Pride Calgary’s Origins Remembered

Over the past weekend, we had our community remembering session at CommunityWise (the Old Y) about the origins of Pride Calgary and that first pride rally in Central Memorial Park, organized by the Calgary Lesbian and Gay Political Action Guild (CLAGPAG) in 1990.  Hosted by the Calgary Gay History Project and the Royal Alberta Museum, we had a great time getting people into the same room who had not seen each other in years (decades…).

Stephen Lock, Nancy Miller & Richard Gregory: 1990 Pride Rally Organizers

We saw the CBC news footage of the rally, talked about the role of wearing the lone ranger masks and paper bags, and got a real sense of the times.  I learned, to my surprise, that the rally took place at the Boer War Memorial, and not on the steps of the library which I had previously thought.  This is a good example of how history can be mis-remembered and then propagated as fact.

Thank you Linda, Mathew, Joey, Nancy, Pam, Stephen and Richard for participating in a terrific session.  We look forward to developing this story further with our partner the Royal Alberta Museum!

{KA}