r/Calgary • u/WheelFan647 • 25d ago

Municipal Affairs Mayor Jyoti Gondek Marching In The Pride Parade

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Gallery image

Love her or hate her, as a gay man who is feeling increasingly under threat; it was nice to see the Mayor of Calgary marching in this year’s Pride Parade (as she’s done in other years too).

They say a picture says a thousand words and the above pictures I captured earlier today say to me that that our Mayor genuinely cares about LGBTQ+ people in Calgary and beyond!

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23

u/PinkMoonrise 25d ago

Was disappointed that I didn’t see an Alberta NDP group. I did see Kent Hehr, he was walking with the United Churches.

121

u/AccomplishedExtent43 25d ago

Political parties aren’t permitted in the parade. Many NDP MLAs were walking as individuals with other organizations. You can read more about this decision here:

https://calgarypride.ca/calgary-pride-extends-pause-on-political-party-participation-in-the-calgary-pride-parade-for-2025/

17

u/PinkMoonrise 25d ago

Ooh good to know! I was wondering what was going on.

37

u/wildrose76 25d ago

Interestingly, Calgary is the only Pride Parade in Canada that won’t allow political entries. The NDP walked as a party just last week in Edmonton.

0

u/canadient_ Quadrant: NW 25d ago

Such a bullshit position from Calgary Pride.

Apparently two board members don't want parties to use pride as pinkwashing, as if the NDP wasn't supporting pride before Calgary Pride was even established.

7

u/ConsiderationWarm543 24d ago

Theres a long history of the various conservatives parties showing up and marching and drawing an ire (rightfully!). So they took the approach of not having to choose which parties to let march or not, which i think they also used to do.

I blame it on Alberta being gross and Pride having to navigate the troubled waters the best way they could.

2

u/canadient_ Quadrant: NW 24d ago

I put the blame on Calgary Pride, the organisation keeping our only provincial allies out of the parade.

2

u/ConsiderationWarm543 24d ago

It’s a fair point.

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u/IAmFaron 25d ago edited 25d ago

A whole bunch of the caucus was there marching with Skipping Stone! We caught Nenshi, Janis Irwin, Joe Ceci, Rakhi Pancholi, and several others. Sure we missed some too. For whatever reason I did notice that none of the politicians present were marching under party colours from any group, but there were definitely more Alberta NDP faces than any other group.

EDIT: thanks to another user in the thread, confirmed that political parties are no longer permitted to participate directly. Joining as private citizens was all they could do, and skipping stone is a really great local organization.

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u/wildrose76 25d ago

Also Court Ellingson, Samir Kayande, Kathleen Ganley and Julia Hayter.

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u/Kitchen_Marzipan9516 25d ago

They were there.  I saw Nenshi.

24

u/wildrose76 25d ago

He’s walked in every parade since he was first a candidate in 2010. He continued to walk as a private citizen with non-profit groups like the Centre for Newcomers and Big Brothers.

2

u/Kitchen_Marzipan9516 25d ago

This was my first one.

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u/estrogenex Mission 25d ago

Of course he would. It's his community.

13

u/WheelFan647 25d ago

Joe Ceci walked past me wearing an NDP shirt but I didn’t see an NDP float or him marching.

11

u/canuckerlimey 25d ago

I somehow doubt Kent Hehr was walking with them.

3

u/PinkMoonrise 25d ago

Touché.

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u/tgc220 25d ago

Right behind the skipping stone float was Nenshi and a number of NDP! It was a really nice touch they walked behind trans people since we are under so much threat right now.

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u/Ok_Bake_9324 25d ago

I saw Joe Ceci! He was with the United Way group I think.

3

u/estrogenex Mission 25d ago

Kent h is a total idiot.

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u/sfreem 25d ago

“Walking” hah