Latest news with #PrideFestival
CTV News
an hour ago
- CTV News
Security camera catches man vandalizing rainbow flags in Charlottetown
Just four days before Pride Festival events begin in Prince Edward Island, security video captured a man tearing down rainbow flags outside a Charlottetown shop, an incident advocates say reflects a wider wave of anti‑LGBTQ2S+ acts across Canada. You Little Witch store owner Tiffany MacPhee says the flags outside her boutique have been targeted before, and the latest vandalism shows hate can still hit close to home. 'Hate still very much exists. And I think a lot of us Islanders live with rose‑coloured glasses on thinking that it doesn't. But those who know, know, and this is proof,' MacPhee said. MacPhee's security camera recorded the entire incident at about 9 p.m. local time Saturday. At first, she found it funny, a 'temper tantrum' on tape. But the more she watched, the more disturbed she felt, immediately filing a police report and donating to PEERS Alliance, a P.E.I. organization that supports LGBTQ2S+ communities. 'It is another act of meeting hate with love, and that is what we do here. We need to keep doing the work,' she said. PEERS Alliance executive director Josie Baker said queer Islanders recognize a rise in hate-motivated crimes. 'For a while people have been feeling more and more fear. Something like this is just evidence that we are not immune to the trend we are seeing,' she said. Statistics Canada figures show police-reported hate crimes targeting sexual orientation rose 69 per cent in 2023. Similar incidents have been reported across the country this year. A rainbow crosswalk in Newfoundland was defaced. In Nova Scotia, RCMP arrested a woman accused of vandalizing Pride and Every Child Matters flags outside a home. A flag‑raising ceremony in British Columbia was postponed after the ropes were cut. National experts say the vandalism is part of a pattern that resurfaces every Pride season. 'Folks who are inclined to discriminate against LGBTI people are a lot more organized than they have ever been,' said Helen Kennedy, executive director of Egale Canada. P.E.I.'s Pride Festival starts Friday. Local advocates say they aren't anticipating or ruling out hate. They urge anyone who sees conflict to call security and create space between protesters and those at risk rather than engage in confrontation.
CTV News
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- CTV News
Flourish at Pride: Organizers make final preparations ahead of Halifax Pride Festival
Dozens of events are on tap for the ten-day celebration of Halifax Pride. The theme of this year's Halifax Pride Festival is 'Flourish at Pride' and with dozens of events on tap, the festival is flourishing across Halifax. 'We've got close to 35 events that we're hosting, and then we have another 100 to 150 community events, so there's really something for everybody,' said Halifax Pride executive director Fiona Kerr. The Halifax Pride Parade takes place Saturday at noon. The parade will begin on Cogswell Street and loop down to Barrington Street before ending at the Garrison Grounds. Tens of thousands of people from the Halifax region and across Nova Scotia will take part in the more than week-long festival. It also draws in people from other areas. 'We estimate I think around 10,000 to 20,000 people travel from outside of Nova Scotia to come to our event,' said Kerr. 'Folks specifically from New Brunswick and P.E.I. usually try to make their way here for this and we're happy to have them.' Halifax Pride welcomes people from all backgrounds, said Kerr. 'As politics and the political climate are changing, it's more important than ever for allies to show up and support us,' she said. 'We really encourage folks who maybe don't belong to the community to come, see what we do, support our events, support local artists, put money in their pockets.' She said putting together the festival is no small feat. 'It's pretty intense. It's pretty crazy. We spend more than a year planning each festival, so next year's festival is already kind of underway.' Pressing buttons for pride Ahead of Saturday's parade, the Downtown Dartmouth Business Commission held a Pride button-making workshop in partnership with the MacPhee Centre for Creative Learning. 'Button-making is really fun,' said Daria Fantaci, a program manager with MacPhee Centre. 'We have some premade cut up designs all ready for folks where they can choose something that feels more a part of their community or they can also design something themselves that shows them to use their creativity to find something to accessorize themselves for the parade.' The Downtown Dartmouth Business Commission said they felt it was important to host an event during Pride. 'We figured we should bring something down into Dartmouth for Dartmouth residents who want to feel like they can access Pride events and be welcomed and proud of who they are in their space,' said business commission summer student Ben Beaumont. Halifax Pride runs until July 27. button making Ben Beamont, left, with the Downtown Dartmouth Business Commission, sits next to Daria Fantaci, right, with the MacPhee Centre for Creative Learning during a Pride button-making event in Dartmouth, N.S., on Friday, July 18, 2025. (Stephanie Tsicos/CTV Atlantic) For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Fremont Pride Festival returns with food, games and surprise guests
Fremont Ohio Pride presents its 5th annual Fremont Pride Festival at Walsh Park from noon to 6 p.m. on July 19. According to a community announcement, over 40 vendors and community agencies are expected to participate. A diverse lineup of performers will take the main stage, and there will be a family zone featuring lawn/family games, jewelry making, rock painting and tie dying. Local food and beverage trucks will also be available. Special guests include LGBTQ+ families from the Hulu documentary 'We Live Here - the Midwest' and surprise guests from Camp Wannakiki. Entry is a $5 donation at the gate or online at This story was created by Jane Imbody, jimbody@ with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Journalists were involved in every step of the information gathering, review, editing and publishing process. Learn more at This article originally appeared on Fremont News-Messenger: Lawn games, tie-dye and Hulu stars: Fremont Pride Festival is back Solve the daily Crossword
Irish Times
13-07-2025
- General
- Irish Times
Irish people are great with words but we're terrible communicators
There was one weekend when I attempted to get all my children around the same dinner table. They were all in the country, though that window of opportunity didn't last long. Son Number One had just returned from Colombia, only to get on to another plane to attend a wedding in Portugal. Then Daughter Number Two couldn't come because it was weekend of the Pride Festival and 'we have the Estonian lesbians staying over'. I had no idea what that meant, but subsequently learned that she and her partner had found themselves in a typically Irish situation. On holidays some months before, they had befriended some Estonian women and had extended an invitation to them to visit Ireland. But this was an Irish holiday promise, the kind we've all made and don't believe will ever be accepted. You mean it at the time, of course, but it's likely that the following day, you've forgotten all about it. If they had invited some Irish lesbians – or Irish people of any sexuality – they would have instinctively known that several more steps would be required to establish the veracity of the offer. Regular contact over subsequent weeks and, crucially, a reissuing of the invitation at least twice. I'm not saying that Daughter Number Two and her partner didn't enjoy having their new Estonian friends come to stay; just that they were a little shocked at the northern European predilection for assuming that if you say something, that's what you actually mean. READ MORE That's the thing foreigners don't get about the Irish. We're great with words. But that doesn't mean we're great at communicating. Saying to an Irish person that you don't feel like talking can all too often be construed as a bit insulting My get-the-kids-together plan now completely scuppered, Daughter Number Three then pulled out, but in a refreshingly un-Irish way. She said she was tired and 'socially drained'. She had returned from London a couple of days before, met various friends and had to answer questions from them that she would be asked again by me if she had come over for dinner. And she didn't have the energy to do it. It's a rare day when someone refuses your invitation and you admire them for it, but I did. My day job is to talk for a living on the radio, and when I'm finished my professional nattering, I often feel I have nothing left to say. Except, unlike Daughter Number Three, I wouldn't have the courage to admit it. No matter how carefully you phrase it, saying to an Irish person that you don't feel like talking can all too often be construed as a bit insulting – that you don't feel like talking to them. Because we're Irish, and when we communicate, it's not entirely clear what we actually mean. The guest list was now reduced to Daughter Number One, her partner and Granddaughter Number One: a situation we both handled in the typically Irish way of trying to second-guess each other. She messaged me to ask if they should still come over, or did I want to leave it to another day when all the others could come? She was providing me with an escape route. But I didn't want one, and I certainly didn't want her to think that I didn't want her to come, just because the others couldn't. So I replied: come over. But almost immediately, I became plagued with doubt. Perhaps she didn't want to give me an escape route, but for me to provide her with one. Perhaps they were tired, or stressed and were quietly relieved that my dinner plan had disintegrated. But, being Irish, they were never going to say that out loud. I became so transfixed with this idea that when they arrived, I immediately apologised for dragging them across Dublin. But they said they were happy to come. We had dinner, and when they were leaving, they said they'd had a nice time. And they meant it. At least, I think they did.
CTV News
12-07-2025
- Entertainment
- CTV News
Gala Art Show kicks off this year's London Pride Festival
The 2025 Pride London Festival began Friday evening with a gala art show opening at the TAP Centre for Creativity. This is the 34th annual Pride Art Show which has contributions from over 50 different LGBTQ2S+ and ally artists. 071125 London Pride Festival begins with Gala Art Show. (Joel Merritt/CTV News London) Art Show coordinator Cindi Talbot says that most of the works center around the theme of inclusivity and they 'have a wide variety of artists who've submitted work. We have one artist from Grade 7, we have other artists that are senior citizens and everywhere in-between.' The event will run until Saturday July 19th at TAP, open Tuesday to Saturday from noon - 5 pm. All purchases and donations support the artists and London Pride Festival.
