Last week, a group of LGBTQ advocates gathered outside of Port Alberni’s City Hall in the middle of the night to paint a temporary rainbow crosswalk commemorating the first anniversary of the shooting in the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida.
Now, Port Alberni looks to be getting its first permanent rainbow crosswalk, with the help of a GoFundMe account set up by two city councillors.
The GoFundMe project, which was set up by councillors Sharie Minions and Chris Alemany, exceeded its goal of $2,000 in less than 24 hours.
Minions said she got the idea after reading some of the reactions to the temporary crosswalk online.
“I decided maybe we should bring it about,” said Minions. “But if we take it to council and ask for it to be paid for, it goes against what we’ve said we won’t do, giving out to causes. So I messaged Chris and said, ‘Why don’t we start a GoFundMe?’”
They did some research into other crosswalk painting initiatives. Ladysmith, for example, voted to install a rainbow crosswalk downtown earlier this month at a cost of $1200. Nanaimo put in two new rainbow crosswalks for a cost of $2500.
Minions and Alemany took a picture with their families at the temporary chalk crosswalk that evening, set up the GoFundMe account, and within 24 hours had more than surpassed their goal.
“I don’t know if Sharie and I knew what to expect, but we put it out there, and the response was really great,” said Alemany.
Minions said that a previous attempt to paint a rainbow crosswalk in town, which started with one citizen’s letter to council, ended up sitting on the city’s status report for months.
“If we take it out of being funded by tax dollars, it moves quicker and we see more support from the community,” she said.
Alemany said that although the funds raised should cover the cost of painting and labour, he hopes that the city will cover the costs of maintainance and any vandalism that occurs.
“The main portion of the money will go towards putting it in,” he added. “The motion that we have prepared is with the expectation that the city will maintain it.”
The crosswalk will represent much more than a colourful piece of road.
“Visibility is so important, especially for younger kids,” said Shelley Shenton, the president of the Alberni Valley Pride Society. “It’s important for them to know they are welcome here, they can feel safe here.
“I know how many kids end up homeless,” she added. “We want to do as much as we can do here so they don’t end up moving to Victoria or Vancouver, where they think they’ll be more accepted.”
Shenton pointed that there is a wave of people moving to Port Alberni, too. “It’s about letting people know what kind of community we have,” she said.
The Alberni Pride group just became a registered society last September. “We have some long-term goals, we’re just very new,” said Shenton. “Ideally, having a resource centre here would be great.”
She said she was surprised and amazed by the show of support from the community. “I couldn’t fall asleep because I kept refreshing the page,” she laughed.
Minions said that she sensed a much stronger comfort level from the community this time around, as well.
“I’m involved in a lot of things in Port Alberni,” said Minions.
“This one I don’t really have a personal connection to. It just seemed so obvious to me. It’s about positivity and inclusion and love. When it became so negative, it blew me away.
“There was a sort of gang mentality of people against it last time,” she went on.
“People were really scared. I haven’t seen that this time. I didn’t feel I got taken down by the negative comments.
“What I was surprised by were the positive comments.”
Minions said she is confident that this motion will be supported by council. “If it’s not, we will contribute the funds to LGBTQ events and groups in the community,” she said.
The GoFundMe account will continue accepting donations until the June 26 council meeting, when the crosswalk will be debated as a full motion. Any donations received beyond the cost of installing the rainbow crosswalk will go into another project or event, Minions said.