🚀 go-pugleaf

(another article about this on page A12 of the Halifax Herald)

Halifax, Nova Scotia -- Pride Festival Wins Hallmark Status in Council 
Vote

Halifax Regional Council voted last night to make the Halifax Pride 
Festival (July 18 - 26) a Hallmark Event and awarded the Pride Committee 
$25,000 towards this year's celebration. This was a recommendation from 
HRM?s Special Events Advisory Committee (SEAC) and was put before 
Council by SEAC Chair, Councillor Brad Johns. Councillors Dawn Sloane 
and Jennifer Watts spoke in favor of the motion, noting the hard work of 
the Pride Committee and that Halifax had become a truly welcoming place 
for the gay community; no councillors spoke against. "This is an 
extraordinary moment," said Halifax Pride Chair Hugo Dann. "This places 
Halifax Pride in the same category as HRM's signature cultural events 
like the Jazz Festival, the Film Festival, and Scotia Festival of Music."

In 1988, 75 brave men and women marched down Spring Garden Road and into 
history as the first Pride Parade in Halifax. With no human rights 
protections in place, many of the marchers had to conceal their 
identities behind paper masks. It was only in recent years, under Mayor 
Peter Kelly, that Halifax Pride Week was officially proclaimed and the 
Pride Flag flown at Halifax City Hall.

"This year's theme is Breaking Down Walls; Building Bridges, which is 
kind of appropriate, when you think of it," said Dann. "There are some
municipalities in Nova Scotia that have recently gone to extraordinary 
lengths not to fly the Rainbow Flag. Halifax Regional Council 
recognizing Pride as a Hallmark Festival is a major symbolic victory for 
our whole community," said Dann. I guess you could say that in our 21st 
year, we've come of age."

Halifax Pride is the largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender & queer 
(LGBTQ) cultural event in Atlantic Canada, and the 4th largest Pride 
Festival in the country. As many as 75,000 people now take part in 
Halifax Pride events. It's estimated that $2,000,000 is generated for 
the local economy during Halifax Pride Week.

This year's festival takes place from July 18 -- 26th, with the Pride 
Parade on Saturday, July 25.

Halifax Pride Week
July 18 - 26, 2009
http://www.halifaxpride.ca/