About Pride Hamilton

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Pride Hamilton incorporated in November 2018 and plans an annual event in Gage Park (following the success of Pride 2018). Pride 2018 was run by a group of local community volunteers who wanted to put on a large celebration in a central city park.

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Our first official Pride as an organization took place in 2019 at Gage Park. Pride organizing in Hamilton has been happening since 1991. Pride will be celebrating its 30th Anniversary in 2021.

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Pride Hamilton does not define itself using traditional mission, vision, or values statements. While we will continue to support and stand with Hamilton's Two Spirit and LGBTQIA+ communities, the main focus of our organization is to plan Pride events in the months of May and June each year. We hope to expand this work as the organization builds capacity. Pride Hamilton gave a presentation at a Community Meeting on March 10, 2020 to let the Hamilton community know where we stand with respect to organizing for this year's event. A summary of that presentation is below.

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Where We Stand

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Pride is committed to a safe and inclusive Pride 2020 and is committed to being transparent and accountable. The statements below define how we envision that happening for Pride 2020. If you have questions about these statements, please contact us at pride@pridehamilton.com. These statements are summarized from a Community Meeting that Pride Hamilton held on March 10, 2020.

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*A full slide deck of that presentation can be found at https://tinyurl.com/Pride-Community-Meeting.

 

SAFETY

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Pride will release a public safety plan at the conclusion of the City of Hamilton's special event application (SEAT) process. We will continue to focus on a balanced approach to what "safety" means to all communities including those that feel that police make Pride spaces less safe. Pride will also be restructuring the park layout to take up more space, increasing paid security, and inviting community allies to stand with Pride.

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INCLUSION
 

Pride introduced a new Outreach Coordinator position for 2020 and will expand the Family & Youth area (including the addition of live performances). Pride will be partnering with the Hamilton Public Library to offer workshops across the city and will continue to meet with members of Hamilton's Two Spirit and LGBTQIA+ communities to discuss their priorities and incorporate their feedback.

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TRANSPARENCY
 

Pride will continue to hold meetings, before and after Pride, to let folks in our communities know where things stand including discussions in advance of important decision-making and debriefs. We will create more surveys to connect with communities and get feedback. Pride will be inviting applications to its Board of Directors after Pride 2020. Its expanded Board will receive detailed anti-racism, anti-oppression, and governance training as part of the planning process for Pride 2021.

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ACCOUNTABILITY

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Pride continues to do the work necessary to hold itself accountable while acknowledging that it is not a monolith. Pride will continue to speak out about the impacts of trauma experienced by those who attend Pride events and the open wounds our communities carry with them as a result. We acknowledge the work we all must do as part of the Calls for Justice in the final report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.