<html﻿>﻿

﻿<head﻿>﻿<script type="text/javascript" src="https://web-static.archive.org/_static/js/bundle-playback.js?v=2N_sDSC0" charset="utf-8"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="https://web-static.archive.org/_static/js/wombat.js?v=txqj7nKC" charset="utf-8"></script>﻿
﻿<script>window.RufflePlayer=window.RufflePlayer||{};window.RufflePlayer.config={"autoplay":"on","unmuteOverlay":"hidden","showSwfDownload":true};</script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="﻿https://web-static.archive.org/_static/﻿js/ruffle/ruffle.js"></script>
﻿<script type="text/javascript">
  ﻿  __wm.init(﻿"https://web.archive.org/web"﻿);
  __wm.wombat(﻿"http://www.newsocialist.org/old_mag/magazine/11/article13.html"﻿,﻿"20100626201426"﻿,﻿"https://web.archive.org/"﻿,﻿"web"﻿,﻿"https://web-static.archive.org/_static/"﻿,
	      "﻿1277583266﻿");
</script>
﻿<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="https://web-static.archive.org/_static/css/banner-styles.css?v=1utQkbB3" />
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="https://web-static.archive.org/_static/css/iconochive.css?v=3PDvdIFv" />﻿
﻿<!-- End Wayback Rewrite JS Include -->
﻿

﻿<title﻿>﻿New Socialist Magazine, More Than 300 March in Sudbury's First Pride Parade - Article﻿</title>﻿

﻿<meta﻿ ﻿name="description"﻿ ﻿content="New Socialist Group socialism communism  socialists communists "﻿>﻿

﻿<meta﻿ ﻿name="keywords"﻿ ﻿content="socialism, communism, socialists, communists, marx, marxists, marxism, Marx, Marxists, Marxism, Canada, politics, anarchism, Trotsky, trotskyism, NDP, radical, revolution, revolutionary, Lenin, leninism, leninist, Luxemburg, working class, 1917, syndicalism, radicalism, union, labour, anarchy"﻿>﻿

﻿</head>﻿


﻿<body﻿ ﻿topmargin="20"﻿ ﻿leftmargin="20"﻿ ﻿marginheight="20"﻿ ﻿marginwidth="20"﻿ ﻿bgcolor="#FFFFFF"﻿>﻿


﻿<font﻿ ﻿face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"﻿ ﻿size="5"﻿ ﻿color="#000000"﻿>﻿

﻿<center﻿>﻿

﻿<b﻿>﻿More Than 300 March in Sudbury's First Pride Parade 

﻿<br﻿>﻿</b>﻿</font>﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿


﻿<font﻿ ﻿face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"﻿ ﻿size="2"﻿ ﻿color="#000000"﻿>﻿

by David M. Musico﻿<br﻿>﻿

﻿<i﻿>﻿New Socialist Magazine, December 1997 - January 1998﻿</i>﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

﻿</center>﻿


More than 300 lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and supporters came out in Sudbury July 19 in the first ever lesbian and gay pride parade in northern Ontario. In a city where there have been few out lesbian and gay activists this event was of historic significance. Those of us organizing the event were expecting 60 people. When more than 300 turned up we were ecstatic.

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

A mythology had been developed in Sudbury that there were few lesbians, gays, and bisexuals living here and that there was majorhostility to us in the city. This mythology has helped to prevent many people from coming out publicly. Others out of fear obstructed organizing efforts undertaken by other lesbians and gay men in the community. Those of us who grew up in Sudbury often felt alone and there were very few social paces available to us. Some in the straight world claimed that gays and lesbians were a southern Ontario or big city phenomenon. While one church decided to "pray" for our souls the success of the parade and the widespread support it received has demolished this mythology and this will boost lesbian and gay organizing efforts on a number of fronts.

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

In June 1997 a few lesbian and gay activists got together who thought it was time for a public affirmation of lesbian and gay pride and visibility in the city. A Sudbury Pride Committee with the theme of "Out and Proud" was formed with up to 20 people attending meetings. The idea caught on in the various lesbian and gay circles in the city and a lot of very good media and outreach work was done. The Mayor was approached for his support and he issued a proclamation in support ofthe Pride events.

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

On the day of the parade itself hundreds of lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals came out from Sudbury and other centres in northeastern Ontario. The Pride Committee put energy into ensuring that other community and social justice groups were also present. On the day the Sudbury Coalition for Social Justice, Food Not Bombs, the Sudbury Women's Centre, the Sudbury Sexual Assault Crisis Centre, the Campaign Against Employment Discrimination, ACCESS-- the AIDS Committee of Sudbury, and many other groups were there. Unfortunately, no union banners were present.

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

The rally before the march heard from Mary Ross who experienced experienced discrimination at a local LOEB grocery store, Greg Pavelich of the Coalition for Lesbian and Gay Rights in Ontario, and from local NDP MPP Floyd Laughren. Then we marched and danced through the downtown streets. Outside Backstreet (a heterosexual club which a group of young lesbians and gay men were thrown out of last year) we chanted "Shame, Shame." Outside Diane Marleau's office (a member of the federal Liberal cabinet) we held a "die-in" to remember people who have died of AIDS and cancer and to protest inadequate government policies on these questions.

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

We came out of our closets, were out and proud and challenged heterosexism. Sudbury has been changed and there now is a wider layer of our lesbians, gays, and bisexuals organizing for our liberation and also involved as out activists in other social justice efforts. Pride Day this year was a major breakthrough. We have created a space for those living in northeastern Ontario to affirm their pride. The Pride Committee has decided to make this an annual event and next year's event will be bigger and better.

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿


﻿<font﻿ ﻿size="1"﻿>﻿David M. Musico, a member of the Sudbury New Socialists﻿</font>﻿</font>﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿


﻿<form﻿>﻿<input﻿ ﻿type="button"﻿ ﻿value="Close"﻿ ﻿onclick="top.close()"﻿>﻿</form>﻿


﻿</body>﻿

﻿</html>﻿<!--
     FILE ARCHIVED ON ﻿20:14:26 Jun 26, 2010﻿ AND RETRIEVED FROM THE
     INTERNET ARCHIVE ON ﻿09:49:39 Mar 05, 2026﻿.
     JAVASCRIPT APPENDED BY WAYBACK MACHINE, COPYRIGHT INTERNET ARCHIVE.

     ALL OTHER CONTENT MAY ALSO BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT (17 U.S.C.
     SECTION 108(a)(3)).
-->
<!--
﻿playback timings (ms):
﻿  ﻿captures_list﻿: ﻿0.756﻿
﻿  ﻿exclusion.robots﻿: ﻿0.056﻿
﻿  ﻿exclusion.robots.policy﻿: ﻿0.041﻿
﻿  ﻿esindex﻿: ﻿0.012﻿
﻿  ﻿cdx.remote﻿: ﻿11.438﻿
﻿  ﻿LoadShardBlock﻿: ﻿277.306﻿ (﻿3﻿)
﻿  ﻿PetaboxLoader3.datanode﻿: ﻿200.467﻿ (﻿4﻿)
﻿  ﻿PetaboxLoader3.resolve﻿: ﻿70.484﻿ (﻿2﻿)
﻿  ﻿load_resource﻿: ﻿124.382﻿
﻿--�