Prairie Pride Guild of Medicine Hat and District to share its history at library event

“I’m just going to be talking about what that was like, what it was like to be in Medicine Hat during that time, and all of the work that Donny and Charlie Thompson had done to get us to where we are today.”

The event runs from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the library theatre.

Barrientos said education is one of the main things that they really like to see with the Prairie Pride Guild.

“We love for people to learn a little bit more, not only about us, but about Medicine Hat in general. So I think that that’s really important for people to know, and I think that it’s a very convoluted history that’s been over many years,” Barrientos said.

“From 1994 to today, so many things have changed, so many different things have happened during those years. I think it’s really important to highlight that, and then also to reflect that,” she added

“Their histories are just as important as everyone else’s, but sometimes may not make it to the limelight.”

Barrientos believes it’s important for our community to know, because sometimes people think Medicine Hat is closed-minded, but she doesn’t feel that’s true.

She will talk about how Medicine Hat has been a welcoming and caring community, but also some of the struggles.

Director Kim Large will be discussing her family journey with a transgender child, and offering support for those in the Pride community.

“How to support 2SLGBTQIA+ youth and why you should. These kids are often not supported at home and so they often will be miserable or come out and be bullied and such. So it’s very important that we support these kids,” Large said.

“They are over-represented in drug and alcohol abuse numbers. They are 25 to 40 per cent of the unhoused youth population and 77 percent of trans and non-binary kids in Alberta are afraid to use public washrooms due to the fact that they will be either harassed, outed, or face violence,” she added.

“The other thing is that these kids are 14 times higher suicide risk than their peers. So just one supportive adult in their life decreases that chance to more like their amount. It’s very imperative that we support these kids.”

Large encourages people to come listen to the talk.

“Whether you are an ally or a community member or someone that needs a little bit more information, someone that has a kid or a child in their life that are part of the community or maybe you suspect are part of the community,” Large said.

“There’s a lot of good information there on how to support and resources and all kinds of things like that.”

An event will also be hosted on Sunday, June 23 in Maple Creek at the Jasper Centre where the Prairie Pride Group founder Donny White now works.

by Jesse Gill

Prairie Pride Guild of Medicine Hat and District to share its history at library event

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