About 200 people, including youth, family members, community volunteers, and allies, capped off local Pride 2023 celebrations in Prince Edward County late last month with a celebration in Picton’s Benson Park with free food, music, entertainment, and games.

The Greater Than Youth Collective (GTYC) hosted the event.

Several volunteers and supporting local businesses and members of the Prince Edward OPP detachment ensured Pride 2023 passed in fabulous fashion.

“I am proud of the community support, and how many youth ambassadors we had to make this happen,” said GTYC communications manager Hailey Claxton. “Our community came out on top and proved that we are LGTBQ+ safe, Allies, and friendly.”

One doesn’t have to look too far to see how Pride has expanded and grown in recent years. Pointing to the Pride sidewalk at PECI and youth-led events at Benson Park, Ms. Claxton noted many progressive advancements in the past 24 months.

The GTYC emphasized how critical it is to remove barriers for young people. It ensured all youth and community members in the county had access to free, accessible transportation to and from the event provided by County Transit.

“Accessible, free, and inclusive events are important to build a sense of belonging and connection in the community. Removing barriers and stigma that youth face in Prince Edward County is a process that we’re dedicated to, in response to research launched in 2018, and 2021, that indicates that non-heterosexual youth experienced lower life satisfaction, and felt more sad, lonely, nervous, and unsafe in their community than their heterosexual peers.”

More broadly, the research in 2021 also indicated only 25 out of 72 youth aged 12-29 always had enough money for basic needs and 47 did not. Ms. Claxton explained raising awareness around the barriers youth face, and co-designing solutions to tackle them as a community is always worthwhile.

Throughout the planning and execution of this year’s pride event, several participants expressed the wish that there was “something like this” when they were growing up here. 

“Having a feeling of safety and a sense of belonging in your community is so important. By practicing allyship we can create endless opportunities for equity, inclusivity, and diversity in our community. Greater Than was named this because ‘together our work is Greater Than the sum of our parts’ and allyship is another name for working together,” said Ms. Claxton.