CBC Edmonton recently sat down with two of Edmonton’s long time drag queens to talk about Alberta’s oldest 2SLGBTQ+ organization – the Imperial Sovereign Court of the Wild Rose. The segment aired on October 30, 2025. Click the link below to open in a new window. https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-17-edmonton-am/clip/16178697-two-long-time-drag-queens-activism
Aging with Pride — January 6, 2022
Aging with Pride — January 6, 2022 Ron Byers Ron will talk about local queer history and the clubs in Edmonton. He is a community leader and story teller. He is the founder of the Rainbow Story Hub / Edmonton Queer History program. Courtesy of the Edmonton Pride Seniors Group
When Drag Queens Became Charitable
To call any of those who did drag as charitable… while in drag… would be stretching the truth. Known for their caustic wit, quick retorts and haughty gestures, raising money for anything charitable was almost non-existent.
Then in 1984 reports that had been surfacing out of San Francisco and New York for the previous few years of a new “gay-related immune deficiency” (GRID), finally named by the CDC in the U.S. as AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome), attracted the attention of the Imperial Sovereign Court of the Wild Rose in Edmonton.
Leah Way and Ron Byers – The History of the Imperial Sovereign Court of the Wild Rose – Part 1
The Imperial Sovereign Court of the Wild Rose chats with Tales of the LGBTQ+ on their history. Watch as Empress 14, 30 and 36, Heir Apparent to Nicole The Great – Leah Way and Emperor 25 and Co-Regent Emperor 29 Ron Byers talk about the beginnings of our Court and […]