Happy Pride Month!
Hello!
June is Pride Month, and as long as I write this blog, I will always publish a blog acknowledging PRIDE in the month of June.
PRIDE is a time for celebration, festivities, connection, and protest, which I’ve participated in for decades. I was first introduced to Pride sometime in the 1980s when I lived in a small ground-level apartment at Church and Wellesley in Toronto. One early June morning, we were awakened by loud music and boisterous singing and saw a long chorus line of individuals dressed in the most outlandish outfits performing the cancan. We jumped out of bed and went to Church Street, where we discovered many booths and stages being set up,. We spoke to some participants, and first heard about Pride, and at that time, we saw it as a party and significant celebration, which it was, but as we learned, there is an essential rich history that needs to be remembered and rejoiced. The LGBTQIA+ community has consistently knocked down walls of discrimination through activism, demonstrations, community engagement, music, art, and politics.
This liberation movement in North America began with New York City’s unprecedented Stonewall Riots, which took place on June 28th, 1969. The NYPD had attempted a raid on a popular gay bar in the heart of Greenwich Village that night, but the bar’s patrons had enough, fought back hard, and won. Since then, Pride has evolved from a relatively small, grassroots event that has grown into a worldwide celebration with more than 1 million participants at WorldPride 2014 in Toronto. Pride now represents the full spectrum of gender identity, sexuality, race, ethnicity, class, and ability.
While discrimination and violence against LGBTQIA+ people persist in many places, significant strides have been made in recent decades. In Canada, the LGBTQIA+ community has enjoyed many victories:
The decriminalization of homosexuality received royal assent in June 1969.
The first gay rights protest occurred in 1971.
In 1992, the Federal Court lifted the ban on gays and lesbians in the military.
In 1994, the Supreme Court ruled that gays and lesbians could apply for refugee status based on facing persecution in their countries of origin.
In 1995, a ruling in Ontario allowed same-sex couples to adopt.
In 2003, the first same-sex couple married in Canada.
These above-mentioned legal achievements are fantastic, but did you know that conversion therapy only became illegal in all provinces and territories in Canada in 2022? Did you know that more than 65 countries still criminalize LGBTQIA+ people, some with the death penalty? Source This is changing, but far too slowly, and the most recent countries to have repealed their anti-gay laws are Dominica, Mauritius, the Cook Islands, Singapore, Antigua, Barbuda, Saint Kitts, Nevis, Barbados, Bhutan, and Gabon.
I worry about our neighbours to the south of us. If Roe v Wade could be overturned, what’s next? There have been more than a few rumblings about making same-sex marriage illegal. Much work must be done to ensure everyone lives freely and is safe. Many of today’s Pride celebrations focus on individuals abroad who face violent persecution.
Rainbow umbrellas in Picton, Ontario.
Celebrate and be with others who support Pride and get involved. If attending Pride events is not your thing, then take some time to pause and reflect on how you can be a model of inclusion in your life, committing to listening, understanding, and learning. Always speak up when you see or hear homophobic comments. Outside of the month’s focus, commit to be a positive voice for equity and justice and remain hopeful.
Pride permits all of us to be authentic and genuine. We all have a strong need to belong and feel accepted, and no one should be told who and how to love.
What are your plans for Pride?
Happy Pride!
Anita
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