In late August 1973 Vancouver, along with Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Saskatoon and Winnipeg, all held a Gay Pride Week. This was a national celebratory event that included a range of events such as an art festival, a dance, picnic, a screening of a documentary and a Rally for Gay Rights that occurred at around the same time in all the participating cities.
In Vancouver over 300 people attended the arts festival and dance of the first day of the week, and many of them attended the rally on the steps of the courthouse on the following day. The initial events are also said to have been attended by straight onlookers.
The rally on August 25 marked the protest aspect of the otherwise celebratory. The aim of the protest was to “hear something of the growth of the gay movement and to declare their determination to continue the struggle.” In general the week combined elements of commemoration, celebration and protest for further change.
From the Homophile movement into Gay Liberation: The Pride Week of 1973 marks the shift in Vancouver from the Homophile movement into the Gay Liberation movement. The essence of the Homophile movement is that of assimilation into the general society as well as the creation of hidden network for gays and lesbians to meet one another and form a community. The Gay Liberation movement is more active and aims to achieve change through visibility and protest. Pride Week of 1973 was clearly a visible event aiming for openness and change, it was also the first one of its kind and is therefore a tangible shift of the mentality of the gay rights movement.
This was the first large scale event organized for the purpose of celebrating the community and actively pressing for change, thus it was a watershed event in the progression of Gay Liberation in Vancouver. Other sities, such as Toronto, had previously held similar events. For Vancouver, and others, it was a first.
The First Pride Parade: The Pride Week of 1973 also marked the emergence of the concept of gay pride and the first Pride Parade like event in Vancouver. The Rally was, although not flamboyantly colourful as Pride Parades are today, a typical Parade of the time. It marked visibility and unity on part of the gay community, it celebrated the difference of the members of the community and aimed to incite change. However, it wasn't until 1978 that the Pride Parade was organized in and of itself.
Due to the collaboration of Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and the other cities to organize Pride Week together, the event marks the unity, visibility and strength of the movement in Canada. It was a noticeable protest on a country wide basis. Thus this event is significant on a number of different levels, as it represents the shift from the Homophile movement into the Gay Liberation movement, it shows the emergence of the concept of gay pride, and it can also be considered to be the first Pride Parade in Vancouver.
Famous quotes containing the words pride and/or week:
“It was modesty that invented the word “philosopher” in Greece and left the magnificent overweening presumption in calling oneself wise to the actors of the spirit—the modesty of such monsters of pride and sovereignty as Pythagoras, as Plato.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“Family values are a little like family vacations—subject to changeable weather and remembered more fondly with the passage of time. Though it rained all week at the beach, it’s often the momentary rainbows that we remember.”
—Leslie Dreyfous (20th century)