Last weekend, OPSEU/SEFPO joined with the North Bay community to make history and celebrate TLGBTIAPQQ2+ (Trans, bisexual, lesbian, gay, intersex, asexual, pansexual, queer, questioning, two spirited) communities at North Bay Pride.
On the Friday evening, OPSEU/SEFPO took to the streets to march in North Bay’s first ever Trans March.
The event also made history as the first ever Trans March in Northern Ontario.
The following day, labour and community activists marched together in solidarity at the North Bay Pride Parade for equal rights and workers’ rights.
In a speech to the parade, OPSEU/SEFPO’s first queer president JP Hornick called for greater ties between the labour movement and community activists.
“When labour and community work together, there’s nothing we can’t achieve,” said Hornick.
A theme of this year’s event included strengthening solidarity between Pride and the labour movement, with a report of talks taking place between labour leaders and pride organisers.
Along with events like the Trans March and Pride Parade, the weekend included a screening of the 2014 film Pride.
The film takes place in the UK in 1984 and is based on a true story about a group of TLGBTIAPQQ2+ activists who make allies with striking UK miners in their fight against Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her government’s neoliberal attacks on the working class.
Thank you to the organizers at North Bay Pride and Outloud for a great week of solidarity and for their on-going efforts to make the North Bay community a safe space!