Lois Szabo was born in 1936, in Lennoxville, Quebec. She is one of the original creators of Club Carousel, Calgary's first gay club. It was a safe space for many 2SLGBTQIA+ people during the time it was open. In July 2021, Lois had a Calgary park named after her for her efforts in the 2SLGBTQIA+ community. She has been an advocate and pioneer throughout her life. She continues at 87 years old, to be a part of the Rainbow Elders, a group that helps to advocate for 2SLGBTQIA+ seniors. About a year ago, Lois gave up one of her safe spaces - riding her motorcycles. She had 17 motorcycles throughout her life. She rode thousands and thousands of miles across North America. Since her retirement from riding, her home has become her safe space. She loves living alone in her home, built in 1914, that she shared with Les, surrounded with photos of past partners, family photos, travel mementos, and memories of her extraordinary life.​

“My father was very abusive and violent, in all forms and I didn’t like men. I had no intention of marrying anybody. But Les was different, so we married had the kids. Then he was away so much, and so I got involved with a women’s bowling league and I met met a a woman there. She was also married to a soldier, but she didn’t have any children. So we spent a lot of time together, which eventually escalated into a relationship. I didn’t say anything to my husband for about, I think was almost three months. I didn’t feel bad about being gay, but I did feel bad about lying. I told him after three months, ‘This is how it is. I’m involved with Betty. I can’t lie about it.’ He just said ‘Well, you’re a good mom, a good homemaker. That’s what we need.’”

Lois continued, ”Then he said ‘Well, the kids come first. The kids always come first. Home and family come first and we’ll just adjust accordingly.’” Lois and her husband decided to open up the marriage, an extraordinarily progressive decision for a family in 1964. 

During this time, Lois became one of the original creators of Club Carousel, Calgary's first gay club. It was a safe space for many 2SLGBTQIA+ people during the time it was open. In July 2021, Lois had a Calgary park named after her for her efforts in the 2SLGBTQIA+ community. She has been an advocate and pioneer throughout her life. She continues at 87 years old, to be a part of the Rainbow Elders, a group that helps to advocate for 2SLGBTQIA+ seniors. About a year ago, Lois gave up one of her safe spaces - riding her motorcycles. She had 17 motorcycles throughout her life. She rode thousands and thousands of miles across North America. Since her retirement from riding, her home has become her safe space. She loves living alone in her home, built in 1914, that she shared with Les, surrounded with photos of past partners, family photos, travel mementos, and memories of her extraordinary life.

 

“We were basically an after illegal after hours drinking club until we got our Charter. Very few people ever there were younger ones. The age limit was 21 for drinking, and so they couldn’t come into the club. But a lot of them are younger ones like 18,19, 20. They would come down before we opened, before people came because they they needed a place to talk. They would come down and talk to Betty and I because we were sort of mother figures because we were both in our 30s, you know. We were 10 to 15 years older than most of them. They used to come down and have pop and tell us about their their lives... their parents kicking them out and not getting an apartment. All their horrible horror stories because they were gay and because there was nowhere for them to go. And so, we’d hustled them out just before opening time. We were older and so it was a safe place for them to come until 9:00. I always felt bad about kicking him out. “