[twitter]Vancouver’s Pride Parade is the August Long Weekend. More than 300 000 will crowd the sidewalks of Denman and Davie to salute the marchers and celebrate tolerance and acceptance. According to Wiki, it is the largest parade of any kind in Western Canada (yes, bigger than the Calgary Stampede Parade) While I have argued in the past that part of the parade is a little too risque and fulfills gay stereotypes, I’m still a huge supporter.

Calgary has a Pride Parade too, at the end of August. Our event is still growing, albeit quickly of late. There were just 2 000 in the crowd in 2007, it saw more than 25 000 in 2012. Still, last year was the first time a sitting Alberta Premier participated in the event. We’re on the right track.

To celebrate Vancouver’s Pride this year, the crosswalk at the corner of Davie and Bute, in the heart of Vancouver’s West End, was painted into rainbows. Hours after the discovery, the city announced the rainbow crosswalks would be permanent fixtures in the neighbourhood.

How great would it be to see streets in Calgary blasted with rainbow crosswalks? But where do you put them? While Vancouver’s West End is highly identified as one of the world’s biggest gay districts, why doesn’t Calgary have one?

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Image via Greg Harper