Political party participation won't be permitted in 2024 Calgary Pride Parade

Calgary Pride is doing away with political party participation in this year's parade.

Pride will also have more rigorous parade participation qualifications for 2024.

Applications to walk in the parade have been on the rise, Pride said in a release issued on Monday.

And the interest is appreciated, the organization said, but it also increases the responsibility.

"Each year, we face complex, often high-profile decisions about which entities or individuals we accept as participants in the parade. This has diverted our limited resources away from thoroughly vetting the rest of the applicants and has shifted the focus of the event away from celebrating Pride," Pride said.

"To this point, after much deliberation between Calgary Pride staff and our board of directors, we are announcing today that Calgary Pride will not permit any provincial and/or federal political parties or figures to walk in this year's Calgary Pride Parade."

Pride said in its release it still encourages politicians and political party representatives to attend on their own.

"We recognize that many politicians are authentic in their allyship and that some are in fact members of our community, which is why this decision was not taken lightly," Pride said.

Pride also said its more rigorous participation qualifications are "in the interest of better balancing the interests of our community with the desire to build meaningful sponsor relationships."

"We hope to welcome applicants who clearly demonstrate their active, meaningful, and sustained 2SLGBTQIA+ allyship and DEI journeys," Pride said.