Rainbow Alliance Proposes Pride Plaza, Other Improvements to Lanspeary Park

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With revitalization looming for 104-year-old Lanspeary Park, a newly formed group called the Windsor Essex Rainbow Alliance has submitted a proposal to create a Pride Plaza, as well as other rainbow-themed elements such as arches, benches and crosswalks. . at the Ottawa Street landmark.

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“The main objective is to give a feeling of belonging to everyone, everyone is welcome,” says Stephanie Pest, who is co-chair of the Pride Plaza committee of the alliance with Janet Kelly, former president of the Rotary Club of Windsor (1918), who was the The driving force behind the Centennial Plaza project that has wowed waterfront visitors.

“We hope that if we can develop it as a Pride Plaza with rainbow arches at each end, it could be a beacon, not only for our 2SLGBTQIA-plus community to come and enjoy, but for the entire community as allies, to come and stay. with us in a safe place, ”said Pest, a trans woman who came out five years ago but knew she was trans since 2008.

“During that period where I wasn’t completely unconscious, I really didn’t have anywhere I could go where I felt safe,” she said. “This is a very important issue in our community, that we need to feel that we belong to the community and that we are welcome.”

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The park is in need of a makeover because its 95-year-old greenhouse complex will be demolished after the new greenhouse being built in Jackson Park is operational next year, said the city’s senior park manager, James Chacko. . That will free up an additional 3.5 acres of space in the 11.5-acre park. The city plans to hold a public consultation this winter on how Lanspeary should be rebuilt. While some of its treasured features, such as the covered outdoor ice rink, outdoor pool, and heritage features like its gazebo, will remain, the availability of 3.5 more acres provides the opportunity to modernize and enhance the entire park, said.

The city has been talking to the people of WERA for several months and received their proposal last month. WERA is offering to raise funds of $ 427,800 for many of the amenities, such as $ 150,000 for rainbow arches, $ 25,000 for interpretive plaques, and $ 150,000 for a Pride memorial. The total budget for WERA’s vision is $ 1.6 million. The city has budgeted $ 1.5 million for park improvements in its capital budget.

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“Certainly the proposal from WERA and the Rotary Club is very exciting and I am sure we envision that there will be components of that that will be incorporated,” said Chacko. But he added that it is still early in the process and public consultations have not yet started.

Kelly also emphasized that the proposal is very preliminary for the park.

“We are not the owners, we are just a community group that thinks we have some really good ideas and really good motivation to help with something.”

He said Rotary focuses on topics such as social justice, inclusion and diversity.

“It took 100 years for women to come in, but she certainly learned her lesson and Rotary as an organization has been very determined on behalf of diversity and inclusion.”

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The idea of ​​joining the 2SLGBTQIA-plus community came about in 2020 when local defender Walter Cassidy gave a speech to the club about his research into the little-known history of the community in Windsor-Essex. He encountered alarming incidents dating back to 1842, when two soldiers at Fort Malden were discovered to have intimacy and were sentenced to death (later commuted). The first raid on a gay bathhouse in Canada was not in Toronto in the 1970s as supposed, but in Windsor in 1964, he said. The establishment of the local police auxiliary was born out of outrage over the encounter of gay men in the parks and the discovery of a homosexual serial killer in the 1940s, he said. And for years in the 1970s, the Windsor Star refused to advertise a local dance because it was “obscene.”

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Next year marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the city’s first gay liberation group, the 40th anniversary of the first man in Windsor (which was the first in Canada) to die of AIDS, and the 30th anniversary of the first gay pride parade. , said. .

“I told (Rotary) that I wanted something created to commemorate these accomplishments and many more because there is nothing in the city that recognizes our history at all. Many of our buildings, queer spaces, were destroyed. “

Rotary people responded by saying they hadn’t done much in the past and it was time to step up, Cassidy said. “Which is wonderful, because that is progress, that is change, which is what we all need.”

Lanspeary is an ideal place, he said, because it has a long-standing connection to social justice. Trade union rallies, communist rallies, emancipation celebrations and political rallies have been held there over the years. Ottawa Street was the location of the most recent Pride Festival parade before the pandemic shut things down, and the celebration culminated in Lanspeary.

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“So we thought it would be a wonderful place. We thought it made sense because it has that story, “said Cassidy, a high school teacher who chairs WERA, who is also dedicated to celebrating the community’s history.

Pest said that while the Pride Fest Parade happens only once a year, Pride Plaza would be a place to visit throughout the year. She said the park would be the first of its kind and could attract visitors from Toronto, London and Michigan. The group has already received $ 30,000 in government funding to provide six rainbow picnic tables for the park.

“This is still early, we’re still chatting about the possibilities,” Cassidy said. “But we want a place, a permanent place, where people know that it is a safe place and where the community is celebrated and will always be there in recognition of our history and that we exist.”

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