Imagine, if you will: you, as person from the LBGTQ community seeking a safe space from the day-to-day life of homophobic slurs as you walk down Stephen Avenue, or the constant pain of listening to your parents telling you that you probably shouldn’t bring your partner to Christmas dinner because it will make people feel uncomfortable. Perhaps that safe space, and feeling of family and community, is needed because your family has written you off as an abomination to the sanctity of morality, or perhaps you just need somewhere to call home because you have no place to sleep. Imagine that safe space only happens once a year, along 9th Avenue, culminating at Shaw Millennium Park, in what is more commonly known as Calgary Pride.
So, there you are: your safe space, your reason for being. You have put on your rainbow knee-high socks, sprayed yourself with the glitter that never comes off, grabbed your lawn chair, and made your way down to the best seat on the parade route. The anticipation brews; you can hear the screaming, the cheering. These are your people, this is where you belong, regardless of the fact that you may not see yourself amongst the whitewash of faces proudly waving their Winners’ rainbow flags, you know that this is where you should be – this is your rightful place.
The music is getting louder, and your heart beats faster. You see that one officer in the corner who keeps staring at you, but you ignore it. After all, you get stared at all of the time; you’re used to it. This is my space, I belong here, you keep telling yourself. You can see the Calgary Pride banner approaching, as the cheers of the thousands around you get louder. You feel so proud, comfortable, brave, and happy – and then you see the police cruiser. You flash back to that time last year when you were stopped at the C-train station. You were just standing there, waiting for the train.
As I write this dramatization I am strained. This is not my experience. This is me, a cis-white queer girl, trying to put into words the stories I have heard from a portion of our community that is hurting. You see, this is a piece that is perhaps my most important. I have been asked by VOICES: The Coalition of Calgary’s POC to present their ‘voices’ in their own words – not mine. The above story is simply that: a story. It is not accurate, it is not an actual experience. I say this because I need to make this clear to my fellow white folks – we don’t know ANYTHING when it comes to discrimination based on the colour of our skin. We have most likely received discrimination based on our sexuality, of course. This is not the issue here. We are talking about the discrimination based on the colour of ones skin within the community we label the all-encompassing LGBTQQIP2SAA.
The following is taken from the VOICES: The Coalition of Calgary’s POC Facebook Page, while all bracketed quotes are made by the writer in an attempt at further clarification.
Written here are the "Voices" of the individuals who attended the 2nd Open Forum last Wednesday, the 27th. Individuals who identify, to name a few, as Indigenous Canadians, Filipino-Canadian, Afro-Americans, Afro-Caribbean, Africans, Mexicans, Chinese-Canadians, 2nd generation Canadian immigrants. Besides the participation of the police in the parade, we talked about the other realities that are parts of our lives: missing aboriginal women, domestic violence, systemic racism, modern slavery and police/authoritative harassments.
This is NOT an official statement by group.
This is every person in the circle who wanted to share voice to change something that is still present... we are still talking about it, right? This is being vulnerable to the whole of Calgary and the world, because we believe that our voices matter as well in our community.
If you identify as one of us, please add your voice to this thread.
1: Elected Diversity Board
Grassroots engagement
Strengthen the board
Accountability to the community first
2: No police gear present (in the Pride Parade)
Being inclusive to our needs
Funding for Khalil’s QPOC group and supporters
3: No more fear from police
Attend as people not police officers/civilians (at the Pride events)
4: Reporting goes to the diversity advisory board (of complaints against the CPS)
5: Connect with POC in the community - strengthening the community
6: No uniform, no weapons - come as the ally we need you to be (at the Pride events)
7: More media and advertising about the lived experiences of POC’s
8: Better reporting of police maltreatment/abuse
9: Visible and open diversity board
More media coverage
10: Aboriginal interaction training (for the CPS)
11: #BLM support
12: Anti-police brutality
13: Safer spaces for POCs
14: A better reporting system for bad police – reporting police to the police as it seems does not bring the change needed
15: Reporting system
16: Voluntary withdrawal of the Calgary Police from Pride
Be the ally that we need them to be
Stay on the sidelines of Pride Parade
17: We want the (real) reason why they (CPS and other uniformed personnel) want to participate in Pride
18: APOLOGY To the community for the bathhouse raids in Calgary
19: Acknowledge and seek out Two-Spirit community
20: Educate youth about the history of pride
21: Two-Spirited training and engagement
22: We want to know if CPS’s loyalty is to the people of Calgary or to their disgraced co-officer
23: Exposure process for them in the communities (example: role-playing training for all officers)
24: Education is free and promoted
Allies training and supporting
25: Pride to acknowledge Treaty before they hold events (Treaty Land Entitlement)
26: Addressing City Peace Officers
27: For CPS to be the ally we want them to be (no uniform, no tanks, no vans; to be on the sideline of the parade) and that they ask their fellow uniformed personnel to follow suit (RCMP, peace officers, Corrections, etc.)
28: POC queer float funding from Pride Calgary
29: QPOC member on Pride Board
30: Public Mandate and reporting made public along with meeting Minutes
of the Elected Board of advisors (Elected Diversity Board for the CPS)
31: Hiring of one officer for each community of the next 50 officers
That office should be someone who is also a member of that community they represent, ie. – if it’s the Diversity Board representing the Mexican community, then the diversity officer should be from that country as well.
32: Mandate of engagement
33: Diversity hiring police policy
An extensive list – yes. Attainable – absolutely. Reasonable – 100 per cent.
Now that the coalition has come up with this list, they are meeting with organizations in the community to discuss the task at hand. On August 10th, there was a forum for queer and straight people of colour, with the co-chair of the LGBTQ2S Diversity Committee of the CPS, Lyn Langille. On August 17th the coalition will be meeting with members of the CPS and the entire Calgary Pride board. These forums have been made possible by the fine folks at Calgary’s Dyke and Trans March.
This is a first step in a long process of a meaningful dialogue, says coalition organizers. The goal is not to exclude anyone in a position of power; the goal is to work with them to strengthen the human rights movement.
A member of the coalition put it best, perhaps, when simply stating why the culmination of factors has put this dialogue at the forefront this year.
"Calgary Pride reminds me of the Kiwi bird. What was once a Tyrannosaurus Rex is now a common bird."
Research suggests that the Tyrannosaurus Rex has never really gone away, but evolved into a bird – a Kiwi bird. Equipped with the same bone structure and DNA, the Kiwi can be found everywhere in New Zealand. The only difference really is its size and conviction. It has acclimatized to its surroundings, and has become the norm. It does not assert itself the way it used to because it thinks it doesn’t have to. It survives by shear complacency.
Calgary Pride and, I dare say, many Prides and many of us in the community are just like the Kiwi bird. We were such a force – remember Stonewall in 1969? In fact many of our rights were fought by folks of colour, particularly trans women of colour like Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson. We spread our wings and fought for our equality. We were the T-Rex. But now what are we? What is the mainstream Pride movement? Perhaps we have decided that we do not need to fight anymore, and instead settle ourselves into mainstream culture, allowing banks to present our parades, and letting the city decide what our day is supposed to look like; what we are allowed and not allowed to do.
The problem with allowing this Kiwi-like syndrome to carry us forward is that we are leaving out those that are still not included. We are letting down the most important part of our community – those that do not have the same rights as us. Say all you want about equality laws and perceived ‘Canadian equity’, but we all know – deep down – that this is all a farce. People of colour are not equal and, fellow white people, we are the oppressors. You may not be blatantly stating ‘I am better than you’, but you are living in privilege. I can’t begin to count how many say I do see it, but I don’t know what to do. Well, now is your chance. Be the T-Rex our community needs. Support the Calgary People of Colour Gay-Straight Alliance Coalition.