LGBTQ+ Allyship

I’m going to speak in generalizations in this blog. Pride allyship has such a different meaning for me now that I live back in Alberta. In Toronto it is, frankly, easier. It’s widely understood as a baseline that people are deserving of basic human dignity and cannot be invalidated for simply existing. There are outliers, to be sure, but they are very much on the margins. There is a palpable difference in our particular corner of SE Alberta though. Again, certainly not everyone, or maybe even a majority of people. But, people who are anywhere from uncomfortable to openly in opposition of the LGBTQ+ community are typically loud, outspoken, proud, and defiant. It’s genuinely a shocking position to see so largely unopposed. There are plenty of good, reasonable people in this province, obviously. But their apathy sometimes outweighs their support.

I’m not being a martyr or playing some woe-is-me-song about how difficult it is to be an ally. It’s really not. I’m simply trying to advocate for a group of people who - while completely capable of speaking for themselves - shouldn’t have to constantly be on the defensive, careful not to offend, and worried for their safety and mental health. While those of us who are straight and cis are fortunate to live within society's default position, their very identity will continue to be attacked. The easy thing is to tune it out. I’m okay to do the hard thing, because it’s literally the least I can do.

I’m not a part of the LGBTQ community.and that does not matter at all. We all deserve validation, respect and compassion for the things we cannot choose. That entitlement stops exactly at the point where someone makes the choice to be racist, sexist, homophobic/transphobic, etc. Decency is a choice.

Pride Month in June presents a great opportunity to act on being an ally, but it unfortunately also presents an even bigger opportunity for both corporate and personal performative armchair activism. A rainbow corporate logo or profile picture means nothing if it’s not backed with meaningful action. All over Alberta, cities put up Pride flags and paint crosswalks, murals, etc. in rainbows, often only to take them down again after Canada Day. These actions are certainly better, in my opinion - they require a stance, a certain amount of consensus from leadership, and often an investment of resources. Unfortunately, they’re also an opportunity for vandalism and fodder for online bigotry. I have never seen a Pride post celebrating a new rainbow crosswalk or art installation that didn’t also include a percentage of comments containing some iteration of “can’t wait to do a burnout over that”. If you’re so offended by some paint that your gut reaction is to post on a public forum that you’re going to run your tires over it, you are an opponent to progress and decency. You’ve made the choice to be left behind by history. 

Medicine Hat largely, as a City, doesn’t even bother with the paint and support. They know all too well the inevitable result. It’s unfortunate to have a city of 60,000 with no formal Pride parade. Especially because places like Nelson, BC with 10,000 has had one for as long as I can remember. It coincided with the many summers I spent there, but it’s far from the only small center to still formally support Pride events. We don’t seem to have the political will to take a stand of decency and validation, and I find that sad. It’s something I genuinely hope to change if elected.

I wrote a good majority of this blog prior to the Stampede Parade that took place on July 24, 2025. I feel the need to address the “uproar” that followed. One of our local Pride organizations announced they would be pulling their float from the parade after Danielle Smith was announced as parade marshall. They decided to attend instead in a protest capacity, organizing roughly two dozen supporters on a bridge above one of the roads along the route. They had flags and were expressing their support of the LGBTQ+ community. It was alleged by dozens of people after the parade (on social media comment sections) who claimed first-hand knowledge of some level of violence, throwing garbage at the Premier, and/or shouting inappropriate things at her at a family event. 

I did not attend the parade, so I claim no first-hand knowledge of this event. The Pride group organizers have said unequivocally that none of those things happened. As of writing, despite hundreds of attendees and multiple claims, not one photo or video has shown anything supporting the accusations. Police, Alberta Sheriffs, or RCMP did not report any altercations, arrests, investigations, or any other indication that anything untoward happened. Once again, I fear that rumour and exaggeration have won out over fact and reason in this case. To read multiple social media comment sections, it seems many people believe that something completely unproven actually happened, which seems to just be confirmation bias. Bafflingly, a lot of those same folks are criticizing the Pride group for “making the parade political” (or some version of that sentiment) even though both sitting politicians and candidates have been riding in our parade regularly for decades.

Back to the central point. I generally avoid absolutes and declarative statements, but this is an exception. I will use your preferred name and pronouns. I will accept you for who you are. I will support GSAs, DEI initiatives in hiring, Pride celebrations, etc. I will call out bigotry. I will vote in favour of initiatives that include everyone, and against those that don’t. In my former role with the City, I was gifted an “Ally” sticker to put on my name tag, and wore it proudly for several months before an upper manager noticed it. I was then asked to remove it. Apparently this was considered a “political” position that was inappropriate for me to broadcast. I completely disagreed with that request, but I did it anyway out of respect for the authority of the person asking. In retrospect, I should have refused. I have every intention to use my pronouns in email signatures and on social media. It is a subtle way to signal to others that they can be comfortable using theirs, and that I am a safe person for them to express their true identity.

There's so much going on in the world that I find upsetting. Not the least of which is a set of very deliberate decisions our Alberta government is undertaking to make life worse for a segment of our community. We performatively make things rainbow for a month, but we also keep voting for governments that hurt our friends and family. We pretend to be this beacon of freedom and small government while allowing elected officials to commit massive overreach. On the whole, the fringe of the right wing is being accepted as mainstream. We’re letting the goalposts be moved and regressive people to be elected to public office. Danielle Smith, Jennifer Johnson, and many more openly anti-LGBTQ politicians have been elected and/or re-elected, despite running on platforms that would have been unthinkable and disqualifying just a few years ago.

I’m aware that a Councillor’s scope is limited to municipal business and that I should maybe stay in my lane, but this is an issue that transcends politics. While I’m not running to be a role model, I do think it’s important to make declarative, supportive statements and follow through with actions. In our corner of the province, the bigots are loud, bold, shameless, and horrifyingly think they're right. Time to meet them at their level - during June and always!

Feeling a little spicy on a Monday,

— Adam