Advocates rally in annual Dyke and Trans March amid rising anti-LGBTQ sentiment
CBC
Gio Dolcecore took to the streets on Saturday alongside hundreds of advocates, allies and community members to send a message of solidarity.
"We have to gather not necessarily to celebrate but to continue to be activists and advocate for rights, for visibility, for community, for us to be able to gather peacefully," Dolcecore said.
Dolececore is one of the organizers of this year's Treaty 7 Dyke and Transgender March — a grassroots event separate from the larger, mainstream Pride parade.
The Dyke March started as a riot and protest and continues to be held in many cities across the world as a protest. The first march in Calgary was held in 2010, later merging into into the Dyke and Trans March four years later.
While both Pride and the march are historically rooted in protest, it is widely seen that the latter takes a stronger, more political stance than its widely covered counterpart.
On Saturday, marchers were seen wearing t-shirts with words like "Queer as in f*** you" and "REBEL" printed on them. Some were holding signs that read "Be Gay. Do Crime" and "Pride is Protest."
"It's a less corporate, more radical and local form of Pride," said Aya Hamid. She's been to other Dyke Marches in other cities, including San Francisco, but this was her first in Calgary.
"It wasn't really centring more marginalized lesbians …but I feel like this one is a lot more inclusive."
The march is typically held annually, but the COVID-19 pandemic has prevented the trans and lesbian communities from gathering and marching together since March of 2019.
Since that time, however, a lot has changed for the LGBTQ community.
There's been a growing wave of LGBTQ opposition and an anti-transgender narrative across Alberta and Canada for the last several months.
Numerous drag shows and events have been met with protests since the beginning of this year — with some getting cancelled or rescheduled due to threats of violence against the transgender and drag communities.
Most recently in Fort Macleod, Alta., the historic Empress Theatre was damaged when four youths released a foul-smelling substance during a drag show.
It goes beyond the cancellations of events and the opposition of the LGBTQ community from the public, Docecore said.
For a couple of months last spring, Hamilton's Cootes Paradise Marsh offered a glimpse of what's possible.
A man walking his dog on a Lower Mainland trail was injured earlier this week in a black bear attack, the B.C. Conservation Officer Service says.
Author Suzanne Craig-Whytock has written post-apocalyptic fantasies and dark thrillers to humour for teens and adults and has a number of titles to her name including The Dome, Smile and Feasting Upon the Bones.
They wish they didn't need it, but it's now a necessity.
An ongoing debate in the House of Commons could push some government departments into a cash crunch and run up against other deadlines as the end of the fall sitting approaches.
Celebrity chef Vikram Vij is partnering with a Toronto charity to help raise funds for cash-strapped food banks.
The federal government did not meet the targets for its program to plant two billion trees during the program's third planting season.
Governments in Canada, the U.S. and abroad along with tech giants are all eyeing nuclear power to meet a growing demand for electricity and climate goals at the same time.
Allison McCabe's own story of medical dismissal began last August with a trip to an emergency room in Vancouver.
The leader of Canada's Green Party had some strong words for Nova Scotia's Progressive Conservatives while joining her provincial counterpart on the campaign trail. Elizabeth May was in Halifax Saturday to support the Nova Scotia Green Party in the final days of the provincial election campaign. She criticized PC Leader Tim Houston for calling a snap election this fall after the Tories passed legislation in 2021 that gave Nova Scotia fixed election dates every four years.
Manitoba business owners are gearing up for a temporary federal tax break this holiday season, and while some welcome it, others worry about its timing and the amount of work it will require.