Rainbow Alliance Dryden

A couple hundred people converged on Emo Saturday to protest the decision from township leaders not to recognize June as Pride Month.

Borderland Pride co-chair Douglas Judson says they’re blown away by the support.

“The opposition we were experiencing from leaders in the community didn’t reflect the community itself,” says Judson, “I think that that was borne out by the numbers we saw and the enthusiasm of the participants.”

He tells us that they received lots of push back ahead of time to the ‘Emo Ambush’, but that anyone would be hard-pressed to say anything negative of what actually took place.

When it comes to the makeup of those who came out, Judson, who serves on Fort Frances Town Council, explains that they came from all over the northwest including Dryden, Kenora and Thunder Bay.

Borderland Pride co-chair Douglas Judson speaks to Acadia News following the group’s ‘Emo Ambush’ protest.

“They wanted to be part of sending a strong message that our communities in the northwest are places where LGBT people can have a home for themselves…can move and be accepted (for who they are).”

He says that in the end their protest may not sway political decision, but that they might have just help the community.

“I hope that for young people in the community they look at this and they feel emboldened and empowered and have identified that there are allies and organizations and labour unions and community leaders around them that want them to thrive and be successful and cared for.”

He adds that he hopes it reminds people that we don’t need to take things we find unacceptable lying down thanks to the democratic society that we live in.

With files from Colin Redston.