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Mount Royal University unveils Calgary's first permanent Pride crosswalk

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Mount Royal University unveiled the city’s first permanent Pride crosswalk Tuesday morning, lauded as a symbol of support for members of the LGBTQ community.

The city has seen other Pride crosswalks appear before, which display the colours of the Pride flag — an all-inclusive symbol of pride for the LGBTQ community — but they have always been temporary.

“Today, the Pride crosswalk becomes a permanent fixture on our campus, just as the Treaty 7 flags and Métis flags are also permanent fixtures on our campus,” said Lesley Brown, provost and vice-president academic at Mount Royal University.

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“They are powerful symbols to our commitment in supporting and advancing diversity and inclusion. These are commitments that we must honour every single day.”

In 2017, the rainbow coloured Pride flag was revised to include black and brown stripes representing queer people of colour.

Browns said the Pride flag also represents the bravery, courage and strength of the community, especially as next year marks the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising against police harassment of the LGBTQ community in New York.

“The strength that it takes to come out, wherever you are and whatever coming out means to you,” said Brown.

“Today is the day to celebrate courage, however, in celebrating, we can’t overlook the reality that Pride celebrations of today were born out of the struggle for basic human rights and freedoms.”

For Eddy Robinson, a student at Mount Royal and member of the Pride Planning Committee who self-identifies using they/them pronouns, said this time of year is always very celebratory with rainbow flags popping up everywhere. 

“In a month’s time, usually that all disappears and my community fades back into the background. It warms my heart that MRU has put in a permanent symbol of commitment to my community,” said Robinson.

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“This is a great step forward and I’m really excited to see the next substantial steps MRU takes in supporting my community.”

They said it’s also exciting because it’s a symbol of the university’s long-term commitment to queer students on campus.

“Having a permanent fixture here, it shows and it keeps the university accountable to continually supporting queer students,” said Robinson.

“Sometimes queer students really don’t know who is going to support you because not all the time you have a giant rainbow to say that. In classes, you kind of have to test the waters and see who is going to be supportive.”

They said there are still systems and barriers for queer students, but the university has been really good at recognizing those barriers are in place and the crosswalk is a permanent symbol of support for queer students.

Mount Royal’s permanent Pride crosswalk was made possible by Zoom Painting, a local business which donated the cost of installation and will refresh it annually, free, for five years — a contribution valued at $17,500.

ajunker@postmedia.com

On Twitter: @JunkerAnna

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