Thousands of people turned out to celebrate diversity during Kelowna’s Pride events, but it only took one to cast a pall over the festivities.
Following the monthly fruitcake party that was held at Sapphire last Friday, a local drag queen was attacked.
“The individual, who asked to remain anonymous because she’s dealing with the emotional upheaval from the incident, was walking home between 1:30 a.m. and 1:45 a.m., as they had done many times in the past ”said Dustyn Baulkham, past president of the Kelowna Pride Society.
“That’s when a person who seemed drunk, and smelled like alcohol, jumped her,”
The attacker kicked and punched her multiple times, before she was able to turn around and punch him.
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“She gave him a bloody nose,” said Baulkham, adding that the strike offered the reprieve needed to run away.
It was the next day, during the lead-up to the pride march, that the relevance of the incident hit Baulkham.
“It was after the dignitaries spoke… it just fell out of my mouth,” said Baulkham.
Anas Qartoumeh, Kelowna’s grand marshal, had shared his story about Syria, and Baulkham started thinking about how, in some parts of the world, it’s legal to kill someone for being gay.
“I didn’t go to much into detail, I just made the comment that someone was jumped, and this kind of thing still does happen in Canada,” he said. “There was a bit of a gasp in the crowd, and we just carried on with the day.”
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It does, however, stand as a reminder for the days to come.
“While we may have equal rights in Canada, pride events are relevant in our own community,” he said.
“I think it’s everyone’s job in our community to make each other feel safe.”
That, he said, could mean anything from sponsoring an event, supporting initiatives to make it a safe or inclusive community.
Baulkham said he doesn’t believe the victim of the attack will be going to the police.
The Kelowna RCMP say they are not in a position to release any information on this.
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