Calgary Pride preps for blend of virtual, in-person events

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Calgary’s LGBTQ community will celebrate Pride with a mix of virtual and in-person events for a second year, but the annual parade has again been cancelled due to the pandemic.

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The Calgary Pride Festival kicks off Aug. 26 and ends Sept. 5 with a drive-in extravaganza of local drag artists, musicians, dancers, circus performers and a virtual parade that will close the celebration.

The blend of online and in-person activities allows people to choose the way they want to celebrate safely, said Hasina Juma, director of organizational change with Calgary Pride.

“We all miss the in-person parade but we feel the events we have this year will bring together the community in a different way,” said Juma.

“The sense of human connection, building community and coming together is more important now than ever. This combination of programming that we have planned we think hits on that and will be what the community needs right now.”

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The 10 days of Pride is packed with “B!G Pride” events, including a lineup of drive-in live entertainment at Telus Spark. It will feature movies, art, drag performances and theatre, with some family-friendly options and some catered to adult crowds. Everything will also be streamed online, except the movie night Sept. 1.

Tickets to the events are available Tuesday for free or by donation, and Juma said they’re asking everyone to register online so Calgary Pride can monitor capacity.

A virtual one-on-one interview with Prince Manvendra Singh Gohil of Rajpipla, India, is a highlight of the online events. Gohil, one of the world’s first openly gay princes, will share some of his lived experiences with the audience and will offer advice for others who are also navigating conflicting identities.

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“Folks who are 2SLGBTQ+ often have multiple identities with their race and ethnicity, too, and when it comes to homosexuality not all of these identities mesh together nicely,” said Juma, whose family roots are in Tanzania and India.

“I’m someone who’s personally experienced this, I was born in Canada and grew up here. I was told in 2005 that I could love who I want to love, but the religion that I was part of didn’t have an affirmative stance and the ethnicity that I’m a part of has only recently started to approach the conversation around inclusion. There are many more people like me.”

With Gohil’s interview, Juma hopes a conversation around diversity and inclusion will be opened.

The Real Life Rainbow Royalty conversation is scheduled to start at 8 p.m. on Aug. 31, with RSVP tickets available online for free or by donation to Calgary Pride.

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There’s also a virtual panel scheduled for Aug. 26 to focus specifically on the intersections of faith and identity.

“This is about how to have a compassionate conversation, because we know that when people have multiple identities it can be hard to reconcile the values,” said Juma.

One of the biggest successes of Pride 2020 was the number of people who attended the virtual events who would not have otherwise joined the celebrations. Calgary Pride noted attendees from all over the country.

The full list of events can be found online at calgarypride.ca.

sbabych@postmedia.com

Twitter: @BabychStephanie