Remembering with Pride
Exhibit at Art Gallery of Alberta recalls ‘tough’ years of change
An art exhibition detailing a half century of Edmonton’s queer history is on display at the Art Gallery of Alberta.
“It does validate, I think, our existence,” community organizer Michael Phair said Thursday.
We Are Here: Edmonton’s Queer History Project is part of the 35th anniversary of Edmonton’s Pride Festival. Exhibits include videos of testimony, posters of old Pride events, copies of landmark court cases and photos dating back to the 1960s, such as of the first queer club. Also illustrated are more recent struggles, such as help seniors need to find queer-friendly housing and a recent legislative change to make gay-straight alliances the right of any Albertan student to form at school.
Phair was parade marshal for the Pride festival last weekend. In 1990, he marched in the first parade.
“We didn’t know if anyone would show up,” Phair said. “I’ll never forget that. It was a sense that, yeah, this is real. It’s going to happen. Other people are here.”
Phair smiled as he remembered picnics and sports with friends, many of whom were scared to be seen in public.
“Some of us weren’t very sports-minded, so we cheered,” he said. “I had a lovely little cheerleader outfit actually, with pompoms.”
Over the years, activists in Edmonton, Phair included, pushed for changes to legislation, more research into AIDS and better treatment for the ill.
“Boy,itwasjusttoughwork,” Phair said. “It also showed Edmonton that not only was there a gay and lesbian community, but we were there on thelines,inthetrenchesdoing the tough work.”
In 1998, a discrimination case over a King’s University College instructor fired because he was gay made it to the Supreme Court of Canada, which ruled Alberta human rights legislation must protect people who are gay or lesbian. Some in the provincial government talked for a few days of ignoring the court’s directive.
“It was a horribly difficult time for many people,” Phair said. Then a city councillor, he received “lots of threats,” enough that city security and police kept an eye on him, Phair said.
Since fighting those battles, there have been major changes.
“I certainly never thought marriage was in the realm of possibility,” he said.
The exhibit is free and runs until June 21, ending with a public reception and tour from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.