Pride and Acceptance

Initially, I was going to entitle this edition, ‘Pride and Prejudice’, however, I thought that might lead down a rabbit hole I’m not prepared to deal with.  On reflection, I believe that ‘Pride and Acceptance’ is more on point. 

On Saturday, Lorna and I attended the Pride Parade in Charlottetown.  We had planned to join the contingent with St. Paul’s Anglican Church as we did the last time the parade was held.  However, due to unforeseen circumstances, they were not able to be in the Parade this year.  However, we joined in with others and had a great time celebrating diversity and acceptance in Canadian society today.

Despite the exceptionally hot weather (for P.E.I.), there was a celebratory and positive attitude throughout.  That attitude was mirrored in the people that lined the route with people waving and responding to calls of “Happy Pride”.  And that truly was the feeling all along the route.  I had some concern that there might be people present who had a different attitude to the communities represented in the Parade.  However, there was no evidence of that, to which I give a loud Hallelujah.

When I reflect on the current situation with gender rights and acceptance, I am truly amazed at how far this journey has come in Canada and many other parts of the Western world in a relatively short time.  Lorna and I just finished rewatching the series Mad Men here at the cottage.  For those who aren’t familiar with the series, it is set in the United States in the Fifties and Sixties in the world of advertising.  In many ways, it is an accurate reflection of attitudes in those times in the U.S. and Canada to homosexuality and women and race, The only non-white people were eventually hired in the business as secretaries; women were beginning to have a presence in the business in small ways being faced with sexism and prejudice; gays and lesbians were certainly well ensconced in the closet and if they were outed, they suffered the consequences.

Those advances have been wonderful to live through in my lifetime and the acceptance in a place such as P.E.I. which is in some ways still fairly socially conservatives, is very gratifying.  The local weekly newspaper was filled with notices from politicians and businesses wishing people a Happy Pride Week.  However, there are troubling signs of a backlash with the rise of right-wing populism in Canada following the events in the United States with the overturning of reproductive rights and the potential threat to same-sex marriage and even contraceptive rights. 

Martin Luther King noted that “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”  I believe fervently that the gains reflected in the Pride Parade on Saturday are evidence of that moral universe bending towards justice and I will continue to do what I can to support and walk on that journey.  May you be blessed on your journey.