Winnipeg is proud of Pride and our diversity

Winnipeg is always out there – and proudly so. We’re home to a diverse and tight-knit 2SLGBTQIA+ community with a rich history of inclusion and recognition.

Same-sex marriage has been legal (and celebrated!) in Manitoba since 2004 (at the time we were only the eighth jurisdiction in the world to do so), while Pride Winnipeg has been staged annually since 1987.

Winnipeg is open, accepting and inclusive, and we respect and honour ethnocultural and GRSD (gender, sexual, and relationship diverse) communities. A vibrant wealth of unique perspectives exists in the open and thrives here.

Our team can help you incorporate these perspectives into your upcoming business event in this city that will inspire delegates and welcome them with open arms.

To quote Winnipeg Pride, whom we’ll detail below, “You belong here!”

The Pride of our 2SLGBTQ+ Community

For 30+ years, Pride Winnipeg has served and celebrated the city’s GSRD community and marked many milestones, from electing North America’s first openly gay mayor to coining the term Two-Spirit.

After successfully hosting Fierté Canada Pride in 2022, each year’s Winnipeg Pride Festival sets new records for participation. Scheduled for the end of May through to the beginning of June (dates vary annually), the festival features an array of events all over the city, with thousands participating in the parade – including members of our team! The parade route leads to The Forks, where the Pride Festival, an array of on-stage entertainment, artisans, vendors, entertainment for youth, beer gardens, and more, welcomes everyone.

Pride Winnipeg operates in an accessible, inclusive and diverse fashion, providing ASL services, family-friendly areas and accessible entrances. On the sustainability front, the festival promotes alternative transportation, and The Forks has installed additional bike racks to accommodate growing numbers of cyclists. The Forks offers recycling capabilities as well as composting throughout, with vendors required to provide compostable cups, cutlery, containers and straws. The festival is free from plastic water bottles.

2027 marks the 40th anniversary of Pride Winnipeg, with the Fierté Canada Pride National Conference being held here in conjunction –– a nice nod to the fact that Fierté Canada Pride was formed following a national gathering of Pride festivals held in Winnipeg in 2004.

To learn more and to make plans to attend Pride in Winnipeg, check here (opens in new window) for updates and announcements.

Can’t-miss inclusive-focused attractions

To quote Brian Webb, writing about Winnipeg for Homoculture (opens in new window), “This city is truly a haven for the social justice-minded gay traveller, who seeks out more than just a beautiful landscape or lively nightlife scene.”

Canadian Museum for Human Rights (opens in new window): At the gender-inclusive (opens in new window) Canadian Museum for Human Rights (CMHR), staff members take part in mandatory training on bias and discrimination. Recent leadership team additions include 2SLGBTQ+ employees, while the attraction’s CEO – human rights attorney Isha Khan (opens in new window) – has set out to correct past failings through community engagements, policy analyses and overhauls, new in-person exhibitions and tours.

Within the Museum, you’ll find an abundance of 2SLGBTQ+ content, from the iconic same-sex wedding exhibit, “Taking the Cake” in the Canadian Journeys gallery to the major project (opens in new window) by the Museum focused on exposing the LGBT Purge (opens in new window) in Canada. Upon request, the Museum can lead delegates on private tours focusing on 2SLGBTQ+ content.

Winnipeg Art Gallery-Qaumajuq (opens in new window): The Winnipeg Art Gallery-Qaumajuq is one of the city’s newest cultural institutions, garnering plenty of praise (opens in new window) from the likes of The New York Times, Smithsonian and TIME. Qaumajuq houses the world’s largest collection of contemporary Inuit art, which features a multitude of works created by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and two-spirit artists, all of whom were brought together by the all-Inuit team that debuted INUA, the gallery’s first exhibit. As you’ll read here on CBC, (opens in new window) several members of INUA’s curatorial team are queer or non-binary. They’ve taken pains to highlight queer Inuit history and artistry throughout Qaumajuq’s snow-drift-like exhibits.

Manitoba Museum: (opens in new window)From E. Cora Hind, a journalist and renowned agricultural expert who was central to the suffrage movement in Manitoba, to Mayor Glenn Murray, the first openly gay mayor of a large North American city, the story of how members of the 2SLGBTQ+ community have contributed to the formation and growth of Winnipeg can be found in the new Winnipeg Gallery at the Manitoba Museum. You’ll also see data on the 1980s AIDS epidemic in the Winnipeg Map table and a photo of the first Winnipeg gay pride protest in 1974 – when it was not yet large enough to be a parade – featured in the Winnipeg Timeline Theatre film.

Local businesses and arts organizations waving the Rainbow Flag

Winnipeg has many businesses whose leaders are members of and support the GSRD community.

For nightlife, look no further than Club 200 (opens in new window) and Club Happenings (opens in new window). Since 1988, Club 200 has served the 2SLGBTQ+ community, hosting unforgettable nights in this gay-and Indigenous-owned club. QPOC-owned and operated Club Happenings, located right in Osborne Village, is the community’s newest club and regularly hosts fabulous events.

The creative force that is Synonym Art Consultation (opens in new window) is always staging events and works to celebrate the city’s 2SLGBTQ+ scene. Running from the end of September to the beginning of October, Synonym presents GORGE (opens in new window) – an “annual celebration of the legacy and future of 2SLGBTQIA+ art and drag based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, on Treaty 1 Territory.” It also stages drag events and all manner of fun things throughout the year “to create accessible alternative spaces for individuals and families (chosen or otherwise) to engage in innovative queer programming.”

Winnipeg is home to the longest running 2SLGBTQIA+ film festival in Canada. Since 1985, nearly a thousand films that might not have been seen in a Winnipeg cinema have been screened at Reel Pride (opens in new window), which occurs annually in September.

For those interested in Winnipeg’s unique architecture and its ties to the 2SLGBTQ+ community, Winnipeg Architecture Foundation (opens in new window) launched a self-directed architectural tour “Winnipeg Queer History Tour.” This digital tour is a noncomprehensive guide, with an architectural focus of places and spaces occupied by queer people. Find the “Winnipeg Queer History Tour” here (opens in new window).

Canada’s first dedicated 2SLGBTQ+ campus, Place of Pride (opens in new window), is currently under construction in West Broadway, a central neighbourhood adjacent to downtown. With three buildings and outdoor areas, Place of Pride will include new spaces for counselling, programming, community, and affordable housing for 55+ 2SLGBTQ+ adults. This important project is shepherded by Canada’s longest-serving, continuously running 2SLGBTQ+ centre, Rainbow Resource Centre (opens in new window).

At a glance on the culinary scene, Greg and Wayne from Capital Grill (opens in new window)(275 Broadway) have created a space where you can count on inspired food and service; Little Brown Jug (opens in new window) hosts events and fundraisers for the community and produces the official Pride Festival Queer Beer, while its owner was the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce’s first openly gay chairman; Good Neighbour Brewing (opens in new window)’s owners Morgan and Amber proudly wave the Rainbow flag outside the taproom, being the first all-female and 2SLGBTQ+ owned and operated brewery in Manitoba; Oh Doughnuts’ (opens in new window) owner Amanda Kinden is a powerful advocate and welcomes customers (like Justin Trudeau! #Doughnutgate (opens in new window)) to taste the rainbow (opens in new window); and plenty of bakeries, markets and makers (opens in new window) have you covered when it comes to serving up inclusivity.

For a recent snapshot of our culinary scene and its many 2SLGBTQ+ connections, check out this guide (opens in new window) from Passport Magazine, one of America’s top gay travel publications.