In 2020, Borderland Pride asked the township of Emo, Ont. (pop. 1,300) to proclaim Pride Month and fly the Pride flag. In a 3-2 vote, the council declined. It was a petty decision; Pride proclamations are generally considered pro forma, and Emo’s refusal was a bad look for a township seeking to attract business and newcomers.
In fairness, Emo only had four such requests that year, two of them from Borderland Pride. This was a far cry from the 1990s, when Hamilton and London discriminated against Pride by excluding it from similar resolutions passed for everyone else.
