Pride in the Archives: Stories of Courage, Community, and Joy

Happy Pride Month! Often, people focus on the “Pride” of Pride month. And rightfully so. Pride should be a time to reflect on how far the 2SLGBTQIA+ community has come. As well as a time to celebrate the advocates, mentors and leaders in the community who have made great strides towards acceptance and equality.

People locally, like 2SLGBTQIA+ advocate Charlie Thompson helped advance that progress. Charlie worked closely with the United Church in Medicine Hat in the 1980s and 1990s, at the height of the AIDS pandemic, to open hearts and minds to marriage equality for gays and lesbians. We are grateful that Charlie left his collections to the Esplanade, as they reflect the work, effort and perseverance that he exhibited during a time when being gay was not a legally protected class.

Indeed, Charlie was sadly fired from his job when they found out about his sexuality. His scrapbooks, documents and ephemera reflect the hardships that he faced, as well as the honour and dedication that he showed as he continued his advocacy for others despite those difficulties. There is no denying that these stories can be sad, and you can see that reflected in the struggles shown in the 2SLGBTQIA+ collections we are honoured to hold in the Esplanade Archives.

Yet, another important factor to this month is simply the “Happy” from Happy Pride Month. 2SLGBTQIA+ joy can be a form of resistance in a time when happiness, joy and peace has been pushed to the sidelines in favour of division, heartbreak and radicalization. It is important during this month to also seek representational instances of joy. For example, did you know that the very first Pride event in Medicine Hat, in 1994, was a pajama party? How fun! Many of these events were invite-only, private events, and often are underrepresented in archival or other collections. The invitation for this event, printed on bright pink paper, gives the details of when, where, who, how -- and the ‘why’ cheekily reads: “Just because!” 

Locally, we are also thankful to our past Curator of Cultural History, Donny White, who was instrumental in directing and encouraging our archival collections to preserve and care for 2SLGBTQIA+ histories. One of my favourite photographs is an image of Donny smiling and sitting on the grass at the S’more Rodeo in 1997 – a gay rodeo held in Strathmore, Alberta. Without advocates, leaders and helpers like Charlie and Donny, these instances of joy may have been lost. Therefore, we wish you a very Happy Pride Month, and encourage you to share joy, love and connection with one another, now and into the future.  

You can find more information on the Charlie Thompson fonds here: archives.esplanade.ca