Pride surprised by bid for rainbow crossing
A councillor’s bid to repaint one of Calgary’s biggest retail intersections in rainbow flag colours wasn’t on Pride Calgary’s radar until the politician announced it and Stephen Wright’s phone began ringing Tuesday.
Wright, the organization’s president, is intrigued by the idea and pleased that Coun. Sean Chu will bring it to council later this month.
“We weren’t aware of this. It came out of left field for us,” Wright said.
The colourful declaration of equality and inclusivity would go on all four crosswalks at 17th Avenue and 4th Street S. W. — one of the city’s busiest pedestrian intersections, and the gateway to Mission.
And the paint would be permanent, Chu said. That puts the proposed gesture a step beyond what Edmonton is doing — new paint was laid down Monday on three Edmonton crosswalks, for the duration of that city’s Pride Festival this month.
A permanent rainbow crosswalk would put Calgary in league with Vancouver’s Davie Street Village and a small handful of other North American cities where asphalt bears the pride flag colours yearround.
“This would be street art, and put Calgary on the map, and it’s being inclusive,” Chu said Tuesday in an interview, after announcing his idea via news release.
It comes at a sensitive time for the first- term councillor, who represents north Calgary. Last week, he apologized for a bizarre Twitter message that disparagingly compared Ireland’s “yes” vote on same- sex marriage to a “social revolution” of Calgary bike lanes potentially harming downtown businesses.
Since then, he’s vowed to have staff vet his often inflammatory social media usage. But the rainbow crosswalk pitch was spawned more than a week before this incident, in conversations with his aides, said Chu, an officer with the Calgary Police Service’s diversity resource team before he joined council in 2013.
Coun. Evan Woolley, whose ward includes the intersection, is skeptical of Chu’s intentions.
“Do I question the authenticity of it? Obviously. If he admitted he made a mistake and this is an effort to make good on that mistake, maybe it’s a nice thing,” he said.
Woolley, who took part in a Pride Calgary event announcement last month, also didn’t know about his colleague’s idea until the announcement went out.
“Is he making a notice of motion after not talking to anybody, including the area councillor, including the gay community? Where did this idea come from?” Woolley said.
Chu said his aides have discussed the idea with members of the gay community, though he’s not sure whom.
The city would take the lead on the decoration, but residents would likely be eager to donate to cover expenses, the councillor predicted. In 2013, Vancouver spent $ 25,000 to decorate a Davie Street intersection in the heart of its gay village.
Had Chu asked the Pride Calgary president, his pitch may have been different. Wright said his group has discussed painting crosswalks before, but would only cover the costs of temporary paint for Pride Week in September.
“I think it’s a great idea, but we shouldn’t be using city resources on something like that unless there is available money.
“But from what I see, there’s lots of other things we can use money for,” Wright said.
He likes the high- impact location Chu has proposed.
“It would be a lot more visible than a street downtown that doesn’t get as used as much during the weekend,” he said.
September’s Pride parade will go down 9th Avenue downtown. The organization says it’s outgrown the narrower 8th Avenue route used for the past several parades.
Chu’s motion will go to council on June 29. He has also said he’ll march in the Sept. 6 parade, as he has before.
The rainbow flag was first adopted as a symbol by the San Francisco gay community in the late 1970s.