The pandemic’s forced isolation was needed to help Lauren Tows realize she was a lesbian.
“I think, like many people, the pandemic was one of the first times I was just forced to stop,” she told Faith Fundal in a morning broadcast on CBC Manitoba’s Information Radio.
“I didn’t really have anything else to do but think about my life and reevaluate, and I somehow came to the conclusion that I didn’t really do things the way I wanted to. I was just kind of following a pre-determined scenario that I didn’t realize at the time. “
Now in her 30s, the Winnipeg masseuse will attend the Pride Festival for the first time.
The festival began on Friday with the raising of the flag of pride at Winnipeg City Hall.
For Carolyn Welsh, raising the flag is a hope.
“I am a grandmother. I am a great-grandmother. I would like my children, my grandchildren, my great-grandchildren to be accepted as they are,” said Welsh, who attended Friday’s ceremony.
Toews says she has always been attracted to women, but attributes those feelings of gratitude to women, not romantic interest. Once she started taking them, everything changed, she said.
“I immediately said to myself, ‘That’s the way it should be.’ This excitement to date, not the fear of going to meetings and just completely different. “
The flag-raising ceremony is already an annual tradition attended by Mayor Brian Bowman and other city officials, but this has not always been the case.
“The first pride, I think, in 1987, was the presence of people carrying paper bags on their heads because they were afraid of losing their jobs, losing their careers, being brought out in front of their families and being ostracized. “Said Trevor Donner.
“Indeed, 1987 is not so long ago.”
This year marks the 35th anniversary of the first Pride Parade in Winnipeg.
Although there has been progress over the decades since then, the fight is not over, Donner said.
“There are still many rights and recognition that need to be earned for many different members of our community.”
Winnipeg City Council members and Pride Winnipeg volunteers raised the Pride flag at a town hall ceremony on Friday. (Randall Mackenzie / CBC)
Welsh came out as a lesbian when she was in her 40s. In 1999, she was taken to her employer, who told her that if she had known when she had been hired, they might not have given her the job, she said.
“We think we have come a long way, but we have a long way to go,” she said.
This will be the last festival of pride during Bowman’s time as mayor of Winnipeg, he said in a speech at the ceremony.
He spoke about the work the city has done to create a culture of inclusion, such as setting up a human rights committee on the council and a resource group for LGBTQ staff.
“The hospitality and generosity that many of you have shown to me and our family has really made me feel welcome and I just hope each of you will feel the same warmth and sense of belonging to our community and the city we all call at home every day, “Bowman said.
The festival has more than 50 events throughout the week, culminating in the annual Pride Parade on June 5.
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