Advocates rally in annual Dyke and Trans March amid rising anti-LGBTQ sentiment
CBC
Gio Dolcecore took to the streets on Saturday alongside hundreds of advocates, allies and community members to send a message of solidarity.
"We have to gather not necessarily to celebrate but to continue to be activists and advocate for rights, for visibility, for community, for us to be able to gather peacefully," Dolcecore said.
Dolececore is one of the organizers of this year's Treaty 7 Dyke and Transgender March — a grassroots event separate from the larger, mainstream Pride parade.
The Dyke March started as a riot and protest and continues to be held in many cities across the world as a protest. The first march in Calgary was held in 2010, later merging into into the Dyke and Trans March four years later.
While both Pride and the march are historically rooted in protest, it is widely seen that the latter takes a stronger, more political stance than its widely covered counterpart.
On Saturday, marchers were seen wearing t-shirts with words like "Queer as in f*** you" and "REBEL" printed on them. Some were holding signs that read "Be Gay. Do Crime" and "Pride is Protest."
"It's a less corporate, more radical and local form of Pride," said Aya Hamid. She's been to other Dyke Marches in other cities, including San Francisco, but this was her first in Calgary.
"It wasn't really centring more marginalized lesbians …but I feel like this one is a lot more inclusive."
The march is typically held annually, but the COVID-19 pandemic has prevented the trans and lesbian communities from gathering and marching together since March of 2019.
Since that time, however, a lot has changed for the LGBTQ community.
There's been a growing wave of LGBTQ opposition and an anti-transgender narrative across Alberta and Canada for the last several months.
Numerous drag shows and events have been met with protests since the beginning of this year — with some getting cancelled or rescheduled due to threats of violence against the transgender and drag communities.
Most recently in Fort Macleod, Alta., the historic Empress Theatre was damaged when four youths released a foul-smelling substance during a drag show.
It goes beyond the cancellations of events and the opposition of the LGBTQ community from the public, Docecore said.
All public schools on P.E.I. are closed Friday and thousands of Maritime Electric customers are without power as strong winds create hazardous travel conditions across the province.
Prince Rupert, B.C., residents are celebrating the holidays this year with coastal flair.
In the four years Chelsey Simmonds has worked at the Eva Rothwell Centre, she has seen the need increase every year at the centre’s community food pantry.
CBC is once again looking to make the holiday season kind in Windsor-Essex.
Acute Care Alberta has extended its contract for another year with a private surgical facility at the centre of probes into health procurement and contracting.
As food bank use continues to climb across the province, front-line workers in Thunder Bay, Ont., are working to improve both food security and education.
More ads could soon be coming to Toronto’s subway system.
The driver wanted in connection with a fatal hit and run on Highway 401 earlier this week has been identified, police say.
There are mixed feelings about the proposed Grays Bay road and port project, among people who live in nearby communities.
WARNING: This story details allegations of child abuse and includes graphic content.
Provincial police in Lambton County have charged a 23-year-old man with second degree murder following a death investigation that began this past Saturday.
The Newfoundland and Labrador government is forming a working group to tackle what it calls systemic issues in the justice system, but answers or solutions could still be months away.
A woman has pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing death in a 2024 fatal hit and run in Truro, N.S., where the victim was dragged down the street, a case that went unsolved for more than six months.