The power of pride just got a permanent storefront in Jasper.
The six-member board of directors for Out Jasper hosted about 20 visitors during an open house to launch their new headquarters at 620 Connaught Drive on May 3.
Located next to Mountain Air, the space is bright, open and filled with resources for members and allies of the LGBTQ+ community.
Over the next month the non-profit group has a lot planned including marking the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia on May 17 with a flag raising ceremony at the emergency services building. The event begins at 12 noon.
The next day, the Ladies Red and White Affair will be held at the Jasper Royal Canadian Legion.
Director Mychol Ormandy also has plans to help the Gay Straight Alliance (GSA) get off the ground at Jasper Junior Senior High School, including fundraisers and promotional events like dances, barbecues, movie nights, campouts and awareness days.
鈥淭here was no gay straight alliance when I was in school,鈥� Ormandy said. 鈥淚鈥檓 happy with the way things are going. I think it鈥檚 great that there鈥檚 a GSA in school because it helps the next generation find out who they are without being afraid.鈥�
Gay Straight Alliances were thrust into the spotlight earlier this year when Alberta Progressive Conservative leader Jason Kenney, a former Harper cabinet minister, was criticized for saying parents should be notified if their child has joined one.
The first GSA in Canada was established at a Port Coquitlam, B.C. school in 1998. In Alberta, a law requiring all schools to allow such a club if students want to form one was enacted in 2015.
Out Jasper鈥檚 first major fundraising effort wrapped up earlier this year and the group is now in talks with the municipality and a contractor in order to have a rainbow crosswalk created in town. They鈥檙e also checking with other pride societies that have had a crosswalk painted in their town or city, including Toronto, Vancouver, Kelowna and London, Ont., where the crosswalk is right in front of city hall.
鈥淚 want ours to be right on Connaught Drive,鈥� Ormandy said. 鈥淲e鈥檒l see.鈥�
Craig Gilbert
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