La Ronge Mayor Colin Ratushniak participated in a Pride Parade in Lithuania. (Facebook/Colin Ratushniak)

By Derek Cornet

Baltic Pride

‘Why we Pride’: La Ronge mayor returns from eyeopening Lithuania trip

Jun 6, 2022 | 5:28 PM

It was an eye-opening trip for La Ronge Mayor Colin Ratushniak who participated in Baltic Pride in Vilnius, Lithuania earlier this week.

He was invited by the Office of the Embassy of Canada to speak at several events in that country’s capital city between June 2-5. The first event Ratushniak participated in was called Pride Voices and it was a collaboration of various speakers and moderated questions.

“It was a great opportunity to talk about what we are doing in La Ronge and northern Saskatchewan at the municipal and rural level, and it was very well received,” he said.

Another event he enjoyed was a panel with the mayors of Vilnius, Oslo and other special representatives. Ratushniak explained he was able to speak about the progress made when it comes to increasing the visibility of the LGBTQ2S+ community in La Ronge and the rising support. He noted that 90 per cent of tri-community businesses are publicly displaying a Pride Flag.

“I was able to explain to them what the trajectory of what my career has been with the Pride Flag, specifically, and how important that is at the small municipal level and what that can mean to a community,” Ratushniak said.

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Ratushniak also challenged leaders who attended to be more vocal when it comes to human rights, adding representatives from Nordic countries explained citizens want more of a consensus on such matters. He replied not wanting to argue doesn’t really change anything.

LGBTQ2S+ citizens of Lithuania do not enjoy all the same rights that the country’s general population enjoys. Same-sex marriage is not permitted and public opinion polls have shown support for legalization is low.

Ratushniak stated there are small steps happening to advance such rights in Lithuania, but there’s a lot more that needs to be done.

“We don’t share the same freedoms as we do in Canada, so that was an eyeopener for me,” he said. “We can very quickly let things lapse because we have these freedoms, but once you go to other places that don’t have that, it just reminds you and gives you that fire back about why we Pride and the conversations I will be able to have if anyone questions why we continue to Pride today.”

Ratushniak also met with various ambassadors, as well as the parents of Matthew Shepard, a gay American who was beaten to death in the United States in 1998. He said having a moment to chat with them was a big moment.

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derek.cornet@pattisonmedia.com

Twitter: @saskjourno