July 2004

CELEBRATE LGBT PRIDE, DEMAND FULL EQUALITY!

AS THE ANNUAL summer of Pride events begins, members and allies of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered communities across Canada have been through a federal election which saw LGBT rights emerge as a key issue. Since the next Parliament will include both opponents as well as strong supporters of equality, efforts to preserve and expand our victories must be stepped up.

Those victories, the result of years of organizing and education by many individuals and groups, reflect a growing consensus among Canadians that discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity is no longer acceptable.

Two years ago, a major campaign by queer rights groups and the labour movement helped Marc Hall to bring his boyfriend to a high school prom. And last year, court rulings finally granted same sex couples the right to civil marriage, tearing down another legal barrier to formal equality rights. This historic victory points the way to a future in which the choice of family forms will be freed from economic and social pressures which make the patriarchal nuclear family the only "acceptable" form in capitalist society.

Other successes have been won recently. Bill C 250, Svend Robinson's private member's bill to add sexual orientation to the included grounds under hate propaganda legislation in Canada, was adopted just before the election. Some progress is finally being made in the struggle to make schools safe for queer and questionning youth. In British Columbia, school boards in Vancouver and other cities have launched important programs to eliminate homophobia in the schools. Even the Surrey School Board has finally allowed some books depicting same sex parents.

But there are also warning signs of a backlash by homophobic forces, especially around the issues of equal marriage and Bill C-250.

One worrying trend is the conscious targeting of immigrant and religious communities by groups which spread hatred. At this dangerous time, when ultra right and even fascist forces are using the so called "war on terror" to promote "racial profiling" as a tactic to strip away civil liberties for the Muslim and Arab communities in North America, we must act on the concept that "an injury to one is an injury to all." Our democratic freedoms can only be protected by standing together, united in diversity against hatred and war.

Not so long ago, Parliament caved in to demands by fundamentalist groups, by voting to define marriage as "a union between a man and a woman," a privilege available only to opposite-sex couples. Many Conservative, Liberal and Christian Heritage candidates promised to back this narrow definition in a "free vote" in Parliament. The federal Liberals asked the Supreme Court for a reference on the issue, pending further debates in Parliament.

During the election, a Conservative supporter physically assaulted a member of Canadians for Equal Marriage and the shocking response by Stephen Harper was to laugh off the attack as a joke. While the ultra-right Christian Heritage Party has only small pockets of voter support, the CHP openly calls for the criminalization of homosexuality and lesbianism, and even endorses the Old Testament call in Leviticus for gays to be executed.

Homophobia still extends far into the community, as evidenced by the gay bashing murder of Aaron Webster in Stanley Park, the gay bathhouse raids in Calgary, the ongoing Canada Customs seizures of publications ordered by bookstores which serve the LGBT community.

In the name of "traditional family values," right wing and fundamentalist groups are serving the corporate interests which aim to destroy democratic rights, roll back gender equality, gut social programs, privatize all public assets, splinter the public school system, all in their drive for profits.

This sobering reality must not be forgotten while we celebrate our important legal and political gains. But despite this venom, surveys show that a majority of Canadians in most provinces, especially in younger age groups, agree that marriage should be the right of all people. Equality supporting Canadians need to keep pressure on politicians, since fundamentalist religious groups are campaigning hard to demand that Parliament use the infamous "notwithstanding" clause to block rescind same-sex marriage rights.

Like racism, sexism, and national chauvinism, homophobia and transphobia are weapons used by the ruling classes to divide working people. Even within the labour and people's movements more work is needed to ensure that defending the rights of LGBT members and citizens is a priority, not an afterthought.

The key to progress lies in building broad coalitions toward a genuine People's Alternative to the neoliberal agenda, based on unity between labour and the popular movements of youth and students, women, seniors, environmentalists, peace activists, the LGBT community, farmers, aboriginal people, immigrants, and many others.

Ultimately, this wider struggle can lead towards full social emancipation and genuine people's power in a future socialist Canada, where our economy will be socially owned and democratically controlled. In such a society it will finally become possible to eliminate all forms of exploitation and oppression, and to defend our sovereignty and protect the environment. This process will help turn hatred and bigotry into relics of the past, and allow us to create a society in which, as Karl Marx wrote, "the free development of each is the condition for the development of all."

© 2004 Communist Party of Canada