Safety concerns heightened in wake of Steinbach Pride threats: queer advocate

Queer organizers say the loss of Steinbach Pride has hurt fundraising efforts and forced events to have more security.

Angelica Brunger, executive director of queer resource centre Band of Colours, said the decision to cancel Pride limited how much fundraising and program advertising the charity can do.

Steinbach Pride was cancelled on Sept. 13, after threats of violence were made towards the event. Organizers at the time said the threats were in retaliation to the killing of American conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

“There’s not really a lot of avenues for us to advertise in a safe space and feel completely safe with advertising,” Brunger, who uses she/they pronouns, told The Carillon.

The charity was planning to sell tickets at the parade for its biggest event of the year, a Christmas concert in December, because Pride was seen as the largest welcoming gathering for the queer community, they said.

Since Band of Colours doesn’t have its own centre to operate from, selling the tickets and the getting the word out for the concert is now more difficult, Brunger said. It also created challenges when generating awareness for the charity’s drop-in program and other workshops, such as pumpkin carving, they noted.

Because of the lack of advertising and fundraising at Pride, Brunger said they’ve had to downsize the Christmas concert event.

“We wanted to have local art vendors at this event. We wanted to have a bake sale. We wanted to serve alcohol, and now with all those factors, we’re slowly having to take away one by one, and it’s just dwindling the whole event itself,” Brunger said.

They said since Pride was cancelled, it’s motivated the queer community to be vocal and “fill the gap Pride has left.”

But the threats have also made people wary and careful when trying to organize events and gatherings, Brunger said. For certain events, they’ve decided to keep the address and details private due to the recent threats.

“It’s definitely fueled a fire and has motivated us to do more, but at the same time, it has given us a lens of caution,” they said.

Brunger is also considering having security at every event going forward to make people more comfortable in attending, amid the safety threats. They’ve previously hired security for the charity’s first 18 plus drag show on Aug. 16.

But following the recent threats, finding security is now more difficult, Brunger said. The firm they previously hired has since refused to work with the organization, citing a need to protect its own staff because they aren’t armed, Brunger noted. They said talks with the RCMP for providing security have taken place.

There’s already been discussions for an alternative event to Pride later this fall, but Brunger didn’t disclose any details about the event due to safety concerns.

Trevor Kirczenow, founder of Manitoba Mobile Music, is worried about queer people losing open spaces for them to feel comfortable, following Pride being cancelled. Their organization was slated to perform at Steinbach Pride.

They remember being nervous and scared to attend a support group meeting at Winnipeg’s Rainbow Resource Centre 20 years ago. If there was requirement for signing up then and reveal their name in advance, they doubt they would’ve attend.

“‘I’m worried about our community right now, I worry about people who really need that support, who need a welcoming space, and whether they are going to feel comfortable going and whether they’re going to even know about it,” Kirczenow said.

It’s going to be harder to plan and make people aware of events in advance now because of the safety measures that need to be in place, he said. Being able to gather as a community is protective because it can support people who are grappling with their identity and reassures people that they’re not alone, Kirczenow said.

The queer community has become a convenient target for people looking to blame a group, following Kirk’s killing, said Jason Hannan, a University of Winnipeg rhetoric and communications professor. The cancellation of Pride has serious impacts on freedom of expression, he said. Freedom of speech and assembly is judged by looking at the most vulnerable communities and if they’re being silenced.

“It unfortunately shows that we don’t have as free of a society as we would like to think we do here in Canada,” he said. “No minority community should have to be afraid to hold a parade.”

He said growing extremism and political alienation needs to be addressed to protect vulnerable minorities, like the queer community.