Janis Irwin on Pride in Edmonton year-round
The Edmonton-Highlands-Norwood MLA talks about what makes the city's Pride culture special—and why it never really ends.
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Pride Month may be wrapping up, but in Edmonton, the celebrations continue well into summer and beyond. Edmonton-Highlands-Norwood MLA Janis Irwin, one of Alberta's openly queer legislators, sees the city's Pride culture as distinctly year-round.
"Edmonton is a pretty queer city — we celebrate Pride in June, have Pride events throughout the summer, Pride days at K-Days, and our big Pride festival in August," Irwin said. "It really feels like Pride all year."
For Irwin, her ideal Pride day is simple: being wherever the community is. "My dream day is just being with the community, checking out markets, going to drag shows, just all of the things. There's always so much to do here."
While Edmonton now has only one explicitly queer-centered bar — Evo, which Irwin encourages people to support — the city's welcoming venues go far beyond that single spot. "I feel like I can go most places, and that's the cool thing about Edmonton, right? It's a pretty welcoming and inclusive city," she said. Black Dog on Whyte has been hosting queer dance parties on long weekends for years, Irwin noted, even though it's not a queer-targeted venue. "It's always been a safe, welcoming place for people."
The city's Pride programming has shifted over the years. Edmonton Pride Festival recently moved to August, joining Calgary's timing rather than keeping June as its sole celebration month. "The homophobes hate it — they're like, 'Didn't you already have a month?' But Pride isn't just for queer and trans folks. It's for the whole city, and Edmonton really shows up."
Irwin credits trailblazers like Michael Phair, Alberta's first openly queer politician and a former Edmonton city councillor. "I always say my journey as a queer legislator has been made so much easier because of trailblazers like him. He comes from a time when people wore paper bags over their heads at Pride parades because they feared violence and discrimination."
When Irwin was first elected in 2019, she was the only openly queer MLA out of 87. That isolation came with responsibility, but she found support among her NDP caucus. The 2023 election brought changes: more openly queer MLAs entered the legislature, shifting the dynamic.