A Long Walk
Vancouver’s First Pride Parade
By Derek Bedry
From Sad Mag issue 7/8.
Vancouver’s pride parade today is a dazzling, splashy spectacle of throbbing bass, rainbow glitter, topless lesbians roaring down Robson on muscular motorbikes, and shirtless studs lobbing Mardi Gras beads into a crowd of more than 500,000 giddy spectators. Along with the visibility of queer people in this city, the parade has certainly grown from humble beginnings.
Vancouver’s first officially sanctioned gay pride parade took place on August 1, 1981. The route began in Nelson Park and proceeded to Alexandra Park via Thurlow, then Beach and Pacific—and instead of completely occupying these streets, the parade was given one side of each, while traffic proceeded otherwise uninterrupted. An estimate by the Vancouver Sun puts roughly 1,500 participants at the parade.
Bill Siksay, former Burnaby-Douglas MP and the organizing committee’s UBC representative in ’81, says it was more of a demonstrative march: “It was about claiming our place in the streets of Vancouver for the first time. The spirit of it was we’re here, we’re your neighbours, we’re part of the community and we’re not going away.”
In years prior, proposals to establish official pride celebrations were deftly struck down by councillors’ votes. In 1981, Mayor Mike Harcourt signed a proclamation naming the week of August 1-7 Gay Unity Week, fulfilling an election promise.
Siksay says the ability for queer people to announce themselves in broad daylight was a major step forward for Vancouver’s LGBT population.
“[Before 1981] you often felt isolated, like it was a long slog to do the work you wanted, have the relationships you wanted, to be the person that you were. You felt like every place you turned there was a challenge, and I think having that moment of pride really made a lot of other things possible for folks,” he says.
The marching queers were not entirely embraced by onlookers. Siksay recalls some strange looks and comments from vehicles driving by, and one group of young men in particular who shouted at Siksay, his partner Brian, and their Great Dane.
“They said, ‘Is the dog gay too?’ And I think it was the only time in my life I’ve ever had a retort for something like that. I said, ‘Why, no. She’s a lesbian.'”
However, Siksay says more people were supportive or curious than hostile. The celebrants were so happy, nothing was going to dampen their spirits on the sunny day they marched for diversity on the streets of Vancouver.
“That work isn’t done yet,” says Siksay. “I think Pride is still about claiming our place in the life of the city, the culture of Vancouver. [Today’s Pride parade is] broader, much broader than it was back then, but the root of it remains the same. I think everybody who goes to Pride today has that kind of feeling.”
Image: Courtesy the B.C. Gay and Lesbian Archives.