Image Credit: Shutterstock

A Vernon councillor who voted against the city's rainbow crosswalk six years ago has voted against flying the rainbow flag from city hall in recognition of the city's first-ever pride week.

The rest of council, except the mayor who was away, all agreed the flag should be flown but Scott Anderson voted against it at the July 18 meeting.

"I do not agree it should be used for social issues, it's wading into territory we should not be in," Coun. Anderson told the meeting.

Coun. Kari Gares, who put forward the motion at the request of Vernon Pride, was the first to respond to Coun. Anderson's comment.

"I think we already waded into (that) territory when we raised the Ukrainian flag," Coun. Gares said. "I’m in full support of it."

Coun. Anderson later told iNFOnews.ca that if it was a religious symbol he would have voted against it too.

"If it was any sort of (social) cause I would have voted against it, ... I just don't think the role of city council should be to promote or disallow or weigh in on matters of culture," he said.

However, Vernon Pride member Sally Snarf doesn't agree.

"Pride Week is not a social issue, it's a political and human rights issue," Snarf said. "It's important that people in council and in political positions in communities get very involved with... pride week and making sure that it's an integrated part of our society."

Snarf was highly critical of Anderson's stance.

"If communities and folks like Anderson continue to reject progressive approaches to inclusion in communities we'll continue to see homophobia and transphobic acts of violence that are completely preventable and really don't lead to much justice for the queer community," they said.

Snarf said growing up in Vernon as a member of the LGBTQ2S+ community wasn't easy.

"It was not a safe place to be a queer person then," Snarf said.

They said having the rainbow flag flying meant the LGBTQ2S+ community felt seen and visible.

"It's also acknowledging that there are a lot of people that still aren't safe to be out to be celebrating in their communities whether it's here in B.C. in Canada or other communities and also there are a lot of lives that have been lost due to transphobia and homophobia," Snarf said.

Vernon's first ever pride week takes place from Aug. 8 to Aug. 14. For more information go here.

To contact a reporter for this story, email Ben Bulmer or call (250) 309-5230 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.

We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above. 

News from © iNFOnews, 2022