Coming very soon to Calgary's downtown is a "2SLGBTQIA+ community centre," called the Calgary Rainbow Room.Reported by Postmedia, the centre is set to open on June 29 and will become a permanent space for "LGBT" gatherings.According to Kelly Ernst, the President of the End of the Rainbow Foundation (ERF), "A lot of people are very excited. We literally have 300 people signed up for our opening.”Montreal and Toronto already have "LGBT" centres, known as Le Village and the Church-Wellesley Village..Ernst claims the Beltline is Calgary's "unofficial gay community."The centre will offer services that will include, "hosting the Calgary Rainbow Room, Calgary’s 2SLGBTQI+ Community Centre; hosting the Calgary 2SLGBTQI+ Refugee Centre; the Calgary 2SLGBTQI+ Private Sponsorship Program settling SOGIESC refugees from outside Canada; and hosting a variety of volunteer run support groups and mentor services."The "LGBTQ+ Private Sponsorship Program" assists "refugees persecuted in their home countries due to being LGBTQ+" who wish to move to Calgary after they have been assisted by "the UNHCR [UN Refugee Agency] or the Canadian Government to flee unsafe countries."The money given to these people will help them find "housing or shelter, food, clothing, language training, career development, and all the other things that [they] will need to get established in Calgary.".The ERF claims on its website applications for the sponsorships are currently closed for the 2026 season "due to the volume of submissions."Similarly, they also have a Calgary "LGBTQ+ Refugee Centre" which they claim provides services to get people "resettled in Calgary."The space will also have a "2SLGBTQIA+ specific library" anyone can access.“When we’re living in a time where things are coming off of library shelves and books are being banned, this will still give people choice in literature,” stated the service centre lead, Kerry Rasmussen..The ERF is a charity that has previously received taxpayer money from the feds, most recently in 2025, receiving $4,778 for youth "particularly those who face barriers to employment with access to work opportunities."It also received $137,000 from the feds in August 2024 for its project, which "investigate[s] where gaps in 2SLGBTQI+ services exist in the Calgary region."
