Kris Wells is a founding member of the Capital Club, "Edmonton’s LGBTQ Professionals," and he is really pleased with how it is going.

"The genesis was a little over a year ago, when the Liberal Party of Canada contacted some members of the community and mentioned that Scott Bryson (out-gay Member of Parliament) was coming to town, and he wanted to speak with the community."

About 90 people showed up. "A great turnout," Kris said, mentioning that when he was "looking around the room and chatting with some colleagues, we noticed (that) we knew a lot of these people professionally or personally, but we had never seen them all together in one spot."

This got Kris thinking: "Given the conservative nature of Alberta, that many LGBTQ professionals are not necessarily visible in the community: they don’t go to the bars that often; may not go out to community events. Evidently there was still a very conservative element, especially in the professional fields."

So Kris created a FaceBook group called Edmonton’s Queer Professionals. The first event they held, moving themselves out from the virtual, was with former Police Commissioner Murray Billet, and openly gay former Edmonton City Councillor Michael Phair. This "visioning session" was organized to discuss where the queer community had been, and where it needed to go. But as another 50-60 people turned up, the organizers felt they had stumbled upon a significant absence in Edmonton’s LGBTQ community.

So as professionals with questions about this demographic, they put together a focus group, to "identify the key needs that are in the community: what people were looking for; why they were coming out to these events?"

The results showed three key issues: the desire for a socialization venue for professional networking; a strong commitment to service (to share some of the privilege they had acquired as professionals); and a desire for mentorship, both professional and personal.

The information-gathering results also gelled the concept of a Rotary-style club, without the rules and formalities of membership and attendance. The organizers also gained the sense that such a group could be seen as informing public policy for the LGBTQ community at a decision-making table, "whether that be City Council or other organizations."

The founders of The Capital Club wrestled with these issues and others, like their public persona. Being both "Queer" and "Professionals" created questions of personal membership and credibility. Professionals, not wanting to hide their sexual orientations, but also not wanting to be solely defined by it, weren’t sure they wanted "queer" on their business card. Others questioned if they would be considered "professional", and by whose definition?

"We certainly saw a generational divide (with these concerns). We didn’t want to be seen as elitist. We welcome anybody who can come or is interested, centred around the capital region."

Kris mentions that these negotiations around their name reflected a desire to be something that people outside the LGBTQ community "wouldn’t be afraid to say, Premier Stelmach wants input from the LGBTQ community, and contacts the Capital Club. Just imagine!" (Okay, that’s hard to imagine.)

"Queer is just a part of (the members’) identity, who they are and what they do. But it was important through all of this that that piece wasn’t lost, because that’s the piece that binds us all together; that regardless of our different professions, or interests, our ages, we share that commonality of being a sexual minority."

And what, in its first 18 months of operation, has The Capital Club already taken on? There has been an information session about Bill 44 (banning planned instruction in public schools on religion, sexuality and sexual orientation without parental consent) with members of the NDP and Liberal parties; they’ve brought the producer of "Beyond Gay: the Politics of Pride" to Edmonton from Vancouver for a film screening to raise funds for Camp fYrefly (a leadership retreat for sexual minority youth); and actualized an all-candidate survey for the recent provincial election (which can be seen on their website). Not bad at all.

"Right now, the issue is people who are interested in helping to form the Capital Club executive and to help this organization grow. We don’t profess to represent the entire LGBTQ community: just like other groups we represent a particular aspect of the community," says Wells.

"And from my perspective, people don’t need to apologize for having privilege or power. The more important question is, what are you doing with it?"