Pride Weekend was held over the June 11 weekend in Brandon, with events to raise awareness happening all around the city thanks mostly to the efforts of the women at the Sexuality Education Resource Centre.

Kerri Law and Amanda Van Weert were two of the leaders behind the weekend’s activities, including a ‘lunch and learn’ hosted by Clancy’s, which presented two speakers from the Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual/Transgender/Questioning community who talked about important issues within the community and shared some of their personal stories.

“The whole weekend went really well,” said Law. “Especially the lunch and learn. We had 46 people show up for that, and I think next year we can easily draw a crowd twice that size.”

Also going on during the weekend was:

• The Pride Social, held at the North Hill Inn and put on by Brandon Pride Planning Committee, which featured two drag queen performers and recorded about 80 people in attendance;

• Pride at City Hall community event meant to help raise awareness in the community with booths by Rainbow Resource Centre from Winnipeg, PFLAG Canada, Brandon University, and Misty Street, all featuring educational information and activities for kids to enjoy and learn from.

• A Pride Week service Sunday at Knox United Church, one of the few churches in Western Manitoba which has an openly gay pastor, David Cathcart.

“We have been involved in Pride Awareness Week activities in Brandon for the past three years,” said Law. “So far, we have never had a single protester, which is a very good feeling and something the community should be proud of.”

SERC tries to stay active in community education beyond just Pride Week, offering a lending library full of informational books for children, teens and adults exploring their own sexuality, parents and families of GLBTQ people, and teenagers curious about their ever-changing bodies. As well as the library, SERC brings in a councillor once a month from Rainbow Resource Centre, gives away free condoms, and is starting a “Let’s Talk” program in schools and universities in late fall this year.

“‘Let’s Talk’ is something we are putting a lot of time and attention into,” said Law. “It will let us offer educational workshops on sexuality and diversity, as well as parenting workshops. We want to talk to kids about sexuality and acceptance.”

SERC considers Pride Weekend in Brandon a major priority, and it plans to expand on celebrations next year.

“We are definitely going to put on another lunch and learn,” said Van Weert. “It was a very community-driven event and a huge success. A new event we hope to go ahead with next year would be a parade; we would love to put on a Pride parade in Brandon.”

Although Pride Week is focused on the GLBTQ community, Van Weert says it isn’t all about them.

“Pride isn’t only for the GLBTQ community; it’s more for the entire community of Brandon to celebrate our diversity and acceptance.”