Decades before Calgary Pride became a city-wide celebration, the queer community in the city was much more insular—still vibrant, but there was also an element of fear. Being out and proud wasn’t an easy thing to be.
“Many men were beaten up after they left gay bars,” says Nancy Miller, a longtime activist and a member of the Calgary Lesbian and Gay Political Action Guild (CLAGPAG), the group that started Calgary’s first Pride March. “You could lose your job, your rental or even custody of your children. It was a different time.”
It meant that many people felt it was safer to remain in the shadows, than to step out and suffer consequences for being themselves.
A small but committed group of diverse activists, CLAGPAG, held a rally in 1990 and in the following year, the first Pride March took place. On the steps of City Hall, Mayor Al Duerr proclaimed Calgary’s first Pride Week. It marked a turning point, laying the groundwork for the supportive community we see today.
United Way leans into courage to empower a community
But CLAGPAG wasn’t quite done with a march. They were looking for protection under the Individual Rights Protection Act, now superseded by the Alberta Human Rights Act, which did not recognize the 2SLGBTQIA+ community at the time.
“We understood collaboration and allyship,” says Miller. “We built relationships with United Way-funded organizations to help them respond to clientele that needed specific support related to sexuality and homosexuality—we knew filtering through United Way would be the best way to reach the agencies serving our communities.”
In 1996, CLAGPAG requested funds from United Way of Calgary and Area for the Diversity Education Project to offer education and resources to United Way-funded organizations, including the YWCA, Elizabeth Fry Society and the former Calgary Birth Control Society (now Centre for Sexuality). The Project’s goal was to create safe spaces for Calgarians to access the services they really needed.
“I found out later we were the first queer organization in Canada to get United Way funding,” she says. “It was a groundbreaking project at the time and United Way took it on. It was courageous for them to step out of the norm and fund an organization like ours.”
Continuing the legacy of support for the 2SLGBTQIA+ community
“Grassroots organizations play a huge role in the spectrum of care, service and delivery,” says Humaira Falak, the diversity, equity and inclusion strategist at United Way of Calgary and Area. “It’s why we launched the Grassroots Empowerment Strategy (GEM) last year to support these organizations to build their capacity and better support their communities.”
Grassroots organizations are mostly volunteer-run or community-led with minimum government support, but they have deep knowledge of what is happening on the ground. United Way’s work with GEM aims to grow their resources and skills to more effectively support their communities.
“We have funded about 25 agencies and led a consultation with 50 organizations to better understand the landscape in Calgary, to identify best practices in where United Way can support them in the best possible way.”
Falak stresses this work is community-led for an important purpose: those in community know best about what they need.
“Projects are led and designed by the community themselves,” she says. “If we want transformational systems change, it’s important to hear what they want, rather than tell them what we want.”
An inclusive future
In recent years, the world has seen a rise in backlash against the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, with hatred and misinformation directed especially at the transgender community. It’s a reason why continuing the support and advocacy for the community is critical.
“We are here to support everyone to thrive—it’s why United Way exists,” says Falak. “As a funder and systems change leader, we do not leave any population behind as we work toward transformational change for each community.”