Pride Society pushes for visible support in Pass

The Crowsnest Pride Society is working to make sure 2SLGBTQIA+ residents and allies know they are welcome in the Crowsnest Pass.

Amanda Slugoski, founder of the Crowsnest Pride Society, said the society’s role is both visible and quiet, with the group creating spaces for connection while also speaking for those who may not yet feel safe enough to speak publicly.

“The Pride Society exists to make sure that every 2SLGBTQIA+ person in the Pass knows, without question, that they are safe and welcome here,” said Slugoski.

Slugoski said the society does that through gatherings, support, resources and visible allyship across the five communities.

“But our most important role is harder to see. We are a voice for the people who don’t yet feel safe enough to have a voice of their own,” said Slugoski.

They said those people could include teenagers who are not out to their families, couples who do not hold hands on Main Street or people who moved away because they did not feel they could stay.

“All of these people are real people, who live (or lived) in the Pass. Until every one of them feels safe to speak with their own true voice, the Society is their voice,” said Slugoski.

Slugoski said Pride in the Pass has changed significantly in recent years, noting there was no Pride Society in the community three years ago.

“When I moved to the Pass, I put an ‘Everyone is Welcome Here’ sticker in a window, and that window was broken shortly thereafter,” said Slugoski.

They said the incident made it clear there was no visible allyship in the community and no defined place for queer residents and allies to find one another.

“So I built one,” said Slugoski.

Since then, the society has hosted film nights, Beers for Queers socials, games and karaoke nights, hiking groups and Pride events. They said rural Alberta can be isolating for queer residents because there are fewer obvious signs of welcome, fewer places to turn and more risk tied to being visible in a place where many people know one another.

“A sticker is a small thing, but it tells someone they belong. And a town full of them tells the whole community that hate has no home in the Pass,” said Slugoski.

Slugoski said the Crowsnest Pass is overwhelmingly kind, with most responses to Pride being loving and supportive. Still, they said a small number of negative reactions can have a real impact.

“On any given day, roughly 98 per cent of the response we see is love and support. But the remaining two per cent is loud, and it is frightening,” said Slugoski.

They said the society has received threats to personal safety, threats to property and property damage.

“The hardest consequence isn’t the hate itself; it’s what the hate does. It means that being openly queer here still doesn’t feel safe,” said Slugoski.

According to Slugoski, queer kids, teenagers, adults, couples and families may still hide who they are for their own safety.

“That is the real challenge, and it is the reason our work isn’t finished,” said Slugoski.

Local support has come through businesses displaying inclusivity stickers, posting event posters and creating visible signs of welcome throughout the Pass. They said some business owners say they have always welcomed everyone and do not need a sticker to show that.

“I understand that, and I believe it. But I’d gently offer another way to see it. A sticker isn’t a statement about your store; it’s a statement about our town,” said Slugoski.

They said visible welcome is something only visible people and businesses can provide.

“It tells a queer person walking down the street that they are welcome here, in the Pass, not only inside one shop,” said Slugoski.

Slugoski said Pride events are especially important in smaller communities because isolation can be more difficult to break. They said Pride events can show young people that they are not alone and that there is a community for them in the Pass.

“And they show the wider community that queer residents are simply their neighbours. Smaller communities are precisely where this work matters most, because here, one visible gesture of welcome can reach the person who believed they were entirely alone,” said Slugoski.

For Slugoski, the main message is that Pride is still needed in the Crowsnest Pass.

“Pride is two things at once. It is a celebration, a recognition of hard-won rights and of how far we’ve come. And Pride is still also a fight because here in the Pass, queer people are still threatened, still vandalized, still called ‘sick.’ Both of those things are true at the same time,” said Slugoski.

They said their hope is that Pride will one day no longer be needed because there will be no hate left to stand against. Slugoski said Pride is not aimed only at those who oppose it, but also at the many residents who believe in kindness and live and let live but may not know what action to take.

“We’re not asking anyone to take up our cause; everyone has their own. We’re asking for one small step, to move from ‘unconcerned’ to ‘supportive’,” said Slugoski.

They said that could mean putting a sticker in a window, thanking a business that already displays one, speaking up when someone makes a hurtful comment or attending a meeting.

“None of it requires perfection; allyship is simply small, consistent acts of visibly showing up,” said Slugoski.

The Crowsnest Pride Society continues to encourage residents, businesses and organizations to show visible support as it works to build a community where people do not feel they have to be invisible to be safe.