By: Michelle Young, Opinions Editor
Editor’s note: This piece was written before the Vancouver Pride Society announced an accessible viewing zone with mask mandates in place, in response to community concerns.
Vancouver Pride is coming up this August. It’s supposed to be a time for 2SLGBTQIA+ people to celebrate identity and strengthen bonds in the queer community. But for many, it doesn’t feel that way.
In 2019, Forbes reported on a slew of accessibility issues surrounding Pride events. They highlighted how “parades can often be difficult for people with mobility issues because of uneven, long routes, extreme heat, and tight, narrow spaces.” Further, they added that smaller events often lack American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation, closed captioning, and accommodations for sensory issues. The Vancouver Pride Society has addressed a few of the above concerns: rerouting Pride to a more accessible route, adding ASL interpretation, and a low-sensory zone. However, this isn’t enough.
The 2SLGBTQIA+ community is no stranger to marginalization — as many might already know, Pride began as a form of protest. Fighting for queer rights was, and continues to be, an act of necessity and resistance. In the 1980s, the AIDS epidemic killed thousands, which sparked die-in protests to bring attention to it, which was largely ignored by the US government for years. While die-in protests didn’t originate with the AIDS epidemic, this early understanding of HIV — both its transmission and how it disproportionately affects the queer community — shaped Pride’s disease control for years to come. It sparked HIV prevention programs, and rapid testing allowed for early HIV detection at later Pride parades.
As of 2021, gay and bisexual men represent 56% of people living with HIV. Mpox (formerly known as monkeypox) also disproportionately affects queer men. The community’s experience with disease control allowed preventative measures like distributing safe sex supplies and seeking vaccination and early treatment to help with disease mitigation during the Mpox outbreak in 2022. That’s to say, the 2SLGBTQIA+ community is no stranger to organizing and protecting one another. Health, politics, and identity are deeply intertwined.
However, many queer and disabled people have been vocal about feeling excluded from the community. They report feeling abandoned and betrayed. Pride organizations consistently use the language of equity, diversity, and inclusion to make themselves appear progressive. As reported in Xtra Magazine, “Concepts like ‘safer spaces’ and ‘harm reduction’ meant to ‘keep each other safe’ now seem to come with the caveat: except from COVID-19.” In a community largely affected by immunodeficiency, we should be doing more to protect one another from COVID-19 and other contagious illnesses.
Like much of the rest of the world, Pride events have tucked COVID-19 in a corner as a thing of the past. The way COVID-19 cases have been reported on has changed to give the illusion of a pandemic that’s in a “better place” than it was three years ago. However, the little evidence that is available, points elsewhere. In 2022, there were more COVID-19 deaths than in 2020 and 2021. This doesn’t seem to be common knowledge. With less testing, it’s difficult to have a true grasp of current COVID-19 cases, which is why it’s important to not be overly reliant on one source of data. Independent reports, such as the ones by COVID-19 Resources point to higher levels of COVID-19 than official numbers. Spearheaded by a team of professors and researchers, these reports are made up of a plethora of information, putting together hospitalizations, deaths, and will soon be incorporating wastewater data. As of mid-July, COVID-19 outbreaks continue in hospitals throughout the province. The virus poses risks that go beyond the acute phase of infection. Further, with ongoing variants and asymptomatic cases, vaccination alone isn’t enough to drastically reduce transmission.
Most events are void of any COVID-19 mitigation measures, and when asked, organizations typically respond saying they’re “following provincial guidelines” or “cannot mandate masks.” Safety has been thrown out the window in favour of unsafe parties. Outdoor spread is also a concern in crowded spaces where airborne particles can remain for hours, infecting large groups of people. Celebrations don’t need to be all or nothing, but they can be more inclusive than they are now.
While the inclusion of certain accessibility requirements — such as providing shade — are not mandated by law, they are still necessary. So I ask, since when does the queer community take their guidance from the government? Never. The government has continually oppressed the 2SLGBTQIA+ community. Limiting love, marriage, and ignoring the mortality from the AIDS crisis has deeply scarred this community. Further, the US government has taken their own measures to protect themselves from COVID-19. If it’s such a non-issue for the rest of the population and COVID-19 is so over, why have they upgraded ventilation guidelines and continued testing requirements? The level of betrayal around Pride events doing the same to vulnerable, immunocompromise queers is unreal. Disabled queers have been extremely vocal in how unsafe pride events disproportionately affect the community and asked for mitigation efforts, yet we continue to be ignored and dismissed. We should be allowed to celebrate Pride safely.
When provincial restrictions were still in effect, organizations rushed to make every event as accessible to everyone as possible. We can do better because at one point, it was already standard. Further, a small number of organizations continue to acknowledge these harms and create accommodations accordingly.
This isn’t the first time the 2SLGBTQIA+ community has harmed those with intersecting identities. Historically, queer spaces have not always been welcoming to queers of colour. Experiences from the 1980s show that Black men were stereotyped in gay bars. In 2022, Canadian Black folks have also said they were called racial slurs and fetishsized in queer spaces. When disabled queers of colour reported seeing unsafe queer celebrations even while pandemic restrictions were in place, a Black trans person noted this made them doubt how the 2SLGBTIA+ community would protect them against trans or racial violence, if they wouldn’t even wear a mask.
The 2SLGBTQIA+ community is made of intersecting identities, with different people facing multiple forms of oppression. This is a part of why intersectionality and anti-oppressive action is so important for all social justice issues.
The Vancouver Pride Society asks people to refrain from wearing scents, but masks are not required across their events. This ignores a whole group of people who should be protected. To be clear, scents should be limited at events to protect those with sensitivities and provide a space that doesn’t threaten their well-being. However, the same should be said for illness mitigation. Similarly, while ASL interpretation is a great step forward, audio descriptions of the events at Pride are often lacking. Over the years, we have moved forward. Organizations acknowledging past harms and trying to expand their access is a good thing, but we can’t cherry pick and decide what is “necessary” and what isn’t when those who are directly affected are asking for more. Defensiveness and pointing to the official “guidelines” is not helpful. These guidelines do not mandate ASL interpretation or scent reduction — like masks, they are solely suggestions — and yet those are good policies to have in place for accessibility. The world has already left us behind, but in this community, we’d like to have something to celebrate.
