Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services

NNSL (Jun 19/98) - If early signals prove correct, on June 26 the city will celebrate its first Gay Pride Day.

"I'm definitely in favor of this," said Ald. Peggy Near, a member of the committee that advises council on the issue.

"This was one of the reasons, I was running for council," continued Near. "I wanted to see this go through and see us join the 21st century along with the rest of Canada."

Council will vote Monday on the committee's recommendation to proclaim Gay Pride Day. Near and Mayor Dave Lovell were the only committee members at the Tuesday meeting.

Lovell said he is also in favor of the celebration of gay pride.

The request is being made by Out North, the NWT's gay and lesbian lobby group. In absence of the group's president, Zoe Raimer, board member Lorne Gushue will be making the request to council Monday.

"Our feeling is, from people close to them, that if any council will do it this one will," said Gushue.

Each of the last three years the city has received requests to proclaim Gay Pride Day. Each time, city council has voted it down.

Last year's request was rejected by a 4-2 vote. Council veterans Bob Brooks voted in favor and Blake Lyons, for the second year in a row, voted against it.

Lyons said his opinion has not changed.

"The issue here is sexual preference," Lyons said. "I always consider sex a private issue, and I would suggest there are a lot of homosexual and heterosexual people out there who feel the same way."

Gushue is not one of those people.

Referring to Raimer's past attempts to get the day proclaimed, he noted, "One of the things she's mentioned is it's not an issue of sex, it's an issue of equality."

In the letter requesting the proclamation, Out North board member Andrea Markowski wrote: "Events like Gay Pride Day are particularly important to isolated and young lesbian, gay and bisexual people who are in the process of discovering and accepting themselves."