It was a great day to be in Montreal. A great day for a Gay Pride Parade. A great day to join the Gay Navy.
But sadly I was AWOL.Sébastien and I just couldn't make it. When you're 400 kilometres away that's what happens. Dommage.
Still there was a consolation prize. Quebec is turning its big guns on homophobia.
Revellers at Montreal’s gay pride parade had one more reason to celebrate on Sunday: Quebec’s wide-ranging action plan against homophobia, years in the making, is expected to be tabled this fall.
The report, commissioned two years earlier by former provincial Justice Minister Yvon Marcoux, found discrimination to be present in the province’s schools, health centres and work places. It also found homophobia to be a burden carried disproportionately by Quebec’s homosexual and bisexual youth — government statistics suggest they’re six to sixteen times more likely to consider or attempt suicide.
And not only are they planning to help young people they are also have plans to help gay seniors.
The plan comes on the heels of an announcement in May that the Quebec government is spending half a million dollars on an education campaign meant to improve the lives of gay, lesbian and transgendered seniors...
Because they also need all the help they can get.
As they age and lose their autonomy, gay, lesbian or transgendered seniors face stigma, loneliness, social isolation, rejection and in extreme cases, harassment from the very institutions they depend on to meet their needs.
Quebec was the first province to recognize the human rights of gays and lesbians.Thirty years later they are still setting the example. In a country where Stephen Harper's Cons are treating gay people like second-class citizens.
I know a lot of Canadians want Quebec to separate. I hear and read that crap all the time.
But if they are forced to leave because of that. Or because they find Stephen Harper's government too right-wing and ALIEN. i.e. not Canadian enough.
The more I think about it eh? How nice it would be to live in a country where you're really wanted.
The more I think I'll go with them....
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P.S. Now that I've seen the promo I'm even sorrier I wasn't there...
P.S.S. The next friend who tells me it was soooooooo HOT...and where wuz U?... is going to get this answer:
Be COOL....... Fool.
Next year I'm joining the Gay Navy...
2 comments:
Vive le Quebec raisonnable.
Québec is the only province that has a Charter of Rights and Freedoms that is not a simple anti-discriminatory statute, but a genuine fundamental law largely inspired by international documents (eg, the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Man, the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights).
hi sassy...Thanks for pointing that out. I'm so proud of them. Many Canadians try to portray them as intolerant for defending their language and culture. But because they have known oppression and bigotry I find them extremely accepting...and they've always made me feel at home.
And of course some even more than others... ;)
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