It's the day of the Pride Parade in Toronto, and in just about an hour or so, thousands of members of the rainbow army, and their straight allies, will march down Yonge Street, while about a million people cheer them on.
And it will be what it has always been, a community's celebration of survival in a world full of bigots.
And a chance to send out a message of solidarity to the LGBT people all over that world who are still suffering and dying from the hate that kills.
But this year Pride Month in Canada has also made it only too clear which parties support the human rights of gay Canadians, and which one doesn't.
For while Justin Trudeau's Liberals and Jagmeet Singh's NDP have made it clear where they stand.
From Andrew Scheer's Cons there has been nothing but silence. Not even the slightest mention of Pride Month, not even one miserable tweet.
Even though there are at least a million LGBT Canadians, he would pretend they don't even exist.
But then who can be surprised? When not only is Scheer a creepy religious fanatic, and a miserable misogynist, he's also a virulent closeted homophobe.
A ghastly bigot who I strongly suspect, hates Trudeau with such a murderous passion mostly because of his strong support for gay rights.
But still had the nerve to put out this grotesque tweet the other day.
Suggesting that him and his grubby Cons are not only the Defenders of the Faith, but also human rights champions.
Which got me so angry, I made a mistake on Twitter and had to correct it right away.
It seems that I retweeted something that came from a parody account, so I'll get a chance to improve it: "So says the creepy religious fanatic and bigot Andrew Scheer whose party promotes hatred, division and fear on a daily basis." #cdnpoli pic.twitter.com/pGSvoKUFpD— Simon (@montrealsimon) June 23, 2018
And let's leave it at that for now, for time is marching on, and the parade will soon be starting.
But not before reminding everyone, that Scheer and his homophobes are one of the reasons we march, along with so many others.
The fight for recognition, the fight for equality, the fight to move from tolerance to acceptance to embrace — it is a fight that will never sleep.
For the bullied children in our schools, who are still under attack.
For all those who have been thrown into the streets by their families, and are now homeless...
For those all over the world who are still being attacked and murdered with impunity.
That fight will never sleep until the day we are all safe. Including those who live in Canada.
And people like Scheer and his bigot Cons are finally defeated and tossed into the garbage can of history.
Thank you to all our straight friends and allies who are marching with us down that rainbow road to equality.
Happy Pride everybody !!!
Last time I checked this was Canada and everyone has the right to express an opinion or hold a view (short of libel/slander, hate speech or threats of course.
ReplyDeleteDo I necessarily agree with Scheer et al not marching in this pride parade or others? No, but as a Canadian I respect that.
Happy Pride Day to you and all.
Hi anon@12:56 PM...nobody is suggesting that Scheer should march in the Pride Parade. What I find disgusting is that he should pretend that more than a million LGBT Canadians don't exist. And what I am saying that his rancid homophobia has no place in Canada in 2018. Stephen Harper deprived LGBT groups of any funding for almost ten years, and it's clear that Scheer is going down the same road.
DeletePreston Manning brought Christian fundamentalism to the front benches of the conservative side with his Reform Party. It's been there ever since. It plays to a certain base without which they're gutted.
ReplyDeleteHi anon@1:24 PM...Yes, I blame Manning for planting the bigot seeds that eventually destroyed the Progressive Conservative Party. And you’re right Scheer is just stoking his rabid religious base. But what a lot of people don’t realize is that Scheer is such a driven religious fanatic he makes some in that base look moderate. I wouldn’t mind that so much If he was open about his extreme beliefs, but he isn’t, and that’s what makes him so dangerous...
DeleteI do believe the CPC recently called on the government to admit more LBGT refugees to Canada and to permanently fund the Rainbow Refugees program that they started. Oddly enough, that motion did not pass in the HOC, which would have required a majority of votes against coming from the government side of the HOC. Never mind Scheer has not held the PM's office yet and may never.
ReplyDeleteOh, and in the event I'm labelled a "Con", no. I just deal in facts. Quite non partisan actually.
Cheers to you and all.
Its rather strange that if LGBT support is important to the Cons there is no mention of it on their official web site. There is no platform on the web site other than Trudeau bashing so I am just a little suspicious that perhaps the Rempel fuss over the refugee program is just another ruse. My non partisan concerns could be easily alleviated if the Cons were to publish a detailed platform on this issue as well as many others such as climate change, immigration, funding level for social benefits, taxation, etc. However I do not expect they will do so as they are an amalgamated party consisting of traditional conservatives as well as fringe groups. A smoke screen strategy consisting of targeted messaging with a vague platform and externally focused attacks on other parties is the only thing that works. Like Trump they are against everything Trudeau/Obama but unlike Trump they offer no detailed alternatives like walls, lock em up, scrapping Medicare etc They know if they did the big tent would explode... the fringe groups would demand more blood and if they agreed the traditional conservatives would run. More blood seems the long term goal but creating the right environment to sponsor new supporters takes time.
DeleteRT
Hi anon@1:54...Yes, I believe it was an initiative sponsored by Michelle Remoel, which probably explains why it went down in flames. For most of her motions are not designed to help refugees or oppressed LGBT people, but only to attack the Liberals, serve the Con agenda, and of course try to revitalize her sagging political career. For example Jason Kenney likes to claim that he was the guardian angel of oppressed gay people. But in fact most of the gay people he brought in were from Iran, and they were only chosen to further the cause of those who wanted to further Israel’s desire to bomb Iran back to the Stone Age. And BTW, I don’t call people Cons for merely disagreeing with me. The kind of people I call Cons are the cowardly scum who bombard me with vile anti gay comments and not so veiled death threats on a regular basis. Just the facts, and enough is enough...
DeleteHi RT...as we all know, Rempel blows hot and cold on all issues. One moment she’s calling for more help for refugees, and the next moment she’s screaming about how the refugee hordes are invading us. And I thought her suggestion that the Cons are more pro-LGBT than the Liberals was absolutely outrageous. But you’re right, Scheer and his Trumplings have gotten some traction by telling us what they are against. Very soon they will have to tell us what they are for, that’s going to be a hell of a lot harder, and it should help destroy them. If a police investigation into their internet practices doesn’t destroy them first. More on that later... 😎
DeleteThe World Health Organization recently announced that being transgender is not a "mental illness" per se, but that transgender and gender-nonconforming people do suffer from depression and anxiety because they are not accepted and treated fairly by significant segments of society. Like Toronto's own MRA/incel Krusty Krab Kult leader and self-declared marine biology expert Jordan Peterson, another con hack with an pathological hatred of all things Trudeau and a penchant for whining about the nonexistent "pronoun police" on Fox News. He acts like he'd get drawn and quartered by the RCMP on horseback for not addressing a transgender person with the correct pronoun. With all the things going on in the world -- the Four Horsemen of war, poverty, disease, and total planetary destruction, plus the fifth wheel of the orange jackass leading us all off a cliff -- the singular "they" is what he chooses to focus on as the great existential crisis facing humanity?
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, there is no shortage of petulant narcissists, snake oil salesmen, and wannabe fire-and-brimstone preachers masquerading as experts with all the answers and all the best words, the most tremendous words with terrific, incredible management, when all they really want to sell is easy solutions and base-level bigotry to line their pockets and aid their rise to power. Peterson is no different; neither is Scheer, Kenney or you know who. They know that sex sells and LGBT people are an easy mark, because the bigots can always couch their hatred in Orwellian or Atwater-esque doublespeak of "civil liberties" or "freedom of religion," "freedom of speech," "parental sovereignty," etc. Freedom to bash anyone with their Bibles, dictionaries and pop-psychology texts, and then cry "help! help! I'm being oppressed!" when the truly oppressed dare to fight back.
Fortunately, despite the unsettling number of followers they have among a disaffected segment of young people, millennials by far -- the generation that voted for Trudeau and Obama in droves and has all but abandoned the Conservative/GOP "brand" just the same -- are the most accepting, inclusive and most likely to know an LGBT individual personally. They may not see gender as a strict and absolute binary, but they do understand that this one thing can be broken down to the simplest of terms: as Bono once said, this is Pride in the name of love, and as Taylor Swift said, the haters are gonna hate. Peterson, Scheer, Pence et. al. will be forgotten as haters, while Trudeau will be looked upon as a lover and a fighter. Not just because of the meme about his movie-star heartthrob good looks, but because of his compassionate nature and unwavering determination to stand up for what's right and grow a just society from the heart.
The kids are all right. The haters... well, they're just egotistical and shellfish.
Hi Jackie...yes, whenever I get the blues over the hideous state of the world, I remember that sooner or later the new generation will rescue us from the swamp we are in. It may take time because you have to save yourself first. But the bigotry of the ages is crumbling, and if you use a pair of binoculars, or a radio telescope, you can see a new and better world being born. Unfortunately Progressive Bloggers is slowly turning into a pit of despair, and another home for the toxic old Trudeau haters, who are driving away young readers and killing its future. But hope is a mighty weapon, we must capture it like a firefly in a jar, and use it against our enemies...⚡️⚡️💥
ReplyDeleteSimon I am a child of the sixes and really became aware in the 70's and we were way more radical than anything that exists today. We let the world down, our best buds became rich and corrupt and the world turns that way throughout human history.
DeleteScheer would appear to not be able to stay on topic. His "attack" on Trudeau and his alleged failure to defend Christians is just so out there. Now if scheer's religious beliefs cause him to be anti gay, etc. then he ought to just come out and say so and be honest.
ReplyDeleteIt has always been totally beyond me why people are interested in what other people do in the bedroom who they are attracted to.
Vancouver won't have their Pride parade yet, but when it comes, it will be another great event. Pride is to be celebrated. If scheer can't get with the agenda its his loss. His base isn't big enough to get him into office on being anti LBGTQ.
WE are all in this life together. Lets enjoy it. There are enough things to go to war about, this isn't one of them. Side walks with the Rainbow colours ought to be kept like that all year round. they look great and you can see them and its a great reminder of a major community in this country which has made great contributions and sacrifices.