Pride Week kicks off in St. John's

Pride Week is officially underway in St. John's, and for the first time in two years there's a full slate of events scheduled.

"It's going to be a fantastic week," said Ryan Gosse,the co-chair of finance for the non-profit group St. John's Pride."After COVID, it's finally nice to get back to actually celebrating Pride, and really do a great job this year of making it bigger and better thanwe've ever done before."

Gosse was one of about 50 people at Confederation Building Friday for the raising of the Pride flag.After much time and effort, he said, it's exciting to finally kick off this year's festivities.

"The events are for everyone, not just the [LGBT] community," said Gosse. "It's for everyone who wants to join, to just mix with people and enjoy it. It's been a long time. It has been a hard couple of years for the world, for Newfoundland,and the community. Let's all get together, celebrate and enjoy it."

On top of the flag-raising which marks the official start of Pride Week the 2022 calendar also includesthe Drag on George pub crawl, lip sync battles, a swag and food drive, a fashion show and the official Pride drag show, with one performer being crowned the "Come Home" drag queen.

This year's St. John's Pride parade will also see members of the public service walking in the parade, representing the provincial government's Come Home 2022 campaign.

In a press release, Premier Andrew Furey called it "wonderful" to see Pride events "continuing to grow and evolve throughout Newfoundland and Labrador."

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