Residents voice support for Drag Queen Bingo fundraiser

Continued from Front that kind of hateful energy being directed at the event was inappropriate,” demonstration organization Kelly Waters said to the News Optimist/SASKTODAY.ca at the April 15 demonstration on the steps of the Dekker Centre.

“It’s a fundraiser for mental health, for goodness sake. That’s just wrong. I’m not okay with it ... that hateful energy is not OK. Everyone should feel safe and welcome,” Waters said.

“We’re just sending out a message of love and support to the people of the Dekker Centre,” Bobbi Sue Thompson, president of Battlefords Area Pride, said voicing concerns that the workers at the Dekker

Centre have been forced to take the brunt of the hatred.

“The ones that they’re yelling at, they’re working here, they had no choice. They didn’t make the decisions, but they get the c**p for it,” Thompson said.

“We’re just here to send a message of love and peace. We’re just here to send out a positive vibe. We have to show that we’re not about hate, that’s not what this community is about. We’re about being inclusive and loving,” Thompson added.

In February, when pastor Keith Klippenstein of Territorial Drive Alliance Church asked his congregants to “ring up the Dekker Centre” and ensure that their voices were “seasoned with salt,” dozens of people called the Dekker Centre to voice their complaints about the event.

The Dekker Centre then released a press release, followed by the City of North Battleford in support of the event.

City of North Battleford Councillor Bill Ironstand was also present at the demonstration to voice his support, not only as a councillor but as a citizen of the Battlefords.

“I think the Dekker Centre and the community really stepped up and showed our true colours. We know that our community isn’t about hate and racism, and an outpouring of support for events like this is huge,” Ironstand