Rainbows are filling the Peterborough Memorial Centre (PMC) this Saturday as the Peterborough Petes and Sport A Rainbow are hosting Pride Night with a specially-designed jersey auction announced on Thursday.
The Petes are wearing the jerseys in support of the 2SLGBTQI+ community at Saturday’s game. All proceeds of the jersey auctions go towards Sport A Rainbow and take place in the PMC lobby after the game.
Rose Powers, operator and founder of Sport A Rainbow helped design the jersey that includes waved flags by a silhouetted crowd on the bottom. She said that the plan for the jersey was not to just have rainbow colours but to be able to tell a story.
“The first thing I thought of was flags because people who want to feel included in part of the 2SLGBTQI+ community, they also want to have their own representation,” said Powers. “The two-spirit Indigenous queer flag is the beginning of that. It actually was here before we had our traditional Pride flag. We want to make sure youth know that they're seen, you're recognized and we're standing with you.”
Sport A Rainbow strives to encourage everyone to be respectful and kind to each other in spite of anyone’s differences according to a press release.
“I think that visibility is so important and I love that the Petes are willing to stand up and make change,” said Powers. “I hope that everybody comes out to see what the Petes have done to make this an important and Prideful night.”
The Petes Pride Night game is Saturday against the Niagara IceDogs at 7:05 p.m.