Calgary Pride week festivities are kicking off with a milestone — the city has its first transgender flag crosswalk.

Calgary Pride organizers didn't have to advocate for the painted flag at 17th Avenue at Fourth Street S.W., said president Jason Kingsley.

"I'm really honoured and proud of the city and where we're at," he said. "The fact that they [the city] approached us and were willing to work with us and have representation of the transgender community this year is absolutely fantastic and speaks volumes as to where we are as a city."

The transgender flag sits across from a rainbow flag painted in the same intersection, also in honour of Pride week.

Calgary is now the third city in Canada to install a transgender flag crosswalk. Lethbridge and Whitehorse already have one.

"The external perception is still really that we're a conservative, kind of redneck, cowboy kind of town. And the fact that Calgary has a transgender flag ahead of Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal and some of the other larger cities in Canada I think really says a lot about us and who we are as Calgarians and as Albertans," Kingsley said.