When Halifax held one of its first Pride Week marches in 1988, 75 people took part in the parade ... ‘This is who I am’...

When Halifax held one of its first Pride Week marches in 1988, 75 people took part in the parade — five wearing brown paper bags over their heads.

It was a different story last year, when thousands of adults, children and grandparents lined the route and marched in the parade — some wearing just their underwear — and waved rainbow flags.

Leaving Maitland Street at 1:30 p.m., this year’s parade will follow Brunswick Street to Spring Garden Road. It will skirt the Public Gardens, turning up South Park Street and following Ahern Avenue to Halifax Common.

“It was just a hoot, a great time to get together with friends and feel safe. My straight female friends felt the safest and secure they ever felt at the parade. I want people to have fun; I really want people to have a good time.

Dann says the idea of community is at the heart of Halifax Pride 2006, which is Atlantic Canada’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) festival. The symbol of this year’s festival, the 19th, is a rainbow-coloured bridge that symbolizes unity and bringing together different metro and maritime communities.

“It is a big destination for people living in all the Atlantic provinces,” said Dann, adding sponsors this year include national business and local companies, municipal and provincial governments. “It tells me that Nova Scotians have overcome any lingering prejudices,” he said. “I think that our community is integrated and accepted within the large fabric of Nova Scotian society.

While Pride has marched a long way since paper bag-wearers paraded down the street in 1988, committee co-chairman Patrick Daigle says there are still a lot of steps to take.

“Coming out is still not an easy thing to do,” says Daigle, who works as a support services co-ordinator with the Halifax Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay, Bisexual Project. Pride 2006 will only be his fourth parade.

He says this year’s parade marshal is a prime example of the phobias that still exist. When the parade winds its way onto Halifax Common, Lindsay Willow will sit at its head.

“I keep wondering if everyone will know who I am, or if they are going to be, ‘Who’s that sitting in that car?’” said the Halifax West High School gym teacher.

Earlier this year, the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission found Willow was discriminated against by the Halifax Regional School Board because she is a lesbian.

When she filed her case with the commission, Willow said she was just one person trying to regain her credibility — she never thought of herself as a symbol to the LGBT community in Halifax, and Nova Scotia.

Willow has attended the parade in past years, and said it is a great way to show LGBT or questioning youth they are not alone, and there are people out there who are confident and proud of who they are.

“People, both within and outside the community, are going to find fault with something — even if it’s just that a drag queen’s hair is too big,” said Dann.

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