The man behind the “Better Safe than Surrey” T-shirt has taken another jab at B.C.’s second largest city, this time mocking its refusal to raise a gay pride flag outside City Hall.
Don Pitcairn’s latest creation on SurreyShirts.com twists Surrey’s slogan, “The Future Lives Here,” into “The Future Lives Queer.”
Pitcairn said it’s time the city of roughly 509,000 people started acting its size.
“There are 43 other cities across Canada that have flown the pride flag during pride festivals and pride week,” he said. “It’s time to get with the times.”
The T-shirt also adds rainbow colours to Surrey’s logo.
The city, which sent a cease and desist order to Pitcairn for past designs, wouldn’t comment on the new shirt but said it embraces diversity and supports the gay pride festival financially.
Surrey said it’s simply following its tradition of only flying flags from the three levels of government.
Pitcairn said that stance sounds like a cop-out.
“The gay community is well established in the City of Surrey. I know a lot of people involved in that community and they need our reassurance and they need our support.”
Surrey does have a modest pride flag on display inside City Hall that its keeping up until the end of pride week.
With a report from CTV Vancouver’s Peter Grainger
