Vancouver: Vancouver’s Pride Parade last Sunday created history on various fronts.
For one thing, it was the first time that the local parade was joined by the Prime Minister and his wife. Justin Trudeau and Sophie Gregoire-Trudeau, and their three children, marched proudly with members of the LGBT community at the showcase event.
They were joined by, among others, Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan, who hails from Vancouver, and other members of the federal Liberal caucus.
But the federal leaders weren’t the only people creating history at the event. Also creating history was Alex Sangha, one of the annual procession’s grand marshals this year.
Sangha, founder of an LGBTQ support group for South Asians called Sher Vancouver, was the first-ever Sikh grand marshal of the parade, now in its 38th year.
“I used to feel like an outsider, as a person of colour, as a minority in the mainstream gay-lesbian community,” Sangha told Global News. “And now as a Pride marshal, they’re recognizing me and acknowledging me. I feel like, wow, I’m being embraced.”
Along with Sangha, this year’s parade had two other grand marshals — trans activist Morgane Oger and Syrian gay-rights activist Danny Ramadan.
Sangha wore traditional Indian attire — a bright red kurta, or tunic, and a multi-coloured scarf — in the parade, but embracing his heritage while being gay hasn’t always been easy for the Surrey resident.
Growing up, Sangha wished he was straight and even contemplated suicide.
“It was very hard for me to come out of the closet,” he told radio station CKNW.
Sangha, a social worker who also blogs for The Huffington Post Canada, says more South Asians are now coming out as LGBTQ and finding acceptance within the community. But there still is a long way to go.
Many South Asians are reluctant to accept their queer family members, and often force them into marriages, Sangha told the Vancouver Courier. But having such a prominent place in the Vancouver Pride parade is great progress in Sangha’s struggle for acceptance, he said.
“It’s like I’m coming full-circle.”
