Vigil criticized for lack of diversity
It was not long ago that community members gathered to celebrate the beginning of Guelph Pride Week by raising the rainbow flag outside of City Hall. On Thurs, June 16, however, the flag was flown in mourning.
On June 12, 49 people were killed and another 53 were wounded by a single gunman at Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, during the bar’s Latin night. A few days later, roughly 2000 km away, hundreds of people gathered around Market Square in Guelph to grieve the victims of this attack, raising $1,687.90 for the Pulse Victims Fund.
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The candlelit vigil was sponsored by many groups within the city and university community, including: Guelph Queer Equality, OUTline, Out on the Shelf, ARCH (HIV/AIDS Resources & Community Health), the Rainbow Chorus, the City of Guelph, the University of Guelph, Guelph-Wellington Women in Crisis, and TroyBoy Entertainment.
Amy Ellard-Gray, event organizer and chair of Out on the Shelf, said that the goal of the vigil was “to provide a space for people to come together and support one another.”
While many of the event’s speakers drew from their own experiences and offered words of hope, healing, and comfort, the vigil’s organizers are receiving criticism from community members for lack of diverse representation on the panel.
Although Sara Sayyed and Yousr El Sharawy spoke on behalf of the Muslim Society of Guelph and the Muslim Student Association respectively, Mayor Cam Guthrie, University of Guelph’s Provost Charlotte Yates, as well as a number of speakers representing different LGBTQ+ groups made up a predominantly Caucasian panel.
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Following the vigil, members of the community took to social media to express their concerns about the lack of queer and trans Black, Indigenous, People of Colour (BIPOC) and Latinx representation in particular.
Gbolahan Olarewaju, coordinator for international and multi-faith programs at the University of Guelph, spoke out about the importance of acknowledging different intersectional perspectives.
“I think the only thing that came through in the event was the homophobia aspect of it and the LGBT community coming together. […] I think it would have been a little bit better to acknowledge that there is also a race component here and that we should not be forgetting about that,” said Olarewaju in an interview with The Ontarion.
“Everybody comes at things from their own perspectives from their experiences,” Olarewaju explained, “So if your experience of discrimination is based on your sexual orientation or your identity, you’re not going to really understand the lived experience of someone who has dealt with racism.”
Ellard-Gray said that the organizers had tried to find a Latinx speaker from the community, but did not get a response in the short timeframe.
“There was a lot of white straight representation on the speaker panel and it wasn’t something that we tried to have,” Ellard-Gray explained, “We just didn’t want to turn people down if they thought they had something meaningful to contribute.”
Additionally, the names of the victims were not mentioned during the ceremony or speeches, apart from giving condolences to the extended family of Luis Vielma, who were in attendance at the vigil. Vielma was 22 when he was killed during a night out at Pulse. He had been living in Orlando and worked at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios.
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“Every vigil that I’ve been a part of—and I’ve planned vigils as well—you read the names,” said Olarewaju. “If your purpose of holding an event is to think about the victims, I don’t think you can get away with not acknowledging the victims. It feels like the victims should be central.”
Though the vigil was well-received by the general public and many felt it was a great way to bring the community together during a difficult time, the event organizers have since apologized on social media for a few oversights, having never planned a vigil before.