The Town of Niagara-on-the-Lake marked the beginning of Pride month this June by raising the Pride flag outside town hall on Monday, but one LGBTQ+ resident who attended the flag-raising says the town needed to do more to bring people out to commemorate the occassion.
Steve McGuinness said he was pleased the town continues to fly the Pride flag for June and maintain other visible signs of support, including the rainbow crosswalk by the community centre.
However, he said he wasn’t happy that so few people came out to witness the flag-raising on Monday.
“I was disappointed in the turnout for the town flag-raising event,” McGuinness told The Lake Report in a direct message.
The ceremony was held without Pride Niagara, the region’s most prominent LGBTQ+ non-profit organization, at the flagpole after the town declined the organization’s request that participating municipalities also buy a table at the Niagara UNITY Awards, which town officials said cost about $480.
Officials said the concern was the town budget and the use of taxpayer money for the awards event.
McGuinness said he attended because he identifies as a member of the LGBTQ+ community, but said the ceremony is also a chance for the broader community to show that NOTL is welcoming and inclusive.
“The town promotional communications may need to be tweaked to draw more of the general public out for next year’s event,” he wrote.
Residents, town staff and council members gathered outside town hall to mark the start of Pride month as NOTL raised the flag without an outside partner after years of Pride Niagara involvement.
“Nothing is different today,” Coun. Erwin Wiens said. “It was like every other flag-raising.”
Lord Mayor Gary Zalepa said “the key messages” for the community remained the same.
“It really just shows that the town wants to be welcoming and engaging and allow for recognizing diversity and inclusion,” said Zalepa. “That’s why we do the flag raising, to raise that awareness.”
Zalepa said the town is still, however, open to future flag-raising requests from community groups.
“I think we look forward to partnering with anybody that wants to bring a flag-raising request to the town,” he said.
Coun. Maria Mavridis said the ceremony stayed focused on inclusion, respect and community.
“The flag raising was well attended and, from my perspective, it was a positive event,” she said.
“The message was consistent with previous Pride flag raisings in Niagara-on-the-Lake, regardless of which organization was involved.”
Mavridis said the town-run ceremony should not be seen as a new direction.
“I don’t believe the event itself established a new precedent,” she said.
“The town has raised the Pride flag for a number of years as a recognition of Pride month and support for members of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community,” said Mavridis. “This year’s ceremony continued that tradition.”
Wiens said the town’s relationship with community groups has not changed.
“We still work with all our community partners,” he said.
Those at the ceremony included Zalepa, Wiens, Mavridis, chief administrative officer Nick Ruller, residents Anita Barber and McGuinness and another who stopped outside town hall as the flag was raised.
