The City of Surrey raised the Pride flag in celebration of the 2SLGBTQ+ community for the third consecutive year.
Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke said this is important, as it shows residents and visitors to Surrey that everybody is welcomed and cherished in the city.
Annie Ohana, president of Sher Vancouver, said today's event is a "big deal."
"More than ever, we need visibility. We need representation and unabashed visibility, not just curtailed ones," Ohana said. "I think we do need to show a strong, kind of vanguard, a strong first line of defence and that it's all about inclusion. It's all about the beauty of our community and Surrey is beautifully diverse, and leaving out any one group is not a good thing," Ohana said.
For those who may have questions or do not understand the importance of Pride, she encourages them to ask respectfully.
"Come to the table and talk about it. You have the right to protest, but don't do it vitriolically, don't send death threats, don't do things that I faced, that a lot of people here have faced," Ohana said.
Surrey Pride founder Martin Rooney said that before 2023, the Pride flag had not flown at City Hall in celebration.
In 2016, Surrey council voted unanimously to fly the Pride flag at city hall in “solidarity, sympathy and support for the LGBTQ community following the mass shooting in Orlando, Florida,” Rooney said in a previous interview.
Surrey Pride Society first asked the city to raise the flag almost 25 years ago, said Rooney. But previous mayors and council pointed to city policy as the reason the flag would not fly. That stated they only fly the three government flags: municipal, provincial and federal. It was said a fourth pole would need to be installed, which, according to former mayor Dianne Watts, would have cost the city $200,000.
Flying the flag in celebration of Pride month is awesome, Rooney said. "It's very important for the city to know that LGBTQ people are very welcome in town," Rooney said.
Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke and Coun. Mike Bose stood alongside representatives from Surrey Pride Society, Sher Vancouver, Pinoy Pride Vancouver Society, and students from L.A. Matheson Secondary School to raise the flag.
Earlier in the month, Mayor Locke declared June as “2SLGBTQ+ (Rainbow Community) Pride Month."
On Saturday, June 28, Surrey Pride is hosting its 26th annual Surrey Pride Festival from noon to 7 p.m. at Civic Plaza (13450 104 Ave.).
Admission is free at the family-friendly event, to include vendors, speeches, dance and good vibes on the plaza outside Surrey City Hall. The schedule and other festival details are posted on surreypride.ca/surrey-pride-2025.
Sher Vancouver is a registered charity for 2SLGBTQIA+ South Asians and their friends, families and allies in the Lower Mainland.
Surrey Pride Society's mission statement is to create safe spaces and empower marginalized communities by “working together to achieve equality, inclusion and diversity with a focus on the 2SLGBTQ+I (Rainbow) community in Surrey,” reads a post on surreypride.ca.
