Gay calgary canada

Discover Calgary's best gay bars, gay dance clubs, gay saunas and gay-friendly hotels. Check reviews, photos, gay map and more on With a growing LGBTQ+ scene, numerous supportive organizations, and a plethora of events that celebrate diversity, Calgary stands as an ideal destination for gay travelers seeking acceptance, entertainment, and adventure. Guide to the best Calgary gay bars, clubs, parties and festivals.

Complete, up-to-date, ranked list of all LGBT events and venues in Calgary. is Alberta's resource for Business, Tourism, Events, Bars and Entertainment for the Gay, Lesbian, Bi, Trans, Queer and Gay Friendly Community. We are gay owned and operated, located in Calgary, and the only gay publication devoted to the Gay Community in Calgary, Edmonton, and all of Alberta.

Gay Calgary, Alberta, is a city that never ceases to surprise. Its residence embraces the great outdoors all year round, throwing on a tuque (aka beanie) to explore the stunning Rocky Mountains nearby. The Calgary International Airport was everything that I had not imagined. The Arrivals terminal was windowless and uninviting, and agile seniors wearing oversized white hats smiled at me like I was a celebrity.

Their happiness was strange but contagious. As I dragged my torn luggage down the quiet, long corridor, I chatted with one of the seniors. He wanted to know if this was my first time in Calgary, and where I came from. When I walked to the intimidating Immigration and Customs desk, I was asked the same question two more times. Each time I had a different explanation for my leaving.

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I was out with my immigrant friend, as we called each other affectionately, and celebrating Pride Week. The city was not coloured in rainbows, as I had envisioned all Canadian cities would be by default. Someone overheard us speaking Croatian and asked where we were from. The same follow-up questions were asked, but my answer was different this time. It felt so good to say that. The truth is that I left Croatia because Croatia never truly loved me.

Sadly, this is also true for many of my friends who now live in Germany, Ireland, the U. I came out as gay a long time ago. I think I was five when I first realized that that girl from kindergarten had beautiful eyes. As years passed by, I was more in tune with my identity even though the environment around me was hostile. I was outspoken about gay rights wherever I went, be it the youth centres where I volunteered or the newsrooms where I worked as a journalist.

Being gay in Croatia can be a wonderful experience—if you are not out. Or if you are in denial that the country is gay-friendly because the national TV broadcasts Eurovision, where fans wave the rainbow flag. I was also in denial for many years. My breaking point was the referendum to change the constitutional definition of marriage to a traditional one, between a man and a woman.

My small-but-feisty activist group fought hard against the referendum. We lost. Almost overnight, things changed. I stopped going to football games that I loved because the insults against my community became unbearable. It became so scary that many started to avoid public spaces, and ultimately made the decision to leave the country. I was among them. As were four of my friends, who were not even gay—but still, they left.

They left because they knew there was more to life than fighting for your own rights—or the rights of your friends and loved ones—to simply exist, something which should have been guaranteed by law. My existence is guaranteed by law in Calgary. My wife and I have a rainbow flag in front of our house. We live in a typical blue-collar neighbourhood—one nobody would consider to be gay-friendly if you only believed in stereotypes.