Marching with Pride: Thousands take to the streets for Calgary Pride Parade 2017

The Calgary Pride Parade took over parts of downtown on Sunday, as membersof the LGBTQ community donned colourful costumes and flags to celebrate alongside their supporters.

Tens of thousands of Calgarians took part in and watched the parade, which marched down Sixth Avenue with rainbow flags, signs andballoons.

Evensome petsgot into the pride spirit as they marched the parade route, dressedin rainbow garb.

Parade grand marshal Lois Szaboleadthe pride procession, riding atopa convertible Mercedesand waving a rainbow Pride flag.

A longtimeLGBTQactivist,Szabo openedone of Western Canada's first gay bars, Club Carousel, in Calgaryback in 1967.

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"I don't think I'm the first woman grand marshal, but I think I'm probably the oldest,"Szabosaid."And I think it's good for women and particularly seniors to be included and to feel welcome to come to something like this.

"And maybe my being here will encourage them to comeback out into the active gay community, which is wonderful."

Premier Rachel Notley, wearing a rainbow boa and rainbowleggings,marched in the parade with other members of the NDP caucus.

"It's a wonderful event, a wonderful opportunity to celebrate all that is so good about Alberta in terms of our diversity and our inclusion and the strength that that gives us," Notley said.

Sitting on the sidelines

The lead up to Calgary Pride weekend was marked byCalgary Pride putting a ban on uniformed Calgary Police officersmarching in the event.

Calgary Pride made the decision because of"the historical oppression and institutionalized racism faced by queer/trans people of colour and Indigenous persons" and the LGBTQ community's "negative association" with weapons, uniforms and "other symbols of law enforcement."

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Jason Kingsley, president and executive producer of Calgary Pride, noted the CPS stillhad a parade entry.

Officers marching in the paradeworePride-themed shirts and wavedPride flags whileuniformed officers provided security for the event.

Canadian Blood Services set up an infobooth atthe end of the parade for the first time but they are also seen as contentious by some members of the LGBTQcommunity due to theircontinuedban of sexually-active gay and bisexual men donating blood, despite a campaign promise from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to end the ban.

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"[Canadian Blood Services]participated in other pride events and they reached out and said 'We want to come and have that difficult conversation,'"Kingsley said.

"And we've actually put them right next to HIV Community Link, and so we're hoping that there's going to be some really collaborative and constructive conversation around some of the issues that are faced by some individuals in our community this year."

Calgary Pride also banned members of the United Conservative Party (UCP) from marching in the parade until it formsclear policies that support LGBTQ rights.

Some members of the UCP caucus still came down to the parade route as spectators, including Rick Fraser, MLA forCalgary Southeast, saying Pride is "about people" and "shouldn't be about politics."

Some parade attendeesobjected to the UCP coming to the event.

One man protesting the UCPwho declined to be named, calledleadership hopeful Jason Kenney "a dangerous man" and is worried that, if elected, Kenneymay institute policies that could hurt the LGBTQcommunity.

UCP interim leader Nathan Cooper was watching from the sidelines and said he believes the majority of UCP members want an open and inclusive party.

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"I hope that, at the end of the day, we'll be able to have built relationships with members of this community so that we'll be able to participate in Pride, and those that want to be able to do that, will be able to do that," Cooper said.

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