Former Kelowna Pride president wants to ban MP Tracy Gray from Pride events this year

The former president of the Kelowna Pride Society wants to cut Conservative MP Tracy Gray off from Pride events.

Wilbur Turner, who is also the leader of the Kelowna Task Force to Ban Conversion Therapy, sent a letter to Gray last week demanding she apologize for voting no to a federal bill to ban conversion therapy – the practice of converting people to become heterosexual. The bill passed anyway.

READ MORE: Member of Kelowna’s queer community says local MP delivered 'punch in the stomach'

He’s still waiting for a response to that request for an apology.

“Other than an email reply to myself asking for my postal code to confirm if I am in the riding, there has been no response to the letter,” Turner said in a news release today, Aug. 4.

Gray has also not responded to iNFOnews.ca about the apology request but had said, earlier, that she supports the LGBTQ community as evidenced by having attended Pride events in the past.

READ MORE: Kelowna's Tracy Gray only MP in region to vote against ban on conversion therapy

Turner countered that that was not necessarily a sign of support but was posturing.

The Task Force to Ban Conversion Therapy has now written to Kelowna Pride asking that it “create guidelines around political presence at Pride events, and to advise MP Gray that she is not welcome at this year's events,” the news release states.

The Kelowna Pride Society, on June 22, voted unanimously in favour of supporting the creation of Task Force, the news release states.

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