Protesters blockade in objection to pinkwashing, Pride organizers to diversify funding in future
Illustration by Sage Blackwell.
This year, Victoria’s annual pride parade was disrupted when pro-Palestinian protestors took to the streets. The protestors demanded that the event’s host organization, the Victoria Pride Society (VPS), respond to their five demands “during the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people.”
The parade, which took place on Sunday July 6, was rerouted by the VPS shortly after the blockade began.
The protestors, according to their press release, are an “autonomous group of queers living on the unceded land of the lək̓ʷəŋən Peoples.” While the exact number of protestors in attendance is unknown, it is estimated to have been around 40 people.
The protestors presented the VPS with five demands: to call for a ceasefire in Gaza, to engage with the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) list to end partnerships with organizations on this list, to recognize the harm caused by law enforcement and to keep law enforcement out of Pride events, and to avoid displacing unhoused people for Pride events.
“Victoria Pride Society helps to launder the reputation of these actors by showcasing their so-called ‘allyship’ to our queer community. Through partnering with government institutions and corporations that are supporting and benefitting from this genocide through their policies and their investments, Victoria Pride Society’s actions are not fully committed to the collective liberation of ALL queer people,” said the protestors’ media release.
The protestors targeted the parade delegation from TD Bank. TD Bank is among the VPS’ most influential funders, or “rainbow revolutionaries,” alongside the Government of Canada, Government of British Columbia, City of Victoria, and Modo.
According to the Peace Brigades International-Canada, TD Bank holds $16 million of stock in General Dynamics, a large defense contractor supplying the weapons Israel uses against Palestinians.
Protestors also said Victoria’s pride parade is engaging in of “pinkwashing.”
“Pinkwashing is a deliberate strategy used by governments and corporations to exploit their relatively progressive stance on queer rights with a goal of deflecting attention away from the violence they are committing, through violations of human rights and international law,” said the protestors.
In this case, the pro-Palestinian protestors say that the VPS is complicit in pinkwashing because of their relationship with institutions and governments that are related to the perpetuation of genocide.
While in recent years, the term “pinkwashing” (also called “rainbow-washing”) has been used to call out large corporations who use pride as a marketing tactic, the term’s roots can be traced back to the early 2000s. This is when queer, anti-Israel activists denounced the portrayal of Israel as a beacon of progressiveness and gay acceptance amidst ongoing violence against Palestinians.
While the protestors made their demands of the VPS explicit at the parade, in an interview with CHEK News, the VPS president Ace Mann says the protestors did not communicate with the organization prior to their blockade of the parade.
“In the days and weeks prior to the festival, VPS [Victoria Pride Society] made several attempts to reach out to the protesters for Palestine in an effort to connect. Representatives from VPS connected with the organizers of the weekly rallies at the Legislative Assembly, the group Victoria to Palestine, who were not the group involved in the community-led blockade,” reads a statement from the VPS that was released on July 10.
In this statement, the VPS addresses the protestors’ five demands. The VPS notes that they have always been in support of a ceasefire in Palestine, are working on diversifying their income, do not support uniformed law enforcement in the parade, have taken steps to end the displacement of unhoused communities, and commit to having open-call meetings.
The VPS further noted the potential harm caused by the pro-Palestine blockade, citing heat and accessibility-related concerns.
“Unfortunately, due to the parade’s new route to avoid the blockade, the accessibility area set up by the Disability Resource Center was unable to oversee a significant portion of the parade,” said the VPS statement.
The Victoria pride parade blockade followed other pro-Palestine pride disruptions across North America. One such disruption occurred at Canada’s largest pride parade, Toronto’s, on June 30. Similar to Victoria, Toronto’s pro-Palestine demonstrators cited pinkwashing as their cause for disruption.
