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MONDAY, JULY 7, 2014
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 Arthur WILLIAMS Citizen staff awilliams@pgcitizen.ca
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                      undreds of people gathered downtown on Saturday to celebrate Pride Week in i Prince George and show their support for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community.
   More than 30 organizations took part in the city’s 18th annual Pride Parade downtown on Saturday, parade organizer and Pride Prince George past president Valentine Crawford said.
   “We’ve arrived. It’s not a protest movement anymore - it’s celebrating that community with everybody,” Crawford said. “There were a lot of people who showed up [after registration closed] and wanted to participate. We don’t turn anybody away. There were [RCMP] members in red serge this year. We have more paramedics, more non-profits participating.” People from all walks of life lined the parade route, which began and ended at City Hall, to cheer the procession that featured plenty of colourful costumes, music, floats and a 30-foot-long rainbow flag.
   Grand marshals Barry Williams and Michael Pockett, local business owners and Pride volunteers, led the parade in a convertible.
   “We’ve been working with the Pride community, or gay community, for 12 years,” an emotional Pockett told the crowd before the parade. “This is quite an honour to be able to lead the parade today.” David Parsons let it all hang out during the parade - dancing on a float in only his underwear.
   “It takes quite a bit of courage. But when you get up there and start shaking your ass, it’s not bad,” Parsons said. “It’s less hard than you think.”
   Bystander Kendra Mitchell-Foster said it was important for her and her wife to see the support for the gay, lesbian and transgender community.
   “We moved to town in September from Vancouver,” Mitchell-Foster said. “It was really important for us to know, now that we live here, if this is a good place to live.” Sussanne Skidmore, B.C. Government and Service Employees’ Union executive vice president,
CITIZEN PHOTOS BY BRENT BRAATEN
  PHOTOS, CLOCKWISE, FROM TOP: Ms. Gay P.G. 5, Electronica, far right, takes part in the Pride Parade Saturday; the Pride flag is carried down George Street; Rose Bill, left, and Gavyn Schell enjoy the parade.
  said she was impressed by the turnout.
    “This is so exciting,” Skidmore said. “It’s probably the biggest and best pride parade we’ve ever have.”
    Things have changed dramatically from the city’s first Pride Parade, said the Venerable Peter Zimmer, who was active in the Anglican Church.
    “I’ve been involved in support for the gay and lesbian community since the 1980s,” he said. “I remember when there were 140 people at that first Pride Parade here, and about 15 spectators - most of whom turned their backs on us. I’m happily married and as straight as they come, but we’re all people.”
    Zimmer said he officiated the wedding of two local women in 2004, “the first year it was legal,” but acknowledges that many members of the religious establishment wouldn’t be as comfortable doing that as he was.
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