The rainbow Pride flag flies between the flags of Medicine Hat and Canada in front of Medicine Hat city hall on Tuesday.--NEWS PHOTO RYAN MCCRACKEN
mccracken@medicinehatnews.com@MHNMcCracken
While Pride Week festivities were placed on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Medicine Hat Pride Association quietly celebrated Tuesday morning by hoisting the rainbow flag at city hall in support of the local LGBTQ+ community.
The event was streamed live over social media to help ensure distancing and public health guidelines were met, and featured a speech from former MHPA chair and president Dane McIsaac – one he says served as a “passing of the torch” to the association’s newly established board of directors.
“That’s exactly what it was,” said McIsaac. “It was basically just a thank-you to the community and a thank-you to the new board. I really appreciated my time helping out with the Pride Association and it was kind of like me stepping back a little more publicly from being such a major part of the Pride Association for the past almost two years.”
McIsaac added he felt it was important to organize the flag-raising ceremony, even with the pandemic preventing large gatherings from taking place, as a message of unity.
“It means a lot to show people – especially those who are stuck at home social distancing – it meant a lot for me to at least get the flag raising going this year to show that we know you’re there,” he said. “We still care about you and appreciate you, just hang in there because we’ll get together again.”
New MHPA chair and president Kaleigh McArthur echoed the sentiment, stressing the importance of providing a message of unity and flying the rainbow between the Medicine Hat and Canada flags in front of city hall.
“In light of us not being able to have any events this year, we decided to do the flag raising as a way of still celebrating and acknowledging the community in Medicine Hat,” said McArthur. “We just really wanted to have that out there today.”
McArthur says the newly formed board of directors is working toward bringing Pride Week celebrations back in full force for 2021, as well as some potential smaller-scale events in the months ahead.
“For 2021 we do have plans to have a Pride Week and Pride Festival events and stuff like that,” she said. “We’re working toward building some support systems in Medicine Hat. We’re working toward creating smaller events and letting our community feel safe in Medicine Hat, and have places to go, know where to go and who to talk to.”
