By Julia Rudko, Assistant Curator, Daily Life & Leisure
October marks Queer History Month and, here at the RAM, it also marks a year since we first released our ongoing call for donations of queer history objects. Among the first people to respond to our call was community organizer, 2SLGBTQIA+ activist, and Edmonton’s first openly gay city councillor, Michael Phair. Michael donated objects related to decades worth of his work advancing the rights of and building community for queer people in Alberta, including this homemade pink triangle armband.
The symbol of the pink triangle was first created to identify 2SLGBTQIA+ prisoners in Nazi concentration camps during World War Two. It evolved into a symbol of queer liberation during the 1970s and was popularized by the activist collective ACT UP, whose New York chapter chose this symbol for their iconic 1986 Silence=Death poster campaign that targeted their federal government’s inaction during the AIDS crisis.
Michael Phair, local lesbian activist Maureen Irwin, and their fellow marchers chose this symbol to adorn the armbands they wore to Edmonton’s first pride parade in the early 1990s. As Michael recalls it, the small group of around 20-30 people marched for about two blocks down Whyte Avenue (with bags on their heads to protect their identities!) in protest of the discrimination their community continued to face. Though Alberta’s pride parades have blossomed over the years into colourful celebrations of queer joy and community spirit, Michael’s armband is a reminder of the event’s historical roots in protest and liberation for 2SLGBTQIA+ people everywhere.