Calgary’s Pride history revealed
Posted Sep 3, 2022 11:48 am.
Last Updated Sep 3, 2022 11:51 am.
Pride week is being celebrated in Calgary as strides are still being made towards the acceptance of sexual orientation and gender identity.
Kevin Allen and a team of researchers started gathering information on Calgary’s gay history for the Calgary Gay History Project in 2012.
According to their website, the researchers, “Were curious about what life was like for gay people in Calgary in previous times.”
“This project also has an oral history preservation agenda: documenting stories from 2SLGBTQ+ elders in Calgary whose stories should be recorded before they are lost.”
Calgary has come a long way since the first local pride event held in Central Memorial park just over 30 years ago, with Allen saying that it was “A very pivotal moment in Calgary’s queer history.”
“Notably people wore Loan Ranger masks to make the point that you could be legally discriminated against in Alberta,” Allen said.
“At that point, you could lose your job or get kicked out of housing that kind of stuff so that was a very pivotal moment in Calgary’s queer history.”
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The first gay bar in Calgary was called Club Carousel located in the basement at 1207 1 Street SW. Today it’s home to the sports bar Home & Away.
“If you go into the lower level, they have a little homage to Club Carousel,” Allen said.
Allen says that Lois Szabo is one of the founders of Club Carousel. He adds that the 86-year-old is the only living founder of Club Carousel.
People can catch sight of Szabo at this year’s Calgary Pride events, and they may catch her at Lois Szabo Commons at 936 16 Avenue SW, the park that was named after her.
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Allen says he has been working towards getting the archives into the Glenbow Museum collection at the University of Calgary.
“Regular institutions’ library archives weren’t collecting gay history, weren’t collecting queer history, so it’s sort of a history that’s quickly disappearing,” Allen said.
“Oral history has been a big part of the Calgary Gay History Project, and reporting these stories from the elders in our community is really important if we don’t have them, they will be lost forever.”
