‘Proud and loud’ youth lead 2018 Pride Parade
This year’s event put focus on gay-straight alliances in schools throughout province
Thousands of people, young and old, loud and proud, lined the streets of downtown Calgary, turning it into a sea of rainbows on Sunday for the 2018 Pride Parade.
This year, the parade marshals were members of gay-straight alliances (GSA) — safe places where student allies and those who identify as part of the LGBTQ community can come together, hang out and be themselves at their schools.
For Madison Jones and Clayton Poirier, who were at the very front of the parade and both part of a GSA at their school in Forest Lawn, being able to lead the parade felt “great.”
They both believe it’s important for schools to support students through GSAs.
“You feel like that’s your spot where you can be yourself,” said Jones.
“It’s like your own little safe spot and I’ve been at schools where you didn’t have it before, and it felt like you were singled out and it feels like you’re together when you have a GSA at your school.”
Having a GSA shows that you’re also not the only one, added Poirier.
“The GSA has helped me be a part of my community,” he said.
“It’s super fun, everyone should join their GSA no matter what.”
Syd Kwan and Sean Ruhland, who are both 17 and dating, wore T-shirts saying ‘He’s Mine’ and ‘I’m His’ while waving the pink, blue and white transgender flag.
The couple said they were “out and proud” while leading the parade Sunday afternoon.
“It’s honestly amazing that I can be a representative for my community and be out and proud and loud and happy. We’re extremely grateful to be like that,” said Kwan.
“To be able to freely and proudly walk the streets of Calgary, holding my boyfriend’s hand and not wearing a mask. Just to be able to be out and proud in this kind of way is absolutely amazing,” added Ruhland.
Both are part of a GSA at their school.
“It’s awesome. I’m much older than everybody else, I can be out and I can be a dad figure to these people,” said Kwan.
For Alberta Liberal Leader David Khan, the first openly gay political leader in the province, the theme of having students lead the parade is a great one.
“When I grew up, the environment wasn’t like this,” said Khan.
“I’m so happy to see so many younger people that have this kind of inclusive environment and celebration of who they are, and I wish I had that when I grew up. But things get better every year and this is why we do it.”
Premier Rachel Notley and Education Minister David Eggen were both marching in the parade and voiced their support for having the students with GSAs lead the festivities.
“We’ve worked very hard over the last three years to gain acceptance in the school community but in the larger Alberta community as well,” said Eggen.
“We quite literally moved not just our schools but our entire society into a more safe and caring environment as a result of this pioneering work through GSAs. It’s a big deal.”
The only provincial party not allowed to march in this year’s parade was the United Conservative Party, after its application was denied for a second year in a row.
Reasons for the rejection were that the UCP did not fulfil Calgary Pride’s application criteria.
Last year, the UCP opposed Bill 24, an Act to Support Gay-Straight Alliances. The legislation made it illegal for teachers to inform parents if their child had joined a GSA, unless the child has consented.
At the parade, Notley said it is clear the conservative party has not supported the LGBTQ community in the past year.
“They wanted to out students who were part of GSAs, who were not ready yet to share their story with everybody as defined as someone else. And they supported the candidacy for nomination of someone that is very clearly making public homophobic statements,” said Notley.
“If they want to start being part of it instead of being off somewhere else in their own little private party, they should be here watching the parade and taking those steps to get in line with what I think are the dominant values of this province.”
When their application to march this year was denied, the UCP said they would instead hold a separate Pride event in Calgary at which uniformed members of the military and police would be welcome.
It’s honestly amazing that I can be a representative for my community and be out and proud and loud and happy.