Today I celebrated with the biggest pride parade in Saanich-Gulf Islands, and the third biggest in British Columbia. On tiny Salt Spring Island, population 10,000, we have an annual Pride Parade that attracts thousands. It has music and costume and floats. What it doesn’t have is a corporate sponsorship, large flatbed trucks with blaring music.
As we marched and sang and danced, my daughter who has been with me in many big city Pride Parades, noted “how nice that they are throwing flower petals. I always worry about the garbage left behind in other parades, but this is beautiful.”
The Green Party volunteers and supporters were out in force, marching in our contingent and on the sidelines holding green banners and cheering. All in all, it was the most fun day of the campaign. We gathered at a friends’ barn for a volunteer appreciation party with corn on the cob picked three hours earlier. No doubt, the best I have ever tasted.
When we celebrate LGBTQ-Trans rights and the progress of inclusion and achievements, we are celebrating community. And community is the heart and soul of civilization.