Okanagan Pride Week organizers deal with protesters at many events – Okanagan | Globalnews.ca

Pride week came to a close in the Okanagan on Sunday, with record attendance at every event.

“One of the board members of the Kelowna Pride Society indicated that they believed there were about 15,000 people for the parade and festival yesterday,” said Wilbur Turner, president of the Canadian advocacy group.

However, almost every event received strong support from protesters.

“People say we’ve earned all our rights (and ask) why we’re proud,” Turner said.

“They feel they have a right to be against human rights,” said Darrien 'Dee' McWatters, vice-president of the Canadian advocacy group.

While the number of people attending the march outnumbered the number of protesters, the ongoing protests have deterred some from attending the event.

“For those who are vulnerable or marginalized, this could spark protests,” McWaters said. “For those who have strong opinions and strong allies, there’s a risk that they will be ignored if they speak out more loudly.”

As Global News reported last week, the drag community has been experiencing an increase in hate on social media, and now, Turner says any online content related to Pride Week is receiving a flood of hateful comments.

“We've seen some really horrible comments, and we had one particular Facebook post from Advocacy Canada where we got quite a few really nasty comments that we had to moderate and control,” Turner said.

A recent IPSOS poll found that Canada is close to the global average when it comes to support for the LGBTQIA+ community to be open about their sexual orientation or gender identity, but support is down 12% from 2021.

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