Halifax Pride COVID-19 Update

These are early days in Nova Scotia’s response to the COVID-19 crisis, but we want to let our community know that Halifax Pride is actively assessing the possible impacts on the 2020 Halifax Pride Festival. We remain hopeful that we will be able to create space for folks to gather from July 16-26, 2020, but ensuring the health and wellbeing of our community is our main priority. Halifax Pride will continue to monitor the rapidly changing situation and will follow the advice of public health experts and government officials. 

For the time being, Halifax Pride will work electronically with our 2SLGBTQ+ community of volunteers, organizers, partners, and sponsors to prepare for the 2020 Halifax Pride Festival. We are also preparing contingency plans to address a range of possible scenarios for what the 2020 Halifax Pride Festival could look like. 

We encourage everyone to stay safe and keep an eye on our social media channels in the coming weeks and months as we share updates on our plans for the 2020 Halifax Pride Festival. For information on COVID-19 and a variety of Nova Scotia gender and sexual health resources, please visit https://www.halifaxpride.com/resources.

To Queer Arabs of Halifax

We would like to wholeheartedly apologize to the Queer Arabs of Halifax. We are truly sorry.

In 2016 we created conditions that lead to significant harm to you and to the silencing of your voices. That has only been compounded by our failure to publicly apologize to them until now. Pride is supposed to be a safer space that prioritizes the members of its community above corporations and organizations that seek to use 2SLGBTQ+ folks for their gain. We understand the disillusionment with Halifax Pride due to our actions and inactions, but we are committed to forging a new path, together.

We commit to becoming more aware and conscious of the use of queer and trans liberation to not silence our own community members in the future. We acknowledge that queer and trans liberation is not fully attained until all queer and trans folks across the globe can live freely as their authentic selves.

Halifax Pride and the Queer Arabs of Halifax agree to continue a dialogue.

2019 Annual General Meeting

Halifax Pride Society
Annual General Meeting
Halifax North Memorial Public Library
2285 Gottingen Street, Halifax
Thursday, September 26, 2019
6:00 pm registration
6:30 pm – 8:30 pm

The Halifax Pride Annual General Meeting (AGM) will take place on September 26, 2019 at the Halifax North Memorial Public Library. The AGM is an annual meeting of the members of the Halifax Pride Society to review board reports, elect board members, and discuss society business.

The Halifax Pride Society is governed by by-laws which were updated in 2017. To read the by-laws and review how they govern the society and the AGM, please follow this link: http://bit.ly/hpbylaws.

Ahead of the AGM on, please review the proposed bylaw amendments:

Proposed By-Law Changes Amendments

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Members in attendance at the AGM will elect new board directors at the meeting. Those members interested in standing for election submitted their names and a brief bio for consideration.

View the list of 2019 Board Nominees here.

The Halifax Pride Society strives to produce a festival that reflects our diverse 2SLGBTQ+ community, and wish to be governed by a board that represents this diversity. We encourage those from historically marginalized communities to consider joining the board and exploring opportunities with the society and will work to eliminate any barriers to participation that our community members face.

If you are interested in becoming more involved in the Halifax Pride Society or board of directors, but have questions or concerns, please reach out to ellen@halifaxpride.com or learn more here.

For more information about the AGM, event details, and to stay up to date with all event information, visit the event page.

Media Release: 2019 Halifax Pride Festival Begins

For Immediate Release:

K’jipuktuk (Halifax, N.S.) – Today, Thursday, July 18, marks the opening of the Halifax Pride Festival. The festival encompasses 11 days of events of celebration, commemoration, reflection, and community-building for Halifax’s 2SLGBTQ+ community that run until Sunday, July 28.

The Flag Raising, a gathering of Halifax Pride representatives, Indigenous and government leaders, and the general public, will mark the official start to the festival. At 5 p.m., delegates will raise the rainbow pride flag in Grand Parade. Morgan Manzer, chair of the board of directors, will bring greetings from Halifax Pride.

“After months of development, organization, and hard work, we’re excited to finally start the festival,” says Manzer. “Our theme this year centres on empowerment: how Pride can empower people through the act of gathering to take up space, and how our community can work to empower each other.”

The festival contains more than 30 events including a speaker series, panel discussions, community gatherings, and memorials. While the community enjoys new and returning events, the 2019 festival theme asks attendees to consider the way they hold power in these spaces, and the way power and privilege affect individuals in the 2SLGBTQ+ community and their experience with Pride differently.

Trans activist Chris Cochrane acts as this year’s Parade Ambassador. She will lead the Halifax Pride Parade on Saturday, July 20.

“As this is the 50th Anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, a pivotal moment in our history that was led by trans women of colour, it is my honour as a black trans woman to serve as the 2019 Halifax Pride Parade Ambassador,” says Cochrane.

The 2019 Festival features one important change from previous years on Monday, July 22. The annual Candlelight Vigil will move from outside the Central Library to a park at 1004 Barrington Street. There, community members will gather to remember those lost, and to officially dedicate the park to the memory of queer activist Raymond Taavel.  

The Bump, The Grind, Garrison Grounds Mainstage Show, the Gottingen Street Block Party, and the Dykes versus Divas Softball Game, all return this year. A full lineup of events can be found at www.halifaxpride.com/schedule.

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Media Contact: Nick Voutour