Edmonton Pride: A community-driven celebration

June marks the start of Pride season in Edmonton, with events running all the way until the end of August. But unlike many other cities, Edmonton celebrates Pride through many different events from various organizations and groups instead of one centralized organization. 

Ron Byers started Pride Edmonton in 2022, which aims to support and amplify events for the 2SLGBTQIA+ community across Pride season. Pride Edmonton collaborates with Explore Edmonton to promote events across the region. The project grew to include over 100 events last year, and Byers expects a similar number of events this summer.

For Byers, this work is incredibly personal. He came out at 14 years old in 1968, when it was illegal to be gay.

“I’ve been fired for being gay, I’ve been fired for being a man, I’ve been fired for being HIV positive,” he said. “I’ve been close to death a couple times.”

Byers said that he had to research his own HIV treatment to find ways to make him healthier.

“Now I have the energy and the spirit, and the stubbornness, to just push forward and make sure that our community is celebrated,” Byers explained.

“It’s a personal joy for me. It’s an opportunity to relish in the capabilities of someone when you get determined to make sure that our community is recognized for everything that it is.”

The continuing evolution of Pride in Edmonton

Pride was first recognized in Edmonton in 1983, but had unofficially started years before. In 1980, Dignity Canada, run by the Catholic Church, held pride picnics for people. Another church, the Metropolitan Community Church, had a camp for queer people.

In 1999, the Pride Festival Society held its first pride festival. The organization was meant to provide everyone in the community with a seat at the table, but some members didn’t feel represented. As a result, in 2019, the society dissolved. 

“Seeing the ability for us as a community to go out into the streets in such big, fabulous, splashing things is really quite amazing,” he said. “Certainly, you would not have seen that back in the 80s.”

For four years, Byers has collaborated with Explore Edmonton to write a Guide to Edmonton Pride. Now Pride Edmonton is moving towards a new chapter, one more independent from Explore Edmonton. 

Byers emphasized that Explore Edmonton has been an amazing partner. However, with the volume of Pride events, it’s a lot of work to keep up with in addition to the other events they market.

“It’s a lot of work, putting everything together on their website,” he said. “So they’re going to set the Guide to Pride as a static page now and only update it when it really becomes necessary.”

As the sole person behind the Pride Edmonton project and with no funding, he’s looking at ideas to find funding and resources. He’s hoping to be able to provide grants to help Pride events cover their costs.

CORRECTION: A correction was issued at 1:20 p.m. on June 12 to amend that Byers founded Pride Edmonton in 2022, not 2019.