InterPride Conference Society. Countries from Australia to Zimbabwe were represented, and more than 175 delegates were in attendance for workshops and meetings addressing everything from archiving Pride to marching permits, from marketing to the outer bounds of discrimination human rights in Zimbabwe for GLBTI people.
Most of us think of the birth of LGBTI Pride as the Stonewall Riots of June 1969. The so-called Summer of Love was also a summer of rebellion and unrest, when friction surrounded civil rights, feminism and that unholiest of wars, Viet Nam. Urban gays and lesbians back then could feel like they had places to meet, even though most were Mafia-run, down at the heels bars and coffeehouses, where line dancing was born so that men could dance with men as long as there was at least one woman on the floor. In these modern days of "Queer As Folk" and "The L Word," it may be difficult for people born after the beginning of the AIDS plague to understand that the fight for civil rights for people of all colors and all genders and for gender expression really was a fight.
Pride organizations in the United States, Canada, Great Britain, and the Nordic countries have a different battle these days. Many fight the hidden ways LGBTI people still taste discrimination. From October 23 to 27, in Vancouver British Columbia, Pride organizers from all over the world joined forces for combat.
Networking opportunities abound as pride celebrations where 50,000 march to those where five people march joined forces to talk about what motivates us, makes us proud, and keeps us going as we strive to make everything more equal. The world is comprised of many Regions in InterPride and we work intra-Regionally and extra-Regionally to help one another.
InterPride this year renewed and strengthened the commitment, which it has always promoted, to human rights for LGBTI people around the world. Films, discussions and meetings revolved around our sisters and brothers whose struggle to merely assemble is still threatened with beatings, incarceration and death. In the Eastern European countries, in Africa, and many parts of Asia, LGBTI people do not get the respect that we all deserve.
The Vancouver InterPride Conference Society put together a stunning program in one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Hugged by mountains and kissed by bays, Vancouver is an oasis of friendly people. This friendliness is everywhere, not only in Davie Village, the LGBTI area, akin to our Greenwich Village, but also all throughout the town and its parks, where all couples feel comfortable holding hands and showing simple affection.
One of the highlights of the trip for me was the Sunday afternoon visit to Granville Island. The end of the conference was a bit overwhelming, but I had an early Monday morning flight, so I ceded control of my afternoon to Milton, Shannon and Nikki, who were our volunteer guides. It was one of my best decisions the entire weekend.
No-one can show you around town the way local people can. The effervescent enthusiasm these young cosmopolitans have for their city is a welcome departure from the way we sometimes becomes jaded with the joys of our own hometowns. We took a short ferry ride, shopped, ate, ferried back then walked back to the hotel via Davie Village.
We walked along the seawall under a riot of peak fall foliage, admiring the bay and the mountains rising from the horizon. We came abreast of a dramatic memorial, an oxidized iron wall bearing the names of Vancouver's AIDS victims. The only sound of our approach was the brittle leaves beneath our feet as we drew somberly near the memorial. There were brief moments of hushed conversation, then, as one, our contemplation was complete, as if the spirits of our dead had released us to spread their memory.
Take the opportunity to get involved with your community, whether as an ambassador of Pride, working with social activism, or making your part of the world a better place. And take the opportunity to give yourself the gift of viewing a larger world, with a visit to another country, or with people from another country. Sometimes even our neighbors at home may provide that undiscovered country. It will open your eyes.
