How Canada’s Pride events are changing amid rise in anti-LGBTQ2 online threats

Pride organizations across the country have been grappling with more threats, while anti-LGBTQ protesters have come out in force to oppose events held by the community year-round.

For the first time in its decade-long history, the Pride festival in Timmins, Ont., had to budget for security this year.

Previously, there had been no online threats, no reason to believe safety was any issue. But hateful anti-LGBTQ rhetoric has ramped up across the internet, and the northern Ontario city of 40,000 was not spared.

“Typically it’s $17,000 for our entire Pride Week, because we’re small; we’re little,” said Julie Nobert-DeMarchi, who serves as treasurer for Fierté Timmins Pride. “But our security bill was $3,000. That’s far different from what we’re accustomed to.”

Pride organizations across the country have been grappling with more threats, while anti-LGBTQ protesters have come out in force to oppose events held by the community year-round, such as child-friendly drag performances. It’s put security top of mind for Pride organizers — in some cases, for the very first time.

In Timmins, police were on hand for the parade, Nobert-DeMarchi said, but it was too pricey to also have officers at an inclusive drag brunch earlier in the day. Instead, the organization contracted private security.

One protester showed up to the kid-friendly event with a loudspeaker, she said, and volunteers formed what she described as a “wall of love” to separate that person from the attendees who were inside the Timmins Museum. They also blasted music to drown out what the protester was saying.

“We had a security plan,” she said. “We didn’t know how many people were going to show up to protest or what might happen, so we had to prepare for the worst. That makes it really difficult, because you’re thinking worst case scenario.”

Nobert-DeMarchi, who is also board president for Fierté Canada Pride, the national association of Pride organizations, said that group did a survey of its members ahead of this year’s Pride season.