Our Edmonton 2SLGBTQ+ community is culturally diverse. How do we find compromise in a minority democratic community that has such differing lives, skills, and values? Promising initiatives occasionally implode. The exploration of our similarities and differences is fundamental to developing a stronger community. How might our local 2SLGBTQ+ Seniors’ Community be even more accepting, more harmonious, more inclusive?
I love Edmonton. Downtown… with all its diverse beauty… glitters with dusty contrasts. The Hotel McDonald still perches on the edge of the North Saskatchewan like an ancient castle.
The first high rise, The Annex Building, (12 stories tall!), nestled like turquoise jewelry near the Parliament Grounds.
A ‘modern’ art fountain in front of City Hall, “The Wild Geese” generated 50s controversy.
Fancy theatres and sketchy theatres within a block or two of each other.
Oh my! Our little city filled me with pride in the early 50s of my culturally rich Rossdale childhood. Peering up the hill from “the Flats”, Edmonton looked like a capital city! Downtown Edmonton is so much more diverse in 2022. A delicate and complex ecosystem of people who live and work downtown was recently stirred up by COVID then airhorns, now war in Ukraine.
We have our own 2SLGBTQ+ history tour! This summer of 2022, take friends and family on the tour. Talk about our history, and Edmonton’s history. Picnic in Michael Phair Park and discuss the places that changed us, that moved us. My generation remembers when we were not free to talk about our history. When we were not free to live and love as we chose. Don’t let it happen again.
To take a tour of some of our history please take a look at the Edmonton Queer History Project tour.
https://www.edmontonqueerhistoryproject.ca/
Images:
Hotel MacDonald
Gowen Sutton Co. Ltd (Publisher) . MacDonald Hotel, Edmonton, Alberta. [1921-1960].
City Hall 1989
City of Edmonton Archives
ET-30-45
Gem Theatre
City of Edmonton Archives
EA-819-189
Dreamland Theatre
1957 photo courtesy William Jossa.
The Annex 1960’s
Dalton Grant – Facebook Historic Edmonton Group
The Annex 2021
Demolition
Matt Marshall CTV News Edmonton
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