It’s a little too late into the month to add more rainbow’s to the town for this years Pride Month.
Chris Beauchesne went before Town of Greater Napanee council last night with a deputation to advocate for more visible and accessible placement of the pride flag and for more visual support from the town of Greater Napanee during the month of June, the LGBTQ+ communities Pride Month. He said the placement of the flag at North Fred Hall is neither visible, accessible, or inclusive for everyone.
Beauchesne says the location of the flag is a visible representation of support.
He went on to say the LGBTQ+ community is at higher risk because of their unfair treatment and lack of support they experience in everyday lives just for being true to who they truly are.
A group has formed in Napanee and they had some suggestions of different locations for the flag to be flown.
Deputy Mayor Max Kaiser commented he’s sorry the discussion didn’t start sooner so it could be captured in this month.
Napanee Mayor Marg Isbester says everyone is treated exactly the same when it comes to flags.
Isbester says a solution would to be to put three new poles there.
Councillor Dave Pinnell noted the placement of all flags asked to be flown was moved to North Fred hall last year when COVID hit as there is more space, incase there would be a large crowd for a flag ceremony, everyone would be able to properly social distance.
Isbester went on to suggest the group starts to send in their proclamations for Pride Month in November, as they sometimes get doubled up with proclamations and adequate time for planning is needed. She noted some communities this year are using rainbow lights instead of flags.
Isbester says hopefully for next year there will be more attention payed. She said she would look to council to put out any motion to do more investigating to get a better policy as to what can be done.
She says she knows painting sidewalks and things like that, as long as it’s approved by council and staff, it’s not a bad idea.
Deputy Mayor Kaiser was thinking out loud and said he’s like to suggest it would be well received if a suggestion or multiple suggestions came from the community of what would work for all groups making declarations moving forward. Also to look back at past proclamations asking for flags and the falls to be lit and such, to see what worked and what didn’t. He said that could then go through staff to know what is reasonable, what’s the cost and what’s the impact.
A motion to note and receive the deputation from Beauchesne was made and carried.
To see more on this discussion with council, you can visit the Town of Greater Napanee YouTube page and view their June 8, 2021 Regular Session of Council. The deputation begins at the 4:38 time stamp.
