One of the local organizers of the Steinbach Pride parade says public shaming is not the intent of the event.

Steinbach MLA and Health Minister Kelvin Goertzen last week announced he would not take part in Steinbach Pride because he is away. But Goertzen says, even if he were home, he would not attend because last year there was too much public shaming of officials who chose not to attend. Plett says that's a misunderstanding on Goertzen's part.

Chris Plett"If that was the feeling that our MLA got, that is definitely not what our intent was. What we were just trying to do was to hold our elected officials accountable for something that, in his position in the Legislature (as Health Minister), is very much something that falls into his responsibilities in terms of mental health and awareness of some of the issues that the 2STLGBQ (Two-spirited, Transgender, Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual, Queer) community deals with like depression and things of that nature. We felt that it was really important that if he couldn't make it in person, we would be interested in other ways that he could come out and make a statement of some sort or have a statement made on his behalf."

Plett adds public officials are accountable because they are elected to represent all of their constituents regardless of their orientation. He hopes this year's Steinbach Pride parade will be all about love and acceptance.

"We are a part of the community and we always have been a part of the community. Nothing has changed in that regard. It's always been here. It's just that we're turning the spotlight around a little bit and saying, hey, there are things that need to stop and things that need to change and things that we need help with and we're looking to the community for those types of things."

Plett says they are expecting a large turnout again this year. The event will be held July 15th. Thousands of people attended the inaugural Steinbach Pride parade last year and he says there is strong interest again this year. He notes they have worked hard to find a better date than last year when there were conflicts with other major events like the Winnipeg Folk Festival. Plett outlines some of the reasons why the Pride parade is so important.

"The purpose of Pride is to show love and inclusion and support. We want to try and support the people who, maybe, have been discriminated against. We really want to have a community that stands together, both within the 2STLGBQ community and also the community and area as a whole. We want to cut down on the fear-stigma that is out there. The best way to kill the fear-stigma is to educate people."