Pride Association board member resigns over social media post

The comment has since been deleted, but a screenshot of the post was sent to CHAT News.

Becki Korhonen, the current chair of the pride association, released a statement on Tuesday afternoon.

“As Chairperson of the Medicine Hat Pride Association I would like to thank everyone for all the wonderful support and love that we felt over last weekends Pride festival,” the statement reads. “Karen LaHay has worked tirelessly within our organization and has helped many people in our community find a voice.”

“Unfortunately as a representative of the Medicine Hat Pride Association her conduct on social media was not representative to our mission of community inclusion and acceptance.”

The statement continues, saying Korhonen spoke with LaHay, who expressed regret for her “hasty and hateful comments.”

“Though it is regretful, we as a LGBTQ2 community cannot afford to have those kinds of comments posted on social media,” the statement reads.

Speaking with CHAT this afternoon, LaHay says her comment was directed towards people online who criticized the financial statements of the organization and previous boards, as well as the direction of the organization.

She adds the statement was not racially motivated, or intended to be hateful.

“I’m afraid I just had a bit of a psychological break late in the early hours of the morning, and my comment was referring to a culture of the 1970s,” she said. “It was not directed toward anybody in the LGBT community today, nor to any other ethnic group today.”

LaHay says she regrets what she wrote.

“It has been a learning experience, finding out that social media can be misinterpreted drastically by a simple comment,” she said.

Although she was disappointed she had to resign from the board, LaHay says she is proud of her time on the board, saying she helped improve their financial health.

by Charles Lefebvre

Pride Association board member resigns over social media post

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