Meet the grand marshals of this year's Halifax Pride parade

Halifax Pride has named a pair of activists who use photography to challenge stereotypes about marginalized people as the grand marshals for the annual Pride Parade. 

This year the parade takes place on July 22 and it will be led by Kate Macdonald and Emma Paulson of The Magic Project.

Macdonald and Paulson created their art initiative to show LGBT and black men and women in a different way than they are normally shown in the media and social media. 

A surprise invitation

Grand marshals are chosen through nominations from the community, but Macdonald said the pair were surprised when Pride's executive director invited them to lead the parade. 

"We were really excited," she said. "I kind of, a little bit, feel like all of my 15-year-old dreams are coming true." 

"When I was going to Pride there were very few people of colour involved in the beginning, and that's always been the struggle for representation and I just hope some other queer little human of colour sees me and is like, 'Ah, that's cool!'" 

"I'm not really sure what to expect from being at the front of the parade," said Paulson. "But I know it's going to be really exciting and really fulfilling."

The pair has shown The Magic Project's art at a local café and some of the portraits will be shown at Pride. Paulson will also be taking photographs for another series they're calling Queer People are Magic 2.0: Pride Edition.

"We'll be at the Garrison Grounds after the parade doing some portrait-style photos of people, and their partners and their families," Macdonald said.  

Improving relations

In the last year, Halifax Pride has been trying to improve its relations with marginalized communities such as LGBT black, Indigenous, and people of colour. 

At the 2016 Pride annual general meeting, a controversial resolution about a pro-Israel campaign booth at a Pride event led to a tense discussion, and some members of the LGBT community called for a boycott on Pride. 

In February, Pride and Halifax police jointly announced that uniformed officers would not march in the parade, to prevent "divisions" in the community. 

Macdonald and Paulson have both spent much time thinking about the implications of that announcement. 

"I think that there's a really strong sense of this Pride being built by the community and for the community," said Paulson. "So if the police are not marching, I think it's been made so that they feel welcome, and that everyone in the community feels welcome and that everyone still feels safe regardless." 

"I think that there's a lot of feelings circulating around the police, and there always has been for people who are part of, or identify with a marginalized community," said Macdonald.   

'A long way to go'

Macdonald and Paulson were encouraged to continue their photo projects by the success of the first set, entitled Black Girls are Magic. Roughly 24,000 people saw the photos on social media. Now they are hoping to connect with even more people in the LGBT community through their role as grand marshals. 

"It's important to have these sorts of discussions with people, to let them know that you can curate your own identity, and not just be the stereotype that's prescribed to you," said Paulson. 

"I think that one of the big reasons that we got into this was to combat stereotypes of marginalized communities, to show that you don't have to be one type of way," said Macdonald. "I think that work will always be relevant until everyone's on an even playing field, so we've got a long way to go."