For 20-year-old Sidi, who had to flee his west African country to avoid being killed simply because of his sexual orientation, the idea of a parade celebrating LGBTQ rights is difficult to comprehend.

“Until I see it for myself, I don’t know if I can believe it,” says Sidi, referring to Sunday’s Calgary Pride parade that starts at 11 a.m. at 421 6th Ave S.E. and will travel west in a burst of rainbow colour.

Relaying his story with his broken English and the broken French of this interviewer and a friend, the gay man’s story takes a long time to explain but is no less harrowing as a result.

Kelly Ernst, volunteer president of the End of the Rainbow Foundation in Calgary, says they are helping a number of people, like Sidi, who have fled the threat of death, imprisonment or severe violence because of their sexual orientation.

“I get people in my office showing me scars, showing me pictures of their dead spouses in the street after an attack by a gang,” says Ernst. “That’s the kind of stuff that they are fleeing.”

Ernst, who is also the director of vulnerable persons and LGBTQ services with the Centre for Newcomers, says sometimes they help people who are already here in Canada, on a student visa, for example, fully intending to return to their country, but then they get outed on social media. Read more via Calgary Herald