1978 Pride March

6th National Gay Conference & 1978 Pride

Halifax, June 28, 1978 to July 3, 1978

RobinMetcalfe

We had a conference march down Spring Garden to Barrington - it was kind of the reverse of the route today. I think we marched from Dal, where the conference was, to The Turret. It rained cats and dogs, but there were maybe 250 people, which was huge for 1978. Gerald Hannon of the Body Politic took some great photos that day, but mostly of people he knew from Toronto. It was not a "Pride March" - it was before they were a thing - but it was a march, making general demands for gay rights, which nobody had then, in law, anywhere except in Québec, which had just passed a law in 1977 extending protection to gays and lesbians.

This was the national conference of CLGRC, the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Rights Coalition, around the theme of Solidarity Against Repression. The first Canadian gay conference to have professional English-French simultaneous interpretation, paid for by a $6,000 grant from Secretary of State, possibly the first federal government grant to a gay organisation. GeorginaChambers? and I were the co-coordinators. It went on for six days, had an art show, a talent show and an original musical produced in the Turret, called The Night They Raided Truxx.

AnthonyWallace confirms, "It rained"1

Promotional Poster

The promotional poster for the conference was designed by RandGaynor

Building Solidarity

the fight against repression

6th Annual Conference for Lesbians and Gay Men

June 28 - July 3 Halifax

Hosted by the Gay Alliance for Equality

Sponsored by the National Gay Rights Coalition

For information:

G.A.E. Conference Planning Committee

P.O. Box 3611, South Postal Station

Halifax, Nova Scotia B3J 3K6

More than two hundred gay men and lesbians from across Canada and Quebec are expected to descend on Halifax June 28 for five days of work-shops, parties, fun, demos, gay cultural evenings and dancing.

This is the sixth such event. Bilingual and bi-national in scope, it follows conferences in Quebec City, Ottawa, Winnipeg, Toronto and Saskatoon.

In an area of the country that has only recently seen the rapid growth of a gay movement, the event promises to attract widespread attention and controversy.

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