The underground community that rose to have Pride (Photo)

Sault Pridefest begins today with eight activity-filled days that include such events as a flag raising at city hall, a youth dance, a variety show, a family fun day, and of course, a Pride walk.

Sault Pride organizer Susan Rajamaki said Sault Ste. Marie’s LGBT scene in the '70s and '80s was way different.

Back then the LGBT community was underground, both figuratively and literally, as LGBT parties were restricted to roughly once-a-month basement gathering in the home of retired gay steelworker Bob Godderre, affectionately referred to as “Mother”.

This scene was documented in the 1999 film I Know a Place by Roy MItchell.

“From what I heard as many as 100 would cram in the basement,” said Rajamaki who actually only attended one of these parties when she was 18 or 19 in the mid '80s.

“It wasn’t really well known in the underground (but) you kind of had to know someone to find out about it,” she said.

Rajamaki said that, as a lesbian in the '80s in the Sault, the thought of coming out was frightening.

"I wouldn’t dare come out of the closet – it was a scary thought. Growing up as a queer person you didn’t hear anything positive about the LGBT community,” she said.

She said back then you had to really hone your ‘gaydar’ to figure out if someone was gay or lesbian.

“Sometimes, you just knew.” 

Rajamaki didn’t come out of the closet until she moved to Toronto in the '90s to go to University.

On top of coming out she got really involved in the LGBT community there, volunteering with the Toronto gay pride festival and as a parade marshal for both the Dyke march and the Pride Parade, sometimes one of 20 people responsible for the flow of thousands of people through the streets of Toronto.

During the '90s she would occasionally visit the Sault and she said back then there were a few attempts at people opening gay bars but that the small LGBT community had a tough time sustaining them.

The gay bar scene eventually shifted into ‘open community dances’ held about once a month at local halls and clubs.

Rajamaki remembers events at The Windsor Park Banquet Hall, The Algo Club, and how The Algonquin Hotel was especially kind in opening its doors to the community.

In the early 2000s Rajamaki moved back to the Sault and after being so involved in Toronto's scene she said “there was no way I was going back in the closet.”

Back in the Sault, Rajamaki got involved with Algoma Pride, a group that was going since the early '90s spearheaded by Murray Carson, who unfortunately passed away in 2011 and actually, this year's flag raising ceremony will be in his honour.

Shortly after Carson passed away, Rajamaki joined Sault Pride.

Rajamaki said the Sault’s first Pridefest came about through a sort of battle with city hall.

In 2013 world wide protests were held in support of LGBT rights in Russia after controversy during the build up to the Sochi 2014  Winter Olympics.

Sault Pride tried to have a Pride flag raised in city hall as a sign of solidarity with LGBTQI athletes but the mayor at the time would not allow it and controversy ensued.

“Ultimately it was this flag issue that infuriated a lot of us and that’s how the first Pridefest started,”  said Rajamaki.

She said the attitude was if city hall couldn’t handle a tiny flag for a good cause then they were going to really give them something to deal with.

The first Sault Pridefest was in 2014, organized by eight or nine people and held over a weekend.

Because of all the struggles over the years, Rajamaki said these days members of Sault Pride, many of whom grew up through years where it was a bit tougher to be LGBTQI, now want to make their group as visible as possible.

What was once a scene of people secretly gathering in basements is now out in the open, shaking hands with politicians, marching in community parades like Rotaryfest, and of course having a blast at Sault Pridefest.

This year’s Sault Pridefest kicks off today with a flag raising at city hall at noon.

The eight day event will finish on Saturday July 30 with an 11 a.m. Pridefest walk, an all day ‘Family Fun Day’ in Bellevue Park, and then at The Rockstar Bar for a dance party from 9:30 p.m. – 2:00 a.m.

For the week's full events schedule visit the Sault Pride Facebook page.