How To Celebrate Pride After The Vancouver Pride Festival Ends

Vancouver Pride is an important time for those in the 2SLGBTQ+ community across the Lower Mainland. From Pride Weekend, to Pride events: it is Vancouver’s time to show that:

via GIPHY

But what about after Pride Month ends? While we may think Pride is only within the month of June and the two week festival here in July, it can be celebrated all year round.

Here are some ways you can show your Pride 365 days a year!

Support and spend at 2SLGBTQ+ businesses in Vancouver!

Along Davie Street – The Fountainhead Pub & The Junction Pub, to the Little Sisters Bookshop and everything in between, there are many 2SLGBTQ+ businesses that you can support.

A great Twitter account to follow is @davievillage

Be an Ally All Year Round

It’s important to support, accept and advocate for the 2SLGBTQ+ community not just during Pride Month & our Pride Festival.

Being an Ally means:

Confronting challenges that 2SLGBTQ+ people face, whether it be:

Heterosexism: assuming everyone is or should be straight
Biprejudice: harmful, preconceived ideas about bisexual people
Transprejudice: harmful, preconceived ideas about transgender people
Heterosexual Privilege: Everyday privileges straight people have (example: the ability to display attraction/affection freely in public)

Be inclusive with the community you’re apart of, whether at work, home, or out in public.

Examples include adding pronouns to your email in the workplace:

Using a first and last name instead of the traditional gender titles (Mr., Mrs.)
Using they/theirs instead of he/his, she/hers, his/hers
Instead of saying this is my wife/husband or boyfriend/girlfriend, use partner/spouse

And removing harmful language from your vocabulary that can be offensive to the 2SLGBTQ+ community.

Volunteer/donate to 2SLGBTQ+ advocacy groups. These include:

Egale Canada– Canada’s leading organization for 2SLGBTQ+ people and issues. Egale improves 2SLGBTQ+ lives through research, education, awareness, and by advocating for human rights and equality in Canada and worldwide.

Qmunity – QMUNITY is what happens when queer, trans, and Two-Spirit folks looking for a sense of community come together to meet, guide, and support each other.

Sher Vancouver – A Directory of Resources for Queer South Asian Women in Metro Vancouver, BC

Vancouver Pride Society – Vancouver Pride Society strives to produce inclusive, celebratory events, and advocate for 2SLGBTQAI+ communities through an intersectional lens. We strive to produce events that reflect the pride the 2SLGBTQAI+ community has in itself, by strengthening the sense of community, and contributing to the vibrancy, health and overall well-being of all persons in the community.

Consume Queer Media and Entertainment

Whether it be in movies, television shows, or on social media, consuming 2SLGBTQ+ content is important in learning about the community all year round.

Here are fives movies that we put together to watch for Pride Month (and beyond) …

1. The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of The Desert (1994)