Pride: A welcoming sign breaks through diversity pushback

Call it a welcoming local sign, amid a climate of pushback and protest against sexual and gender diversity that’s flared up in pockets of Southwestern Ontario this year.

Last year, Joel Emery posted a sign at the entrance to the Alzheimer Society of Chatham-Kent, where he’s the co-ordinator of fund development and administration, showing support for the 2SLGBTQIA+ community.

“From there, it sparked the question for me,” Emery said. “Wouldn’t it be nice to have a consistent sign for the whole community? The intention is for businesses and residents to post it in the window and have it displayed all year long.”

From that brainwave, a new window sign for businesses and households has been born, one in Pride-themed rainbow colors with a heart logo that proclaims “Our door is open to everyone.” The move comes as the annual Pride week celebration dawns in Chatham-Kent.

Through Chatham-Kent Pride, an umbrella group for the community, and the municipality, 1,000 of the small signs are now available for any business or resident who wants one.

Emery designed the poster and CK Pride is sponsoring the cost of the signs.

Some businesses have been posting their own signs over the years, said Rebecca Haskell-Thomas, the municipality’s co-ordinator of diversity, equity, inclusion and justice.

“This is just a little bit more (of a) formal way,” to show support, she said, adding it’s important for people to feel safe and included.

Emery said the aim is to raise awareness and show solidarity, given the overall rise in hate toward 2SLGBTQIA+ people, as well as vandalism and theft of flags and symbols.

He said the tensions are particularly heightened in the United States, but have trickled into Canada.

In Southwestern Ontario, public displays of support for sexual and gender diversity have come under fire in some areas this year, including the theft and vandalism of Pride flags and a movement in some areas to effectively ban the flying of Pride flags by insisting only government flags be flown on civic property. One such move, in Norwich Township in Oxford County, generated national headlines.

A brochure that accompanies the new Chatham-Kent sign explains its significance, along with resources and information on how to be a good ally of the community.

“We’ve been hearing, too, from a lot of allies, ‘How can I be supportive?’” Haskell-Thomas said. “This is just another way people can show their support.”

Nathan Dawthorne, CK Pride’s vice-president, said there’s still more work to be done.

“CK Pride welcomes this initiative as part of a wider movement of anti-oppression work of learning and unlearning, recognizing how actions and words matter and honoring the right to self-determination over one’s body, desires and needs,” he said.

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