There’s been a lot of commotion about the proposal to erect a Pride flag pole in Battle of Beaverdams Park.
Anthony Feor, the local resident behind the idea, feels that a Pride flag pole shouldn’t be this divisive.
“This is a human rights initiative,” says Feor, in an interview with ThoroldToday. “I saw St. Catharines doing it, I saw Niagara Falls doing it. Why not be part of a good cause? I don’t understand why our city has to be the city that doesn’t want to do it.”
As ThoroldToday reported, Feor originally proposed a downtown Pride crosswalk but that idea was nixed because the associated price tag was deemed too high by city council.
Feor says he felt inspired to try and get a Pride crosswalk in the city because of the adversity he faced growing up in Thorold.
“I left Thorold when I was 22,” he says. “Not because I wanted to but because I felt that being a gay person in the city, what was there for me? I came up with this initiative because I don’t want anybody to feel like they have to leave the city. We’re a growing municipality and people should know where we stand on certain issues.”
After Feor presented the idea of a Pride crosswalk to Thorold City Council back in July 2021, there seemed to be some enthusiasm for the project, but Feor says there were also immediate concerns about the financial cost.
To counter those concerns, Feor committed to raising funds. But as lockdowns continued to happen, Feor felt it was unjust to solicit small business owners when they were already struggling.
“I didn’t think I was in a position to do that and I thought that would have been the wrong way of doing this,” he says.
When the project came before city council again on May 7, 2022, inflation had doubled the cost of the crosswalk and there were concerns about its location.
“It’s in the infrastructure budget to dig up that portion of Clairmont Street so if we had painted the crosswalk it would have just been destroyed in the next two years,” Feor says. “One of the councillors suggested by Brock [University] and by the [Canada] Games Centre but that almost felt like sweeping it out of the way, where it wasn’t going to be controversial.”
At that same city council meeting councillor John Kenny proposed a Pride flag pole that could be erected somewhere in the city.
To take the time to figure out how to proceed, the project was put on hold by City Hall.
In June 2022, the Niagara Region unveiled its own Pride crosswalk in Thorold, near the Canada Games Park, but Feor thinks it’s important that the initiative comes from the city.
“That was done in a spot that coincides with a project that they committed to, which was the Canada Games facility,” says Feor. “Am I thankful that it’s there? Absolutely, that is such a wonderful gesture, but I don’t want that to be as a cop-out for the city to say: ‘Oh, there’s already one that the region paid for and we’re all good with that.’ It’s not even in the downtown area.”
At a city council meeting on Sept. 27, the idea for a Pride flag pole in Battle of Beaverdams Park was brought forward again by councillor Ken Sentance.
Feor feels that the flag pole would be a good compromise to address the current financial and logistical issues of a downtown crosswalk.
“Doing a flag pole is obviously going to be much quicker, much cheaper to put together,” he says. “For me that’s just as nice as a symbol. Maybe it’s a little bit more low-key but it’s something and it was an initiative done by the city. It wasn’t done by the region. It’s something that’ll sit and rests in the central part of the city and that is why we went for [Battle of Beaverdams Park].”
Feor has already talked to people who would be willing to shoulder the initiative so that the flag pole would cost the city nothing.
“I have people committed to funding the project,” says Feor. “They have not written cheques. They will do that once we have it in stone that we’re moving forward with this project. There needs to be the proper channels that are followed and I’m going to make sure that we follow those.”
Some argue against the Pride flag pole by saying that it’s not inclusive enough, but Feor disagrees.
The progressive Pride flag features an updated design that not only represents LGBTQ2S+ people, but also people of colour, and individuals living with HIV/AIDS or who have succumbed to the virus.
“It represents a multitude of people because there are a multitude of people in our community," he says.
Others argue that there are other groups that are more deserving of a flag pole in Battle of Beaverdams Park.
“My question to those people who said to me: ‘Why isn’t there this flag? Why isn’t there that flag?’ is why aren’t you advocating for it?”, Feor says. “If you’re not advocating for it or joining a movement it doesn’t actually seem like you’re caring or passionate about it. You’re just using that as an example to try to shoot down the idea.”
Feor stresses that he's open to discussion and it's important to listen to people with different opinions. He says Thorold has come a long way from he was younger.
“I think it has gotten much better but that’s just the natural progression and the natural evolution of people," he says. "I think we just learn to accept things.”
To show that acceptance, Feor wants the city to commit to a Pride flag pole. He is set to speak at a future city council meeting to hopefully help push the project forward.
Ultimately, Feor hopes to still see a Pride crosswalk in downtown Thorold one day.
“We have to show people that we are going forward,” he says. “Actions always speak louder than words. I’ve always believed that. I want us to be a city that is proud of its citizens, that is committed to this. The Pride flag shouldn’t be divisive. It’s welcoming, it represents a lot of different people.”
