Pride Winnipeg reflects on International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia

Barry Karlenzig, president of Pride Winnipeg, is seen at the festival office in Winnipeg on May 17, 2026. (Harrison Shin/CTV News Winnipeg)

It has been a long journey of promoting love and compassion for Pride Winnipeg, but there’s still a lot more to be done, the festival’s president says.

May 17 is the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia, and the festival had to delete more than 200 hateful comments from a social media post made Sunday morning in support of the day.

“That shows right here and now why it is still important,” said Barry Karlenzig, president of Pride Winnipeg. “As someone who identifies as bisexual, the biphobia is still out there to this day in 2026.”

Karlenzig said while individuals in the 1980s and 1990s “paved the way for equal rights,” and the situation is getting better year over year, there’s still a lot more to do — especially for the transgender, bisexual and non-binary communities.

“A lot of it is tied to education and a lot of people just don’t understand. Then (they) search social media … then they start going down and seeing all the hate speech and things.

“It causes a lot of (community members) to go back into the closet — that shouldn’t be happening in 2026.”

Karlenzig said the increase in hate speech every year has been noticeable, and with it, security has been on the festival’s mind.

The festival has had to bring more security personnel to the festival itself and to board meetings due to the amount of hate speech, he added.

The organization is now situated in a building where 24-hour security is offered, but its previous location did not have that.

“There were some board meetings leading up to Pride that I had to hire private security to make sure my team got to their vehicles safely, and that was last year,” Karlenzig said.

Coming out in 2008 when “there was tons of hate speech,” he described the current trend as “reversed, where it’s starting to get worse again.”

Reflecting on Winnipeg’s progress

This year marks the 17th year since Karlenzig began contributing to the festival as a volunteer driver.

Reflecting on its progress, Karlenzig said the festival has become a beacon of hope.

“Our festival started as a one-day festival at The Forks. It’s now a two-day festival where we’re seeing 80,000 to 90,000 individuals, (and) 50 community partnerships throughout Pride Week.”

He emphasized that Pride Winnipeg is not “the” voice of the community, but “one of many,” recognizing the work of partner organizations such as Rainbow Resource Centre, Trans Manitoba and 2Spirit Manitoba.

Resources, love and compassion

Karlenzig is calling for more resources for the 2SLGBTQ+ community in various areas, such as gay-straight alliances in schools and queer counselling.

“If you look at queer counselling that’s out there right now in the province, (people) have to submit receipts and then get reimbursed. It’s still not under the same Manitoba health system.”

He said the organization has been in active conversation with the health minister for many years.

CTV News reached out to Manitoba Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara for comment.

It all comes down to grounded conversation, Karlenzig said.

“Not everybody is going to understand. But there needs to be love and compassion, and a neutral point of conversation.

“There needs to be less hate and more understanding in this community … that’s why Pride is still important and why days like today are so important.”