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There are definitely couple memorable experiences. First would be Hot Mess; pop-up parties around different spots Calgary provided with great music, which also is very inviting of non-LGBTQ people to join and party together.
Oh and Remember going to Republic to see Alaska Thunder Fuck 5000.

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Getting rid of the stigma and kids being alone. This idea that just because you try something doesn't mean you are. To have a place for LGBTQ+ youth to go and talk to elders who have been there; having someone else to talk to. A LGBTQ+ hub.

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I don't want to be identified solely as gay, that's just a part of who I am. I love the diversity of Canada. Where in the world has this diversity?

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Fusion Soccer (http://fusioncoedsoccer.com/). The running groups and Apollo (http://www.apollocalgary.com/). The activities and LGBTQ+ sports groups.

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Boyztown was the heart and soul of the male gay community. It was FUN. When I moved to Calgary you could go down on a Saturday night and see 20 people you know. It was the best place to meet people. Also Grabba Jabba, a gay-owned coffee shop. The swim club would show up on Wednesday night so it was a popular patio in the summer.

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To have an area of the city where it has a whole gay vibe. We don't want to be stuck in a closet though, we want it to be inclusive.

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Joining the Calgary Frontrunners running group, it was my entry to the community 15 years ago. A gal I knew just said to come out running. I ended up running by myself until the men saw I could keep up. It keeps my connection to the LGBTQ+ community.

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No one organization represents the one voice of the gay community in Calgary. There is no one voice. The community is diverse. We mirror larger society. You can't treat us as a monolith.

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Definitely a physical location. A monument to visit like the

Homomonument in Amsterdam. The Beltline was the historical community of gay Calgary in the past, now & the future is more East Village.

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Rooks, O C's, Moneypennies. They were the heart of the gay women's community. They were truly inclusive of everyone. The atmosphere is different if it's a pick-up place vs. a community place where you're going for community and connection.

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A LGBTQ+ hub that's inclusive to everyone. Located in the East village with an international feel. We need an international perspective to counter the red-neck culture of Calgary.

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I was the president of an association for women's dances, it created a sense of family within a gay community. We worked with the YWCA and created a sense of inclusion.

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Joining the running group. It was my coming out in 91/92. It was my door to everything. It was my door to the gay community.

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I moved to Calgary 9 years ago from Scotland. It was really when I joined the running club a year ago that was my LGBTQ+ turning point in Calgary. I found community. Also becoming the Shell co-chair of the LGBTQ+ network.

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Bringing Pride to Morley and making history by having the very first Pride on indigenous lands in Alberta. Having people in the community being proud of that made me think, OK, maybe I can make a difference. It’s still a work in progress but with the right tools I think we can make a lot of difference. We have a lot of people who have always been two spirited on the reserve. We’ve always been visible but thought of as a sore eye since colonization. We need to be more visible in a positive way.

After bringing Pride to Morley and having the Elders’ include two spirited people I don’t have to worry if someone criticizes me. I just say, “well that’s your colonial mindset way”. We never even had churches back in the day. We were one with the earth and one with the great spirit. Two spirited people were respected people in our culture. We were healers, we were leaders, we were warriors, we were advisors.

- Argintina Hailey, Wesley First Nation

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“Meeting gay women who later became lifelong friends at the friend at the Cecil Hotel in 1967 who took my partner and I to the first gay club in Calgary. My partner and I had come out to our husbands and we didn’t know where there were any other gay women. We floundered around for three years and found them by trial and error. We’d been going out every weekend from January until September until we found them at the Cecil. It meant there was life, that there was a community we could get involved with. We weren’t alone anymore. All of a sudden there were people that I could relate to.”

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“Meeting Jack at the club on 8th Avenue. We founded Club Carousel together with three other guys. They had the idea and I ran with it.

It meant that I could use my spare time and energy for a cause that I felt had meaning. I was a stay at home mom, I was doing useless, mind numbing housework and this gave me a chance to think, and plan, and contribute.

We worked on getting a cleaned up, safe place for us all to meet. We built stages, we fixed wiring, signed permits, brought in all the supplies, and kept it running. I was the one free in the day time. The men had jobs. Three of them had jobs where they needed to be really safe so within three months of opening Club Carousel they phased themselves out, they couldn’t risk their names being out. They faded out and I faded in. So Jack worked the door and the bar and I floated and did whatever needed to be done.

Initially we sold memberships to 20 friends and four people loaned us $100 each to get supplies and pay rent. Opening night had about 25 - 30 people. About 7 years later when I faded out, decided not to run for election, I think we had 670 members

The most pleasurable thing about Club Carousel was all the young people (21+ and over, that was the age of majority at the time) who would come and drop by before opening hours and tell us their problems. We operated as kind of surrogate mothers, hearing their problems. At the time there was no other community or peer support. During those years we had four kids commit suicide and two directors were murdered … What they have at Calgary Outlink now is what Jack and I used to sit and dream about.”

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“The LIL [Lesbian Information Line] office at the Old Y. In the 1980s it was on the main floor downstairs on the right hand side.They ran a telephone line and it was in the Calgary white pages. Anyone who was coming through Calgary could call. You could get information about what was happening in the gay community, it was a feeding system for information. That was important after Club Carousel closed. LIL would know when there were women’s dances, etc. It was the conduit into the gay world and community. LIL was the connection point.”

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“I’ve never felt threatened anywhere. I’m not sure whether I’ve just been lucky or I choose my venues and friends. I think women have a far easier time being invisible. We can pass.”

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“We’re here, we’re queer, and we’re going to stay. So accept us. No, more than accept, embrace us.”

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“Continued growth. A central building that’s all their own to host information, history, social events, resources. It would have meant everything to have that. Particularly for youth to have a place where they can go, where it’s their own. They can develop their own programs and growth process. A place where can have whatever they need or want. So they’re not pigeon holed or where they’re not the odd man out. A space where they have an opportunity to figure things out for themselves.”

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Being crowned Empress of the ISCCA for the second time in 2013. It was at the Westin Hotel in Calgary and that night it was a yes/no vote. Even before the voting ended I still had a few people who complained, that I should be removed as a candidate....Then when I won, I was like, actually, really?!

The main thing was that my family and friends came out openly in support. Because the first time I ran [in 2005] I did it in secret. My mom didn’t even know I was a performer. Then eight years down the road my mom is coming to my shows, my stepdad is coming to my shows. That time being crowned in front of my family was the biggest memory for me. I was accepted.

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Coming out at age 20, I hated the idea of being dishonest with family, friends and of all, myself by not telling them about who I truly am. I would say going into university, and embracing myself as gay was a great turning point. The Q center; A safe place for LGBTQ+ at U of C was great for resources and making friends.

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The Texas Lounge. I like that place. It’s very welcoming. For me when I used to go there it was always about doing a show but lately it’s a place where I’ve been getting along with people and talking. You can just be yourself at Texas.

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My hope is more visibility for the two spirit community, not only in the LGBTQ+ community, but everywhere. I’m kind of the only active two spirited performer. Not only for my whole reserve, but within Treaty 7 territory. The jokes can get a little mean and the common misconceptions are ... we need to change that. We need two spirited people who have moved to Calgary to be themselves. Sitting on Boards. Doing more Activism. Like Evans Yellow Old Woman is doing, with VOICES [Calgary’s Coalition of People of Colour] and the Two Spirited: Exploring Gender Identity from an Indigenous Lens forum at Global Fest this year. Go Evans! At times we segregate ourselves individually. We all have to work together and get along in order for us to move forward... Being native and gay in the city. Young kids like myself coming to the city, trying to figure out who they are. It’s a shock. It’s scary. Growing up I never knew where to look. I never had the proper resources because everywhere I looked didn’t reflect being two spirited.

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"I love costume parties. So, Halloween party at Hot Mess, that's like my Christmas. One year I dressed as Kimchi, Donut come for me, with donut ears, and had sprinkles on different layers of my skirt."

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"I grew up from a very accepting family, both my parents are artists. I have always identified myself as a "gay art kid". Even now, I go everywhere in with a "f*ck you" attitude, expressing who I am with no hesitation".

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Many people don't realize that we (LGBTQ+) don't just come out once. I'm coming out continuously whenever I meet new people, on a weekly and daily basis. Sometimes it's very easy, but not always. My hopes for Calgary is that we continue to grow. There will be more places to hangout, get together. Maybe couple spots where LGBTQ community can meet and get to know each other without alcohol.

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"I can't pin point a turning point in particular. I cut my hair really short on purpose so people can maybe assume I'm queer, but people think I'm just a cute straight girl with a pixie cut. I call myself queer and tell people I'm queer when I meet them".

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I remember clearly of being a member in the Young Canadians at Stampede. Young Canadians is a dance performance group for youth. Even though we were all young, I was free to express myself without worrying about how people would think of me. To be part of a big unified group of kids with different backgrounds was a great experience.

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I must say I really enjoy the new developments in East Village. The area is well spread out, spacious, and non-invasive. The mixture of nature and culture makes the time I spend there very comfortable and relaxing.

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Though I was always hopeful, being gay in Calgary was not so easy. To be comfortable with who I am now was followed by the growing pain of being self-conscious, insecure and nervous around people. Calgary is a fast growing community. I hope that our community continues to practice the sense of openness, despite our history of being a conservative city. It's a team effort between LGBTQ+ community and non-LGBTQ+ community, to build a community where we all feel safe to express who we are and to be happy about it.

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"Coming from a small town in Nova Scotia, I never paid too much attention to gay community establishment, to begin with. Calgary is a much bigger city with more happenings, though it is a conservative redneck city with a small pocket of a gay community".

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The most secure place for me was at ACAD, attending school. Being part of the creative world with open-minded people allowed me to feel free to express my identity through art.
At ACAD, there is an event called Valentina Drag ball, a memoir to raise money to support Jasmine Valentina Scholarship. Performance members include students and instructors.

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I am hopeful there will be more positive role models that are supportive of younger kids coming to terms with their sexuality. Creating an environment where people feel inclusive and safe in our community is something I also look forward to, for both LGBTQ and Non-LGBTQ people. There is definitely a need for more establishments and recognition of the LGBTQ community in the city that is easy to approach for those in need of resources.

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Going to the Fairy Tales Queer Film Festival is one of my favourite annual events.  We started this long-running cultural institution in June 1999.  We screened the two-night festival at the Garry Theatre in Inglewood (no longer a theatre, but a live music venue).  There were sell out crowds as well as lots of excitement on those two sweltering summer evenings – in a venue with no air conditioning!  Moviegoers fanned themselves with programs, drank cool beverages and managed to sweat buckets with no complaints: a sort-of cinematic sauna experience…

In the festival’s early years, ticket sales and sponsorships funded the entire volunteer run event. This was done in large part to avoid the drama of homophobia in public arts funding that had been happening throughout Alberta in the 1990s.

Rick Bell interviewed me for his column in the Calgary Sun and wrote: The fairies are coming and there’s not a hell of a lot you can do or say about it. After all, they’re not spending your money. Pink dollars are paying the freight.”

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Chairing the Alberta Public Review of Gay Straight Alliances in Alberta Schools and then seeing accompanying legislative change after we submitted our report to the Alberta government was one of my most memorable experiences. I know my personal journey today would have been so much easier if GSAs existing in my school days.

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A turning point for me was seeing legislation change. First, the Alberta Government was forced by the Supreme Court of Canada to accept sexual orientation as a prohibited grounds of discrimination in the 1990’s. This was a dramatic change which helped to spark gay marriage across Canada, then changes in Alberta laws.

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For me, the Beltline is Calgary’s ‘gaybourhood.’ I hope that in the coming years there is a visible presence of our community somewhere within the Beltline so that a sense of safe neighbourhood can be built upon. The LGBTQ+ Legacy project is a piece of this neighbourhood building. It will mark forever one permanent place where all LGBTQ+ are welcomed and where the city can remember to never go backwards on acceptance of LGBTQ+ people.”

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Growing up in Calgary in the 80s and 90s, in an observing Catholic family, and having been educated in the separate school system, it took me some time to come into my own, even in my U of C years, though the dawning had begun sometime before then. In fact, I don’t think I had a turning point moment in Calgary. Leaving Calgary was my turning point. In many ways I had to leave Calgary, (and leave Canada, and my family behind) to find myself and my community, which I feel I have found in the Netherlands. It isn’t that a community doesn’t exist in Calgary, or on the West Coast, where I have also lived, and of course I love my friends and family back home, but I think it was the departure that facilitated the freedom to be myself

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There is not a specific space that represents the LGBTQ community.  The community is  relationship focused.

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The event should be international and not only for Calgarians.

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The commemoration should be about the human condition that is experienced by everyone.

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I am still me, I am just being more honest with myself.

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Central Calgary is more accepting and welcoming of the LGBTQS+ community than the suburbs.

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The indifference of sexual preference is reassuring. Last year at the Pride parade I spoke to a grandmother who was there supporting her grandson.

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I was married for many years. My turning point was attending the gay fathers group in Calgary. I had never seen anything like this before. Coming from the viewpoint that you feel you are the only one like you. The support group helped me come out while supporting my children’s needs.

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When attending adult high school to update my diploma there was one other gay guy who was very politically active. He wrote gay on his forehead.
The most accepting were the straight people at the school, especially one girl from Paris. They were accepting of people who just wanted to be themselves. They told me I don’t have to be loud and proud to be accepted. I think more people appreciated that I was not loud and proud.

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The space where I have felt most free is at home alone where I don’t have to answer to anyone but myself. I was having difficulty in my living situation in my early 20’s because my mom and her boyfriends were not accepting.

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I don’t know, I have been out of the community for so long it is hard to know. I hope the community can be more inclusive of older people and people who don’t have the certain magazine look.

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I would just like the commemoration to have equality. All I am looking for is equality so I don’t have to hide  in a housing situation. You can be yourself without having to be fired if your caught. That’s what I would really like – just equality. At the same time I would like equality from the gay community. Just because I am fat does not mean I don’t matter.

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The Calgary gay community is not inclusive. That is the most important point - they are not inclusive. There is one event coming up that I might go to but I am afraid I will be isolated for being overweight.

The only way to be accepted in the gay community in Calgary is to lose weight. This is not unique to Calgary. Weight shaming occurs in other cities across Canada. However, Calgary is the worst city to stereotype other members.

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I felt challenged at the gay bar. The regular cafes don’t feel as threatening because they are filled with other straight people.

Most of the intimidation was not physically threatening, it was the psychological stuff. One drag queen told me I should not talk because I was not as good looking as the others. Other gays would question if I had the right to talk to people who were better looking.

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There was no turning point. I stopped being a part of the community about 15 years ago. I got tired of the negativity, bickering, and the weight shaming. The people who were most concerned with weight were 40+ years in age.

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I would like to see a gay friendly space that does not involve alcohol.

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John

I came to Calgary in 1991 from the UK. The turning point for me was opening a bed and breakfast that catered to the gay community. That was 24 years ago and it is still operating. It has been an interesting 24 years, how the values change.

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First time I saw the pride parade in Calgary. It has been going for 3 or 4 years. Right after I “came out” There was a realization that there were many like me here in Calgary. I felt a sense of belonging to something.

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The first time in Gay bar – the backlot. Someone chaperoned me into the bar.  About 30 minutes after I started in there the place was raided by the fire department.

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My biggest fear of coming out was that I was going to be too old

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It was scary to come out to the queer community because I was worried I was not queer enough. I learned they are more accepting than I initially thought.

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My hope for the future is that I don’t have to worry about being “gay” at work.

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Until the LGBTQ+ community is fully accepted by mainstream society it is important to have LGBTQ symbols visible.

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I would like to see a place where you can go to make friends and not date. I don’t like having to turn to dating sites to meet people.

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I don’t present outwardly as LGBTQ+ so I don’t get challenged in the public. My family questions my choices.

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I am still surprised by the street harassment.

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Denny’s in Deerfoot Meadows has always been a safe place.

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Have a version of the village like other major Canadian cities and cities around the world. This would be a meeting spot for everyone - any ethnicity and identity and sexual orientation. My experience of Hot Mess and 2017 Pride parade are good precursors to this goal.