“This is the story of how I learned to be myself — and the cost and joy that came with it.”
In Part One of this biographical series, Edmonton’s Ron Byers reflects on the early chapters of his life — from coming out as gay and facing rejection at home, to finding the courage to live openly and authentically. His story traces the challenges, friendships, and discoveries that shaped both his life and Edmonton’s emerging queer community.
After leaving home, Ron moved into his first apartment with his best friend from high school. It was there that independence began to take root — a time of exploration, music, and late-night conversations about identity and belonging. Soon after, he found Edmonton’s first gay bar, a hidden space that offered connection and the promise of something larger than himself.
That discovery set him on a path of adventure. Ron joined a female impersonation revue, traveling across the Prairies as the troupe’s tech person. Life on the road opened his eyes to the artistry and resilience within drag performance — and to the chosen families built through laughter and performance in small-town bars and hotel ballrooms.
Returning to Edmonton, Ron became part of the staff at Flashback, the legendary nightclub that stood as a safe haven for the city’s 2SLGBTQ+ community through the 1970s and 1980s. Within its walls, he witnessed both the joy of liberation and the heartbreak that came with the AIDS crisis, as friends and colleagues were lost to a growing epidemic that reshaped the community forever.
In time, Ron sought peace and balance away from the city. He found it on a small farm near Tofield, a life chapter captured in the story “Loading Dock to Farm Pasture: The Annual Flashback to Tofield Migration.”
Part One captures the foundations of Ron’s journey — the courage to come out, the pull of community, and the unbreakable spirit that kept Edmonton’s queer history alive even through its hardest years.
Additional Resources:
Ron Byers – Personal Website
https://ronbyers.com/about/
Explore Edmonton – In Edmonton, game changers live here — and they come here to play.
https://exploreedmonton.com/thisisthegame
CBC Radio Edmonton – Edmonton’s overlooked queer history
https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/audio/9.6801052
Edmonton City As Museum Project – Author Ron Byers
https://citymuseumedmonton.ca/author/ron-byers/
Edmonton City As Museum Project – Q&A with 2020 Story Contributors Ron Byers & Rob Browatzke
https://citymuseumedmonton.ca/blog/qa-with-2020-story-contributors-ron-byers-rob-browatzke/
The Governor General of Canada – King Charles III Coronation Medal
https://www.gg.ca/en/honours/recipients/5431-159299
Edmonton Journal – ‘Shattered lives’: A look at Edmonton police raid of Pisces Spa bathhouse four decades later
https://edmontonjournal.com/news/local-news/shattered-lives-a-look-at-edmonton-police-raid-of-pisces-spa-bathhouse-four-decades-later
Dustin Scott talks Queer History Part 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjZlP_BEQ5g
Tales2SLGBTQplus – Leah Way and Ron Byers – The History of the Imperial Sovereign Court of the Wild Rose – Part 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10Sd0nMs-2A
Edmonton Pride Seniors Group – Ron Byers — Local Queer History & the Clubs in Edmonton
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IKuq6xxPFg
The Positive Effec+ – Overcoming The Fear: HIV Stigma Among Healthcare Providers
https://www.positiveeffect.org/blog/overcoming-the-fear-hiv-stigma-among-healthcare-providers
Rainbow Story Hub
Rainbow Story Hub brings the history of Edmonton's 2SLGBTQ+ community to life from the perspective of those who lived it. Through stories, videos and other media we hope to capture and preserve these stories from the people who lived them. These stories can then be used to inform, educate and enlighten not only our own community through GSA’s and hopefully one day school curriculum but also the greater community we live in today.
