Calgary church blends drag show with Easter Sunday service
A Calgary church celebrated Easter with a drag show during its Sunday service.
Calgary Unitarians held the 'DRAG ME to Church' to show solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community, following the UCP governments controversial proposals regarding transgender youth.
"The goal is to let the trans community in Calgary know that faith traditions love and support them and hold them as sacred beings at a time, particularly when hatred is on the rise," says Reverend Samaya Oakley.
In January, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith announced proposals which include parental approval for sex education, sexual orientation and gender identity.
The province would also clamp down on transgender female athletes competing in women's and girls' sports.
The announcement was met with pushback from hundreds of thousands of students across the province, who hosted school walkouts in protest of these policies.
Smith also faced backlash from Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault at her early February visit to Ottawa to open a new provincial office.
Boissonnault had said he was prepared to fight what he called "the most draconian and harmful policies for young people in the country."
This year, Easter Sunday overlaps with International Transgender Day of Visibility.
The Calgary Unitarian church hopes to celebrate the day but also recognize the contributions of local transgender people and the greater LGBTQ2S+ community, and the challenges they still face.
"We just thought it was a great opportunity to talk about coming and going from your various identities. I mean, nobody stuck in one identity. So it's just, I think a wonderful example of how we can be all aspects of ourselves and be accepted for that," says Pam Rickey, the president of Calgary Unitarians.
The all-ages event featured drag performances, drag queen story-time and multiple speakers.
Collections from the service will go to Skipping Stone, a local non-profit that support trans and gender-diverse Calgarians.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
NEW Is there a cost to convenience? Canada approves new cancer immunotherapy treatment
A new cancer treatment recently approved in Canada promises to cut treatment time down to just minutes, but experts have differing opinions on whether it's what's best for patients.
King Charles III returns to public duties with a trip to a cancer charity
King Charles III will return to public duties on Tuesday when he visits a cancer treatment charity, beginning his carefully managed comeback after the monarch’s own cancer diagnosis sidelined him for three months.
Canada's new dental program offering hope of free care to millions but many dentists aren't signed up
A new Canadian dental care program is offering the hope of free care to millions, but while 1.7 million people have signed up for the plan, only about 5,000 dentists have done the same.
NDP says Ottawa's new grocery task force isn't living up to government promises
The federal government says the task force it created to monitor and investigate grocery retailers' practices has not conducted any probes and doesn't have a mandate to take enforcement action.
Archeologists search for remnants of Halifax's 250-year-old wall that surrounded the city
Archeologist Jonathan Fowler is using ground-penetrating radar to search for historic evidence of the massive wall that surrounded Halifax more than 250 years ago.
Air Canada walks back new seat selection policy change after backlash
Air Canada has paused a new seat selection fee for travellers booked on the lowest fares just days after implementing it.
Province boots mayor and council in small northern Ont. town out of office
An ongoing municipal strike, court battles and revolt by half of council has prompted the province to oust the mayor and council in Black River-Matheson.
Winner of US$1.3 billion Powerball jackpot is an immigrant from Laos who has cancer
One of the winners of a historic US$1.3 billion Powerball jackpot last month is an immigrant from Laos who has had cancer for eight years and had his latest chemotherapy treatment last week.
Anne Hathaway reveals she's now five years sober
Anne Hathaway first shared she lost interest in drinking after a bad hangover in 2018. She’s now five years sober.