Adam Prudhomme
Editor
Picnic tables across town are receiving a colourful makeover this month thanks to the recently founded Greater Napanee Gender and Sexuality Alliance (GN GSA).
The group of volunteers will be painting 16 picnic tables throughout the municipality in the 10 colours of the rainbow flag in recognition of Pride Month.
Brad Way spearheaded the project after he reached out to the town to see what he could do to create more Pride visibility in the community. Earlier this month he launched the Greater Napanee Community Pride Fund, which raised over $2,200 in 10 days.
Way’s original plan was to create rainbow flag crosswalks in town, which he pitched to Mayor Marg Isbester.
“We had a great discussion and (Isbester) said that might not be able to happen this year given the hurdles that would have to take place in order to get that to happen,” said Way, speaking at Conservation Park on Friday afternoon where members of the GN GSA met to unveil one of the painted picnic tables. “Then we brainstormed and she said she could put me in touch with someone from the town staff, they came up with this idea of painting tables.”
Way, who has been advocating for more Pride representation in Greater Napanee for over five years, decided to take action this year by launching the Go Fund Me page.
“That came to be after one of my (Facebook) posts kind of generated a lot of interaction amongst this community here and beyond,” said Way. “I saw a few comments about the financial burden being an issue, especially if it was taxpayer dollars. I thought how could we eliminate that, maybe crowd sourcing and just have people not be able to use that as a reason why not.”
“I’m not here to convince anybody to change their mind other than to show people that there are people that love and accept and that’s it,” added Way.
The conversation built from there, leading to community members Chris Beauchesne and Michael Wade to create the idea of forming the GN GSA.
Wade drew on the experiences of other Gender Sexuality Alliances he had been a part of while in university.
“Everybody was speaking about it and then it was ‘do we have this,’ and then in doing some research it just didn’t seem to exist yet,” said Wade of a local alliance. “We kind of got together, a few of us, just to say ‘okay, lets get it going and create it on Facebook ‘. A smaller group of us just discussed what we thought the mission would be, what rules were needed within this Facebook and then we were talking about with Brad’s idea of the crosswalk and the Go Fund Me page, what is the next step to actually bring Pride more central to Napanee and just to be a bit more visible.”
One of the comments raised in the group was what might happen if the artwork was defaced as has happened to crosswalks in other communities.
“What I had said was that’s exactly why those crosswalks are there,” said Wade. “Those crosswalks are for awareness. They’re for people to have representation to feel that the community does want that representation there for them. Regardless whether someone’s going to deface it or not, it’s there. That’s what matters. I think that’s what matters for youth.”
Wade, who grew up in Camden East, says the community has come a long way in terms of acceptance.
“I left for many years,” said Wade. “I felt a lot of adversity, a lot of bullying growing up. I came back two years ago and I am so thankful to be part of this group to move Pride forward.”
“The biggest difference I think is the fact that there are so many people who are interested,” Wade added. “We have so many allies, so many parents who are seeking to support their children as well as we do have more of a representational group of LGBTQ+ people who can support these initiatives in the community for Pride as well.”
Wade says when Public Health allows, the GSA intends to plan community events to promote Pride awareness and acceptance. The group will be a safe space for not only members of the LGBTQ+ community, but for supportive parents who want to learn more about how they can support their kids.
For more on the group, search Greater Napanee Gender Sexuality Alliance on Facebook.