My first Pride Parade! by Haya Abu Malek, Syria/Canada
Last Sunday I was in Montreal.
One of the main goals of my trip was to attend the Pride Parade for the first time ever!
Downtown was packed! Hundreds of people came from all the nations and backgrounds, heterosexual couples from all ages and religions. There was an elderly East Asian couple standing behind me the whole time, smiling and chatting with a lesbian couple. I heard them talking about the difference between East Asia countries and Canada when it comes to LGBT rights. Right next to us I noticed a very powerful sign about queer kids; I asked the lady holding it if I could take a photo and she accepted:
Then the “Liberal Party” people showed their support with all these flags and signs. Is it so pretty when politics and civil society stand together!
Finally the big surprise for me was seeing signs in Arabic. It read: It takes courage. Helem is a Lebanese organization in Montreal that supports the Arab LGBT community. They made us observe a minute of silence in solidarity with the LGBT community in the MENA region. It was so epic to see the Lebanese flag beside the Syrian Tunisian Algerian and Egyptian flags! Later they started to dance and spread some joy and fun!
At the end of the parade my thoughts stayed withe the LGBT community all around the world. People who can’t live their life without being afraid and threaten by their own society and government. People who have to live a double life in order to have a future…
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