BURSTBovill Square overflowed into Main Street with people celebrating diversity and inclusiveness on June 6.
The Smithers Pride Society’s annual weekend long festival took place with various activites throughout the valley.
The main event was a block party at the corner of Main Street and Broadway, with a couple sections of Main Street closed to traffic.
Smithers Pride Society member Tara Williston said it is important to celebrate Pride.
She said in a general sense, celebrating Pride in Smithers is important for the same reasons it is important everywhere: because work must be done to make positive and safe spaces for marginalized people.
“Despite huge strides forward in the last few decades, there still exist many negative stereotypes and just plain false beliefs about LGBTQ+ people,” she said. “And Pride is worth celebrating because diversity of all kinds is worth celebrating! Each one of us is a unique human being with inherent goodness and beauty. I don’t believe there is a wrong way to be human.”
She added that the importance of celebrating Pride in Smithers specifically, is that it can be a lonely thing to be queer in a small northern town.
“Pride celebrations help increase the visibility of queer and gender non-conforming people not only among the mainstream, but for our own community, too. Since not all of us “look gay,” it’s also a way to find our people, make connections, and support one another. For one night a year in Smithers, we get to go to a party and know that we aren’t the only gay person in the room.”
She said she can dance with her wife and partner of 18 years, even give her a peck on the cheek, without scanning the room to check if it feels safe.
“The excitement, joy, and almost physical feeling of relief of knowing you are surrounded by other queer and queer-friendly people is hard to describe. It’s a safety and sense of ease that most people get to experience every day,” she said.