After being rained out last Thursday, families and other groups enjoyed a sunny day on May 25 to repaint the Pride crosswalk outside of St. Albert Place, in the first year of painting since the Outloud St. Albert group ceased operations last year.
Rotary Club of St. Albert member, city council candidate, and organizer Kevin Malinowski said it was important for Rotary and other organizations, such as PFLAG St. Albert, Pride in the Park, take over in the wake of Outloud St. Albert's discontinuation. Malinowski was also the Outloud board president.
"It's hard to remember the queer society is not yet supported. It is a very marginalized society," Malinowski said in his opening address to the attendees. He added that the event fit in very well with Rotary Club as a "peace-building club."
"We're very very pleased to help and keep this great project going," he said.
Stepping up
Other organizations stepped up after Outloud St. Albert ceased operations last year, with its final act being the repainting of the crosswalk in 2024. PFLAG St. Albert and Pride in the Park were some, with Rotary Club helping fund the painting this year.
"I saw this as the perfect opportunity that we could take over and keep something going that St. Albert needed, and it's going to be needed for many years to come," Malinowski said in an interview. He added at some point, an actual 2SLGBTQIA+ organization may want to take it back. But for now, the crosswalk painting remains in Rotary Club's hands.
"The city wants to keep it going, and we want to make sure we can keep it a non-city funded project, so that there can't be any complaints," he said.
Community support
City politicians and various members of different groups and organizations spoke during the Sunday morning event, expressing their support for the 2SLGBTQIA+ community and the crosswalk painting.
In her address to the crowd, St. Albert Mayor Cathy Heron said she initially struggled to find the words to say because she wondered why the fight for equality and for people to "be their genuine self" was so necessary in today's society.
"If it is a choice, it's your choice to make. And if it's not, it's for no one else to make. Yet we're here. And I'm so thankful that here in St. Albert as a community that does support the right to be your genuine self. Here we support, we tolerate, but we also really celebrate," Heron said. "We want people – regardless of skin colour, regardless of who you love and regardless of who you pray to – to feel that there is no better and no safer place to be than here in St. Albert."
She looked out at the young faces in the crowd and said she saw future actors, lawyers, doctors, potentially a future mayor.
"But hopefully, whoever you are, and however I see you, that doesn't really matter," she said. "I want you to see yourself. And I want you to be able to enjoy who you look at when you see yourself in the mirror. Because you are special, as this crosswalk is proving that."
PFLAG St. Albert lead Clarice Hursin expressed thanks to the Rotary Club and the various sponsors for taking on the Pride crosswalk and ensuring it continued.
"Thank you for keeping this visual representation of St. Albert's support of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community alive," Hursin said. "We are so grateful for your donation. We see your hard work. We see your dedication to marginalized populations, and we appreciate each and every one of you."
Lucas Anders from Co-operators, one of the crosswalk's sponsors, said it is important to have this kind of visibility in the community.
"As somebody who grew up in high school and never really saw myself represented, this is important," Anders said. "That kids in the community are seen and are told they're OK to be who they are."
Important to keep going
Malinowski said it was important to treat and reference the crosswalk with the importance of the community it is meant to represent.
"As soon as we call it a rainbow crosswalk, we minimize it. We have to make sure it is a Pride crosswalk," Malinowski said. He added that in posting about the event online, he received some hate online.
"You push back a little bit, and you usually find that they can't give you an argument to why they don't like it," he said. "It's been ingrained in their society. And because that's there, that's our proof that we need to keep going until we can stop that."
Other Pride events will be happening soon, Malinowski said, including Pride in the Park on June 28. And on June 5, Heron and other council members will raise a Pride flag at St. Albert Place on June 5 to honour Pride month.
