As you may know I am enjoying the Olympics and writing for the Metro Blenz News Squad. I’ll be posting my blogs there over the coming weeks and then I’ll repost them here on my blog for you all to share as well. As always your comments are feedback are welcome.
By Marc Smith
Yesterday, Feb 11th, saw yet another first in Olympic history occur in Vancouver. The first ever Pride House was opened in the heart of Downtown Vancouver at Qmunity, BC’s Queer Resource Centre. While to those of you who are not a member of the LGBT community this may seem small and insignificant it is in fact a major accomplishment and milestone. One I felt proud to be apart of and thrilled to be able to show the world that Canada is truly a country where diversity is celebrated.
Professional and Olympic caliber sports are one of the last remaining hold outs where people in the LGBT community feel they need to hide their authentic selves for fear of rejection from their peers and of course the almighty $$$ support from business and associations.
Politics aside Pride House Vancouver means that LGBT friends and family in Vancouver + all those visitors from around the world have a safe space to come hang out and celebrate the Olympic Spirit with others from their community.
I attended the official opening ceremonies and here is a video of the brief opening remarks from Qmunity Executive Director Jennifer Breakspear.
Right after the official ceremonies were over I was lucky enough to get an on camera chat with inspirational Marian Lay a 2 time Olympian (1964 & 1968), bronze medalist in 1968 and an openly gay woman. Hear what she had to say about Pride House and what it means to her.
I’d love to hear your thoughts about Pride House Vancouver. Please feel free to comment here, or send me a tweet.
Marc Smith is Vancouver based event planner and will be reporting daily on various events happening around Vancouver. http://twitter.com/amuseconsulting
