About Us

Rainbow Story Hub began its journey sharing Edmonton’s Queer History in February of 2020. When the Edmonton Heritage Council‘s Edmonton City As Museum Project reached out looking for someone to write a story sharing the history of the Imperial Sovereign Court of the Wild Rose (ISCWR) they were directed to Ron Byers who was a founding member of the organization and had a passion for our communities history.

In addition to writing the History of the Imperial Sovereign Court of the Wild Rose (ISCWR) with Rob Browatzke they also wrote a 6 part series on the History of Edmonton’s Gay Bars.

It felt time to take recording our history to the next level and the first online presence of Rainbow Story Hub project began with Ron and Rob sharing duties in bringing our history to light. During the summer of 2021 they put together an Advisory Committee to help guide the project in defining what direction it would take and bring its identity to align with the new mandate of telling stories from the perspective of those who lived it. The committee included Marni Panas, Micheal Phair, Darrin Hagen, Liz Massiah and Anita Jenson.

Later that summer our committee met with the Royal Alberta Museum to explore ways we could cooperate in developing their LGBTQ+ artifact collection for a new Museum display potentially in a few years.

In the Fall of 2022 we decided to position the project for future funding and grant opportunities so it was registered as an Alberta Not For Profit Society and adopted its new formal name of Rainbow Story Hub Foundation.

Also in the Fall of 2022 Ron Byers attended the City Council’s Budget Hearings planning their new 4 year budget and requested City Council to provide additional funding to the City of Edmonton Archives to hire and additional Archivist dedicated to processing the backlog of LGBTQ+ donations that had been in storage for many years. Councillor Anne Stevenson made the motion which passed by a vote of 10-3.

We now work directly with the City of Edmonton Archives on a new and unique Sexual and Gender Diversity Archives Advisory Committee.

We actively seek folks to share their stories which can bring the history of the Edmonton Queer community to life for future generations. Share your story or the story of someone you know.

Ron Byers – Founder/Director

Ron Byers is a community leader and storyteller. Decades of work in Edmonton’s non-profit sector have given him an extensive resume of community service and a unique viewpoint on our city and its history. With a professional background in Customer Service Management he has shared his skills in several City festivals and organizations.

Ron has been actively involved in the 2SLGBTQ+ community for over 50 years. He has seen our Queer community evolve from behind congregating behind closed doors to dancing and parading in the streets. And has celebrated as we grow closer to being treated as being equal under the laws yet acknowledging the inequities we must still overcome.

Ron is the founder of the Rainbow Story Hub Foundation which has allowed him to share stories on Edmonton’s queer history with insight and passion. His efforts in securing funding for an additional Archivist at the City of Edmonton Archives has lead to a unique opportunity partnering the City Archives, the Edmonton Queer History Project and Rainbow Story Hub Foundation in a Sexual & Gender Diversity Archivist Advisory Committee which will ensure more of Edmonton’s Queer history is brought out of the vaults and into the hands of researchers.

He has left his mark with many groups such as the Alberta’s oldest 2SLGBTQ+ organization the Imperial Sovereign Court of the Wild Rose where he was a Founding Member, the Pride Centre of Edmonton as part of developing its Aging With Pride Program and the Edmonton Pride Seniors Group. He also worked with the Edmonton Heritage Council and its Edmonton City As Museum Project (ECAMP) to bring stories of our Queer history to the public space. Ron also helped develop and monitor the Harm Reduction Program, PeerNPeer managed by the Queer & Trans Health Collective – QTHC (formerly Edmonton Men’s Health Collective).

These days he is involved with HIV Edmonton as a Positive Speaker and at their Annual General Meeting in June 2023 he was awarded the Community Leadership Award which recognizes individuals, groups of individuals or organizations that have individually or collectively made a difference in the fight against HIV and AIDS in the greater Edmonton area. He also created Pride Edmonton, an online resource for Pride Events, Pride product vendors and a Pride Organizers Directory. Ron took on the role as a Pride Promoter for Pride Month activities.

Additionally he is a consultant to Explore Edmonton in expanding their 2SLGBTQ+ content targeting queer travellers to our city. Ron has also been writing the annual Guide To Pride in Edmonton for Explore Edmonton using event information from his project Pride Edmonton.

To learn more about Ron check his website at https://ronbyers.com

Rob Browatzke – Director

Rob Browatzke is a writer and club-owner. His rainbow story begins in Lethbridge in 1996, where he volunteered with their Gay and Lesbian Peer Support Line and their social group, GALA/LA. After moving to Edmonton in 1999, he began a career in local queer nightlife that continues to today. With jobs at the Georgia Baths, Down Under, Steamworks, Boots, Buddys, Woodys, The Roost, The Garage Burger Bar, Prism, Junction, and more, his resumé reads like a map of Edmonton’s queer history. Through performing with Edmonton’s Village People, Rob became involved with the Imperial Sovereign Court of the Wild Rose in 1999, and has held many titles, including Prince 25 and 34, as well as Emperor 26, 28, 36, and 46. Additional volunteering credits include the Edmonton Pride Week Society, Gay Men’s Outreach Crew, Artists for Life, and more. He wrote for Times.10 magazine, in addition to numerous others, including his own Fresh Magazine.

Rob has been writing as far back as he can remember. In 2013, he released his first book, a comic retelling of the Holy Bible. He then released his Wonderland trilogy, a series about sex, drugs, kidnapping, and brunch. This was followed by the first three books in his River City Romances – gay love, straight up. While many are independently published, all are available locally at Audreys Books or on Amazon.

After years of abusing alcohol and cocaine, Rob got sober in March 2011. His sobriety remains a key component of his life.

In 2013, Rob and his uncles opened up Evolution Wonderlounge, now in its eleventh year. As Edmonton’s only gay bar, “EVO” was the natural next step for Rob’s professional journey in nightlife. Not only does the space let him create queer joy for others, it provides a platform for his volunteer work and advocacy; his annual May Long mental health marathons have raised thousands of dollars for local queer-focused programs around mental health, suicide prevention, and addiction/recovery.

A ”thrower of partiers and teller of stories”, this self-proclaimed “professional homosexual” is excited for Rainbow Story Hub’s mission of helping chronicle and complete our collective queer history. In Edmonton’s queer community, he found bars that became homes, friends that became family, and purpose.

In addition to running Evolution, Rob recently started up Phoenix Rising Productions, with a mission of bringing queerness into Edmonton’s many festivals. He has worked with Explore Edmonton on dragging up the K-days midway since 2022. He is also currently a researcher-writer for Edmonton Queer History Project, and was active with many of their walking history tours in the summer 0f 2023.

You can read more about Rob on his blog at https://browatzke.com

Kyler Chittick – Director

Kyler Chittick is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Political Science at the University of Alberta as well as a casual instructor in political science and women’s studies at NorQuest College.

His research interests land at the intersections of queer theory and critical sexuality studies as they pertain to law, film, cultural studies, and contemporary political theory.

A former member of the Edmonton Queer History Project (EQHP) at MacEwan University, Kyler appears as an extra in the Peter Hays documentary Flashback (2024). His academic work is published in Porn Studies, Senses of Cinema, and Synoptique.