NWT Pride kicks off tomorrow, with cupcakes at the post office from 11:30 a.m. until 1 p.m.
The festival at Somba K’e Park starts on Saturday and will feature workshops about makeup, sexual health, coming out and much more.
Tomorrow they will be hosting a workshop called ‘Defining Ourselves’, which will be an open discussion about the LGBTQ+ acronym and how the community defines itself.
Storm Larocque, President of NWT Pride says this is an important conversation to have.
“We’re hoping that more people are willing and comfortable to show up to our space, and have these conversations,” Larocque says.
She says having tough conversations has been a focus of the organization.
“We’ve had a lot of really difficult conversations this year and we want to continue having those conversations, as difficult as they are,” she says.
“Personally, I just really encourage anybody, no matter your sexual or gender orientation, or your affiliation with political parties or whatever, we want to have conversations about all of this kind of stuff. Like what labels people want to use, and you know, educating people so that we’re all on the same page.”
There’s been a culture in recent years of ‘well just Google it,’ Larocque says. But because Google’s search engine is algorithm-based, a person’s results are based upon their previous search history.
“So the person you’re telling that to might not necessarily get the information that you’re hoping they’re going to get,” Larocque explains.
“So our focus this year is trying to get everybody on the same page, and having these conversations so that everybody is comfortable being around each other. And using the same language so that it’s respectful or understanding that maybe not everybody’s comfortable with the same language.”
Tomorrow’s festival at Somba K’e Park will also include a free barbecue starting at 11 a.m., workshops and a children’s play area.
Check out NWT Pride’s full Somba K’e event schedule below:
The Somba K’e festival will be f0llowed by a Queer and Trans celebration at the Legion, starting at 7 p.m.
