Prominent LGBTQ2 advocates will lead Okanagan Pride Marches | iNFOnews | Thompson-Okanagan's News Source
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Prominent LGBTQ2 advocates will lead Okanagan Pride Marches

The Okanagan Pride March in Kelowna in 2016.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED/Okanagan Pride Society

KELOWNA - Two highly renowned LGBTQ2 advocates will be leading marches during the tenth annual Okanagan Pride week.

Wilbur Turner, a pillar in Kelowna’s pride community, and Federal Liberal Member of Parliament, Randy Boissonnault, Special Advisory to the Prime Minister on LGBTQ2 issues, will each serve as Grand Marshal during two marches, according to a media release.

Turner, who served as the Okanagan Pride Society president from 2012 to 2015, will lead the Trans March on Thursday, Aug. 17. The march will go from the downtown Sails sculpture at the corner of Bernard Avenue and Abbott Street to the Laurel Packinghouse.

“Wilbur Turner has worked tirelessly and done so much to move Kelowna forward and create safe spaces for our local LGBTQ2 community,” Dustyn Baulkham, president of the Okanagan Pride Society, says in the release. “He’s a true hero for us and this is just one way we can say ‘thank you’ for all that he’s given to Kelowna.”

Turner helped start up Kelowna’s drop-in peer support group for LGBTQ2 youth called Etcetera. He also play a critical role in the first Trans March in 2015.

Boissonnault, who represents the riding of Edmonton Centre, was Alberta’s first openly gay elected Member of Parliament. He will be the Grand Marshal for the Pride March on Saturday, Aug. 19.

“It is an honour to be able to serve as the Grand Marshal for this year’s Pride Parade,” Boissonnault says in the release. “Standing up for human rights is one of the most important responsibilities of a Member of Parliament. Pride is about declaring that no matter whom you love or how you express who you are, you are special, you are beautiful and you belong.”

The Pride March will begin at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 19 at Stuart Park.


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