FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 4th 2024, Calgary (Moh’kinsstis) – Calgary Pride Improves Applications for Annual Pride Parade and Pauses Political Party Participation for 2024
Every September, Calgary comes together to celebrate the city’s vibrant 2SLGBTQIA+ Community during the Calgary Pride Festival and Parade. This is a sacred time for our Community to celebrate their queer pride, which has not always been possible throughout history. Over the past few years, we’ve seen a steady increase in applications to join our annual Pride Parade. While we appreciate the interest in showing support for our Community, we have a responsibility to ensure our partners and their allyship is proven to be genuine and reflective of our Community’s best interests, especially in today’s charged climate.
Each year we face complex, often high-profile decisions about which entities or individuals we accept as participants in the parade. This has diverted our limited resources away from thoroughly vetting the rest of the applicants and has shifted the focus of the event away from celebrating Pride. To this point, after much deliberation between Calgary Pride staff and our Board of Directors, we are announcing today that Calgary Pride will not permit any provincial and/or federal political parties or figures to walk in this year’s Calgary Pride Parade.
Calgary Pride encourages politicians and political party representatives to attend the Parade and Festival and celebrate Pride with us. We recognize that many politicians are authentic in their allyship and that some are in fact members of our community, which is why this decision was not taken lightly.
Additionally, in the interest of better balancing the interests of our community with the desire to build meaningful sponsor relationships, we are today announcing even more rigorous Parade participation qualifications. We hope to welcome applicants who clearly demonstrate their active, meaningful, and sustained 2SLGBTQIA+ allyship and DEI journeys.
Our first priority is to ensure that Calgary Pride continues to be a celebration of our community and that our members feel represented, safe, and celebrated. We believe these new measures will support this mission and further strengthen our incredible community. Thank you to all allies who have supported the 2SLGBTQIA+ community through a year of increasing tension and uncertainty. Your advocacy, effort, care, and attention to growth does not go unnoticed by us, and especially the most vulnerable members of our community.
