Spate of homophobic vandalism puts southern Manitoba LGBTQ community on edge
CBC
For Jessi Ingalls, this weekend's Pride parade in the southern Manitoba city of Morden was supposed to be a celebration.
But after having a Pride flag ripped from the home she shares with her partner and two children last weekend, she says she's now going to Saturday's parade as an act of defiance.
"It's definitely more of a protest. It's not so much a celebration," she said Friday.
"It's more of 'we're here and we're not going away, and you need to either learn to love and accept that or be quiet.'"
The tearing down of Ingalls's flag overnight last Saturday is one of several acts of homophobic vandalism in the Pembina Valley region, as Morden — a city of just over 9,000 — prepares for its second ever Pride parade, following one in 2019.
A van, two Pride flags, and a church have all been vandalized recently in Morden and the nearby city of Winkler.
The day before her flag was torn down, Ingalls said she was having a yard sale when someone working for a political campaign showed up and tried to start a debate.
"I asked him to leave after explaining that they're hurting people. And then that night, overnight, our flag was ripped off."
The following day, a van that belonged to a friend in Winkler, which had been decorated for Pride, was spray-painted with a homophobic slur, Ingalls said.
"She's got five kids, and they have to drive around with that van like that, when it's supposed to be spreading love and kindness and acceptance."
And on Wednesday, rainbow-coloured decorations outside St. Paul's United Church in Morden were torn down and left in the street.
The church's minister, Carrie Martens, said she was expecting something like that to happen — so the church bought extra supplies.
Unfortunately, these acts of hostility aren't new to Martens, who identifies as part of the queer community. During Pride month last year, Martens says she fielded an angry phone call over a rainbow flag in the church's window "indicating that I was leading my congregation to hell."
But in recent months, it feels like that anger is growing, Martens said.
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