June is Pride month. It is a time to celebrate the freedom to love who you love, to be who you are without fear. Pride is more than a flag, it is more than parades and festivals… It is about freedom!
On the eve of the passage of the Canadian Bill of Rights on July 1,1960, Prime Minister Diefenbaker declared in the House of Commons his pledge to uphold our heritage of freedom for all mankind. The Conservative Prime Minister said:
“I am Canadian, a free Canadian, free to speak without fear, free to worship God in my own way, free to stand for what I think right, free to oppose what I believe wrong, free to choose those who govern my country. This heritage of freedom I pledge to uphold for myself and all mankind.”
Clearly, Diefenbaker’s powerful statement does not make up for the harmful treatment of the LGBTI community in his time, but on July 1, 1960, Prime Minister Diefenbaker made a pledge – a pledge that has come to mean so much more today. That pledge was a call to action for Canadians then, and particularly today.
In our world, the LGBTIQ community is not free. In more than 70 countries, the rights of LGBTIQ persons are not guaranteed. In some countries, a lesbian, gay, bi, trans, intersex or queer person can be executed, simply for being who they are! Canada has an obligation to stand up for human rights here and around the world – always.
In my role as the Shadow Minister of Housing and Diversity and Inclusion, I have been highlighting the global discrimination of the LGBTIQ community. Nowhere is this more urgent than Uganda, where their Parliament has passed an Anti-Homosexuality Bill.
While the original version of the bill would have legislated imprisonment of persons who identify as LGBTIQ, it now states that those who do not act on their “deviant proclivity” will not be punished by law. Same sex acts were already illegal in Uganda, and can lead to maximum prison sentences. This new law even prescribed the death penalty in cases of “aggravated homosexuality.”
I was honoured to welcome a group of Ugandan MPs who oppose this terrible law to Ottawa this week. Along with LGBTQI activists from Kenya and representatives of civil society organizations here in Canada, we held discussions on the situation around the world and discussed how Canadian leaders can support freedom everywhere.
Here I would normally include a picture of meeting these brave lawmakers from Uganda. Except they told me it would be unsafe for them to have their picture taken and posted online as it could lead to severe consequences back home. They were worried about being hunted down and persecuted for advocating on behalf of LGBTQI constituents and fellow citizens. It’s hard to imagine but it is reality for these MPs and many more around the world.
While we have made tremendous progress here at home, we still have more work to do to ensure all people know and experience the safety and security our constitution guarantees to every Canadian.
Discrimination is pernicious. It seeds division and hate.
Let’s choose love over hate, inclusion over division, and freedom over discrimination.
(Photo of Parliament Hill by festivio on Pixabay. Photo of Scott Aitchison courtesy of Scott Aitchison.)
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I could not aggree more with Scott Aitchison what he had to say at the end of his commentary !
So why is the Russion flag down again in the Park of our G8 selebration of peace that we hosted.
Welcome to the Weimar!
Thank you Scott for your timely commentary on this important subject. Hopefully you will receive positive feedback.
In a different article in the Doppler recently, our Huntsville council resolution to investigate whether to paint a rainbow at the new crosswalk in town has certainly generated a lot of feedback, most of it negative. What a shame.
Silence is acquiescence. I feel I must speak out after reading between the lines in the comment section below that article. I cannot let that negativity stand without protesting, so here goes.
Sadly, many of the comments, in my opinion, while appearing to show concern about tax dollars, equitable treatment, other priorities, other groups, etc. did appear, if not examples of veiled bigotry, certainly at a minimum, did seem to indicate unconscious bias that we often see/hear when people don’t understand our Pride community. Since there is disagreement about the intent of these comments, I hope that readers will pay close attention to the wording and form their own opinion. I am also hopeful that the conclusion I have arrived at will now resonate with those who may have taken some of the negative comments at face value.
As you have indicated, in a world where the LGBTQ+ community is a target for hate, we should be looking at ways to show our support. To me, this sidewalk motion is an exercise in that effort. The council study may result in a decision not to proceed with this painting for legitimate reasons, but hopefully not because of the subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) comments.
I look forward to the day when Pride flags are flown and parades are seen by all as normal celebrations of diversity, but while hate for this community continues, any display of support by the ‘straight’ community plays an important role in generating acceptance.
As you stated, June is Pride month. It offers a good opportunity for us to reinforce our support. I am one of the “90% Straight community” in Huntsville (a statistic stated) and I am happy to see an effort made to show that Huntsville council supports our Pride community. I also agree that education is needed. A rainbow crosswalk would be a wonderful tool to help generate discussion, hopefully to educate people on the importance of complete acceptance and to show that we are not ok with the unjust targeting of this segment of our population.
Thank you Helena Renwick for making this motion and to the council for looking into it. Also, thank you again Scott for clearly stating your understanding and support for our LGBTQ+ neighbours and friends.