Pride Month continues with a special event being held this evening at Roots Community Food Centre.

Members of both the LGBTQ community and allies are invited for an Allyship Townhall.

“This is to ask questions of our allies,” explains Rainbow Collective President Jason Veltri. “On what their doing and how their doing it, and how further and how much more can we push to ensure that our allies are standing with us at, really, the most critical time when we need them.”

The event gets underway at 7:00 p.m. and is just the latest in a series of events planned for this month, including a Pride March and Street Festival this Saturday.

The event gets underway at 7 o’clock and is just the latest in a series of events planned for this month, including a Pride March and Street Festival this Saturday.

Veltri says Pride is inherently a protest which is why this year the community is going back to basics and not calling it a “parade”.

“We aren’t going back into the closet, no matter how loud the naysayers get. We are going to use our voices collectively to stand up against the rising tide of hate, and that’s really what this march is about.”

Veltri adds while there will be an element of celebration at the event, it will also act as a reminder there is still much work to be done.

The Pride March gets underway at 9:00 a.m. followed up by the Street Fest at 11:00 a.m.