BRANTFORD — Annual Pride Flag raising events in the region were celebrated online this year in the city of Brantford and Brant County.
Members of The Bridge Brant and Brantford Mayor Kevin Davis were at Brantford City Hall June 13 and shared video to Facebook of the Mayor’s address and flag raising ceremony.
Instead of the classic rainbow flag this year another, more inclusive flag was chosen to fly for the week.
The Bridge Brant went through the symbolism of the raised flag in a post to Facebook. The Progress Flag, designed by Daniel Quasar, adds a chevron along the hoist that features black, brown, light blue, pink, and white stripes to bring marginalized people of colour, trans individuals, those living with HIV/AIDS and those who have been lost to the forefront. “The arrow points to the right to show forward movement, while being along the left edge shows that progress still needs to be made,” they explained.
Brant County Mayor David Bailey raised the flag this year, the second year in a row the county has celebrated Pride.
Bailey shared his own personal feelings of pride about the county councillors decision to bring a motion forward to begin raising a Pride flag. Bailey, who is an openly gay man himself, said, “it touched my heart” that councillors approached him with the motion, instead of it needing to be an initiative that he took on his own and looked for support for. Bailey commended the county councillors for being diverse, kind, inclusive and progressive in their decision making.
“I promise you next year, there will be more people and we’ll have a cake,” said Bailey to the few gathered at the social distancing event.
