{This week, we have a guest post from local queer history enthusiast and dancer Sean Buckley – K.}
Each year, during the first week of January, the United Country Western Dance Council (UCWDC) holds a world championship with many different dance genres such as Two-Step, West Coast Swing, Line Dance, Cha-cha, Night Club, Waltz and more.
Getting to the annual world stage takes a year-long commitment and dedication: dancers must compete at UCWDC-sanctioned events in order to be eligible to hit the floor of the World Championships. The qualifying events are hosted in many countries, including a Calgary competition at the Hyatt Regency downtown. With so many official UCWDC competitions, the organization dramatically influences the ethos of the global dance community.
In January 2023, the UCWDC made waves throughout the global dance community by changing their official rules to allow any gender to dance with any gender—making history! Previously, dancers and dance pairs were limited to binary gender roles but the UCWDC committed to greater inclusion. The new rules must be adhered to throughout the entire global competition network.
As Keith Armbruster (UCWDC President and Calgary Dance Stampede Director) puts it:, “We value inclusion. Our roots inform our desire to be friendly, accessible, and welcoming to a diverse range of participants, regions, dance styles, and music. We strive to be welcoming, accessible, honest, ethical, and treat others with fairness, dignity, and respect.”
The upcoming World Championships next January (in Dallas, Texas) will be the first time the UCWDC world stage will host diverse competitors from around the world. The floor will not just be supporting the weight of dancers’ feet but also diversity. As the dancers challenge the dance floor for various world titles, the UCWDC challenges the world for greater inclusivity.
2023 marks the 50th anniversary of the first queer peer support organization in Calgary: the People’s Liberation Coalition (PLC).
Started in January 1973, the People’s Liberation Coalition served the Calgary gay community by offering information and counselling using a peer support model. The PLC office was located at the Old Y (CommunityWise) in room 314, and they attempted to have office hours from 7-11 p.m., seven days a week.
The group was an evolution of the Gay Liberation Front (GLF), which had begun meeting in September 1972, spearheaded by University of Calgary grad student Rick Sullivan.
GLF Button from the early 1970s
Lesbian activist, My (Myra) Lipton attended these early GLF meetings. She and Rick would attend Human Sexuality classes at the U of C as guest speakers. According to a student journalist, My called for women’s freedom to control their bodies and “engage in whatever sexual activities they prefer.” She also stated that the “greatest threat to the male role is solidarity among women, and lesbianism epitomized that solidarity.”
Biweekly consciousness-raising meetings of the GLF were held in the Beltline. Doug Jameson, a university student then, remembered the meetings in rundown apartments. He said, “people talked about the place we were at and trying to get petitions going to give to the government. There were about a dozen of us, and we were known to the RCMP.”
In fact, the RCMP came to Rick Sullivan’s apartment one night to question him about his activities with the GLF and The Gauntlet, attempting to intimidate him. The RCMP even requisitioned his student record from the University of Calgary, but the Registrar refused to cooperate.
Meanwhile, the GLF brainstormed the idea of a peer support organization. My Lipton cheekily wanted to call it, “Does Your Mother Know?” a phrase she often asked those who were coming out. However, to the larger group, the name People’s Liberation Coalition stuck, and they found a space at the Old Y and a roster of volunteers to offer peer support. Shortly after its inception, the PLC announced their intention to sponsor “a mixed boogie” at a local community hall.
My remembered: “the PLC was breaking new ground in Calgary. The immediate need that we had to convey to people who were coming out was that they were OK—it was society that had the problem.”
Mount Royal College student Rex Leonard saw a poster for PLC at his on-campus guidance centre. He headed to the Old Y that night and surprised PLC volunteer Joanne, who was answering the phone that night—there were not many drop-in visits! Rex’s world expanded as he was introduced to more gays and lesbians. He appreciated that the organization was centred around social activism, not just a place to find a romantic partner. Rex became a dedicated PLC volunteer.
An Australian gay activist named Brian Lindberg, who travelled through Western Canada later in 1973, described the movement in Calgary as going through a difficult period. He wrote:
“The gay information centre was staffed by only a few people (one in particular) who continued to maintain the service even though little assistance could be obtained. Considering the population size of Calgary, I was surprised not to find a well-organized gay liberation movement.”
The PLC ran out of steam as key members moved away from the city, and no replacements were found. Keeping the office open seven days a week proved challenging, and after about a year of operating, the PLC faded away.
Queer peer support was resurrected in June 1975 as Gay Information and Resources Calgary (GIRC) by My Lipton and Windi Earthworm. There has been a more or less continuous peer support service at the Old Y for 50 years. This legacy is continued by the esteemed Calgary Outlink today.
Many ask why Calgary’s Pride Festival is on the Labour Day weekend when internationally Pride Month is in June. In fact, Calgary Pride used to be a June festival but moved to September in 2009 to take advantage of drier weather and the potential for long-weekend tourism.
June is the month of Pride because it honours the Stonewall Riots in New York City, which began on June 28, 1969—a galvanizing event in the modern gay liberation movement.
Back in 1987, delegates from many of Calgary’s gay and lesbian organizations came together to form an umbrella organization called Project Pride Calgary. Inspired by the Stonewall Riots, they produced a Pride festival locally to celebrate community. Their first festival in June 1988 included a concert, workshops, a dance, and a family picnic – but no public rally or protest.
In June 1990, that changed. The Calgary Lesbian and Gay Political Action Guild (CLAGPAG), one of the Project Pride partners, organized the first political rally, which they internally described as a media stunt. One hundred and forty people mustered at the Old Y to pick up lone ranger masks and then gather at the Boer War Statue in Central Memorial Park.
And then, in June 1991, CLAGPAG more ambitiously, held its first Pride Parade. Four hundred people at City Hall cheered gay Member of Parliament Svend Robinson, who gave an inspiring speech despite gloomy weather and even gloomier protesters, three of whom were arrested.
Over the next 18 years, Pride Calgary remained a June event. It was entirely volunteer-run, and the parade and festival waxed and waned based on the enthusiasm of that year’s steering committee.
In 2008, the organization was in debt and nearly collapsed, with most of the committee abandoning ship. Sam Casselman stepped up at that autumn’s AGM as President but was shocked to learn that Pride Calgary was not an incorporated society—just a group of volunteers with a bank account. By March 2009, the new board was actively fundraising to retire its debt and incorporated a non-profit society.
They also decided to move the festival to September. The 2009 theme was “Your Rights, Our Rights, Human Rights.” There was pushback from the community, who said they were not adequately consulted about the date change, and a handful of gay businesses refused to participate. However, on Sunday, September 6, 2009, Pride had its best attendance ever.
Photos: Robin Kuniski, Xtra.caPride Power TowerIs that Lois Szabo in the background?
I wrote: “The day began at noon with the Pride Parade travelling east on Calgary’s historic Stephen Ave Mall. The event was 25 percent larger than in 2008, with 40 parade entrants and 400 people participating, but there were some noticeable changes in the lineup: mainstays such as Priape Calgary and Twisted Element were absent. However, there was more participation from the Calgary community at large, including a local financial institution, a local daily newspaper and a handful of politicians.
By 1 pm the parade spilled into Olympic Plaza as people took in the Pride street gala, which included a dance stage, beer garden, food, vendors and kids zone. Speeches were kept to a minimum by organizers and community leaders, while people checked out the vendor booths where they could enter contests, buy rainbow and cowboy swag, or learn about local queer community groups. The beer garden lineup was long, there were dogs and kids everywhere, and the dance stage was packed. Tourists took photos of themselves in front of the throngs. There seemed to be more young people than ever before at Pride.
As the afternoon progressed, people retreated to the lawns surrounding the Plaza or moved on to community events and fundraisers that were happening throughout the city. The sun broke through by late afternoon, rewarding the hundreds who stayed to dance in the Plaza. By this time the Pride Calgary organizers looked pleased, albeit a little tired, as the day had been seemingly executed flawlessly.”
The decision to move to September proved decidedly successful. Calgary’s Pride Festival was the fastest-growing Pride in Canada for much of the 2010s, with attendance growing to 100,000+.
Calgary Gay History 