The AMS will not be marching in the Vancouver Pride Parade this year.
At a Council meeting on May 31, AMS President Esmé Decker said they had not submitted an application to be part of the parade.
In an interview with The Ubyssey, Decker explained that the decision came down to rushed timing and a lack of communication during the transition to the new executive team.
“The president's office team realized pretty close to the deadline that the prior application hadn't been put in,” said Decker. “If a group really wants to be in the Vancouver Pride Parade, you should apply in the fall the year before.”
At a Council Meeting in March, former AMS President Eshana Bhangu expressed how she wanted the AMS to be part of Pride this year.
“It’s important that the AMS be there as an institution. We want UBC students represented,” said Bhangu.
Decker noted that “there was a pretty filled in application ready to go [from the previous AMS executive team],” but the application was never submitted.
“We wanted to ask ... the Pride Collective if they were interested in collaborating on it as they are a pretty close group to the AMS [and work directly] on queer issues for students,” Decker explained.
Decker said the UBC Pride Collective considered the AMS’s offer, but ultimately declined as they were already planning to march with the UBC Queer Faculty and Staff Collective.
Based on the probability that the application would not be accepted on such short notice, the AMS decided not to march in the parade. Instead, the AMS will attend the parade as a group of AMS executives and staff to celebrate and support queer students as allies.
Decker said she recognizes “this year might not be the year for the AMS to be in the spotlight and instead support by attending.”
Decker also hopes to rebuild trust with 2SLGBTQ+ students in the upcoming year by ensuring the AMS submits an application for next year's Pride Parade in September. Going forward, she also hopes the new permanent equity and inclusion staff will provide continuity between the executive teams during the transition.
Gwen, whose last name has not been included to protect her identity, is the coordinator of the Pride Collective and said the group also advised the AMS not to submit an application because of the strained relationship with the previous AMS executives.
“While of course we have a new change in administration, and they seem much more ... willing to work with us ... there's still a lot of lack of comfortability with the AMS in our community due to bad behavior in previous years.”
“We feel that when it comes to [the Pride Parade] as a symbol, if you're marching in the parade, you should have a history of showing support,” she said.
Gwen stated the Collective “felt that it would be better for them in terms of building trust between our community ... not to march now and work towards rebuilding that trust and communication. And in the next year, apply instead.”
However, Gwen also expressed hope in the new executive team.
“We have big faith in … the new administration to make amends for the stuff that happened in previous administrations. But we feel that it's better to start with taking action first, before doing a gesture like marching in the parade, and be able to back it up with an action.”