This month will mark the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots that helped spark the rise of the gay liberation movement.
And all over the world Pride marches are taking place to celebrate the anniversary, and fire up the seemingly never-ending struggle for basic human rights.
A struggle that continues all over the world, even in Canada.
Where even a peaceful Pride festival in a park in Hamilton, Ontario, can end violently.
Hamilton police spokesperson Jackie Penman said she "can't say for sure" what sparked the altercation, but that a group of protesters clashed with a group attending the festival.
"I do believe there was a religious group there, and they were joined by some yellow vest protesters as well, and then some of the participants at the Hamilton Pride festival also got involved," she said.
And Andrew Scheer, who is a religious fanatic and a yellow vest supporter, can keep on being stealthily anti-gay.
And hope to get away with it....
By hiding his visceral homophobia, while him and his bigot Cons peddle this kind of bullshit.
“Canada’s Conservatives have a proud history of fighting for the rights and protection of all Canadians, including those in the LGBTQ community, at home and abroad. There are many ways to support these communities, and it is vital that the rights all Canadians are protected regardless of race, gender or sexual preference,” said Scheer spokesman Daniel Schow.
Even though the record shows that Scheer and his Cons have opposed every measure designed to make the lives of LGBT people more equal and safe.
Even though anti-gay hate crimes are surging in Canada
Hate crimes based on sexual orientation in Canada saw a 25 per cent jump in a single year, according to new data from Statistics Canada.
And are almost always more violent than other hate crimes.
The majority of hate crimes based on sexual identity are violent, with 65 per cent involving assault, threats or criminal harassment.
Just as they are in Britain and other places.
But still Andrew Scheer is such a religious fanatic and a bigot that he can't bring himself to reach out to LGBT Canadians.
Not even to apologize for having worked so closely with the Alliance MP Larry Spencer...
Who wanted gay Canadians to be arrested and jailed.
Now let me be clear, I personally would never want to see Scheer march in a Pride parade. It would ruin it for me, unless I had a water gun the size of the CN Tower.
But I am glad to see at least some in the MSM media, understand the message he is sending to LGBT Canadians.
"If you're auditioning to be the Prime Minister of this country, show up and march." The scrum weighs in on @AndrewScheer's decision not to march in pride parades. #ctvqp #cdnpoli pic.twitter.com/YYeclwAZ8N— CTV'S QUESTION PERIOD (@ctvqp) June 9, 2019
For it's a message most gay people understand. It's a message others should understand as well.
And of course it's another good reason to vote for Justin Trudeau...
The most gay friendly Prime Minister this country has ever known.
Who understands that here as all over the world, love is love...
And that the power of love will help power him to victory...
The Cons can't expand the deplorable hate base. So they're counting on and actively encouraging vote-splitting among disaffected purity ponies just like Hillary Clinton vs. Bernie Sanders and Jill Stein in 2016. Liz and Jag are Andy's best allies in the useful idiot department and as far as I'm concerned, they both need to fuck right off. I just saw on a Twitter thread, someone reported seeing a CPC volunteer dropping off Green Party flyers. Someone else reminded Coyne that he recommended people vote NDP in 2015 and he blocked her out of spite. At this point a vote for anyone but the Liberals is a vote for the Cons. And before anyone comes at me with the "but but but Justin broke his promise" -- he thought he could find consensus by involving the other parties, but they sabotaged it and blew it up into a shitshow. If anything is Justin's Achilles' heel, sadly, it's his sincere desire to find "common ground" even among self-interested people with their own agendas. In his heart, he's a schoolteacher rather than a ruthless political animal. Politics might be in his blood but teaching is the calling in his soul. Just like Obama, Trudeau's mission in life is trying to get people to play nice together, to forge compromise in an age of populist absolutes. It saddens me that he's the one who always gets the blame when they refuse.
ReplyDeleteBut that was then and this is now. As Jack Kennedy said, ask what you can do for your country. The fact remains that a vote for anyone but the Liberals is a vote for turning the next Pride Parade into tanks rolling down Tienanmen Square. In fact, I've been waking up in the night lately with a recurring nightmare about Justin getting JFK'ed at Toronto Pride and Doug's corrupt cops "Stonewalling" the investigation. I can say for certain that even if Scheer Weakness was just an empty-vessel bobblehead who didn't have his own deplorable history, Kenney is the de facto leader anyway. More precisely, he's Harper's #2, which makes Andy the "Turd in Command." We know how the Petroleum Princess feels about LGBTQ+ equality. You might as well just call the Crappers the Bloc Albertois.
I can only say that if the absolute worst should happen in October -- and I'm still hoping Canada comes to its senses over the summer -- we know who's really to blame for splintering off Liberal voters in droves: The two mean girls who put their own ego above what's best for the country in their demented quest to discredit and unseat Trudeau. (Most likely commandeered by the Kinsellout creature who has his own sick axe to grind.) Not just them, but the Con media that swallowed their bullshit hook, line and sinker because they were desperate to cook up a Hillary's Emails WMD in an election year. Because if anything should happen to those most vulnerable under a Con government -- LGBTQ+ people in particular -- the blood will be on the hands of those two Judases and the Pontius Pilates in the M$M, whether they think they can wash it off or not. Vote Liberal, vote Love.
I disagree, but we'll leave it at that here. Please don't tell socialists to vote for bourgeois parties. All my elected officials are from leftist parties, in my riding and borough. I hate homophobes and other bigots, and so do my representatives. They all show up at Pride marches. We can certainly ally with the Libs on that, and face off about pipelines and social housing. We are NOT in the US.
ReplyDeleteWell... OK, as a backup there's this, which I actually do like and needs to get more traction.
Deletehttps://twitter.com/RunoffTogether
RunoffTogether.ca
https://runofftogether.wordpress.com/
"Your friendly neighbourhood movement to get government representation in line with actual Canadian values."
Basically a strategic voting guide to elect progressive MPs of all stripes and keep the Cons on the outside looking in.
Not to knock Trudeau, who had four gay cabinet members (Brison, Oliphant, Boissonnault and O'Regan), but the honour of most gay friendly Prime Minister this country has ever known has to go to Harper.
ReplyDeleteHe may never have marched in a parade, but Harper's government was more gay-friendly than the corner of Church and Wellesley during Pride Week. John Baird, Jason Kenney, Bev Oda, Nigel Wright, all had prominent positions. Once the kids were grown, Laureen gave up being Harper's beard and reportedly holed up in the Chateau Laurier with a lesbian lover. Harper himself had Ray Novak stashed away in an apartment over the garage. Of course, the award for hypocrisy also goes to Harper who could never admit any of this, but he certainly did run a gay-friendly ship.
Many of these are suspected, but being lgbt+ friendly does not mean merely allowing non-straight people to work in the shadows, but celebrating their lives, including but not restricted to their differences.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, thanks Jackie.
Con media is biased. Goebbels News said that Trudeau got a "mixed" reaction at the Raptors parade. I call bullshit:
ReplyDeletehttps://twitter.com/a_picazo/status/1140714097085992960
That's a mighty big hug JT really needed, and it's shared by all of us.
He the North.
Simon, in addition to the Raptors parade and the disparate reactions to Trudeau and Ford, can you write an article about the bananas?
ReplyDeletehttps://twitter.com/ThatsMrNeil/status/1141041075227938818
Come on Canada, I thought you were better than this. Why do the leafs always have to punch above their weight competing with us Yanks. This campaign might be even dumber than ours in 2016. Crueler too. Last week the Cons mocked Justin's speech impediment. Now they've gone for even lower. "Bananas" might sound like just a silly insult but it's actually a hurtful target against people suffering mental illness. Margaret Trudeau has bipolar disorder. Sophie has talked about her recovery from bulimia. Justin too has written and spoken about struggling with depression and the trauma of his parents' divorce and dysfunctional relationship. I thought the Chretien ad was awful but this is deliberate torture. But this is how you know the Cons have become fully bought off by the GOP: it's payback for the Democrats sounding the alarm about Trump's erratic behavior, dark-triad personality disorder and possible dementia. Remember the attacks on Hillary's health? Now the GOP North is aiming to smear Justin Trudeau with the stigma of mental illness. How dare they.
If you go through that thread from Neil, there's a reply noting that there have been several ableist outbursts in the past few weeks implying that Justin is mentally ill, and therefore unfit to lead. Scheer said something about Justin having "one of his moods." Colby Cosh wrote an article saying Trudeau had "lost his marbles." Not to mention 3.5 years of making fun of him for crying, and the misogynistic/homophobic slur that he's often slagged with: "the Prime Menstruator." Coupled with Ford's abject cruelty towards autistic children and their families, this is an all-out war on the disabled. Nazi tactics. Action T4.
This is really disgusting and hurtful. I'm a suffer of depression and P.T.S.D. myself, and this kind of rhetoric only exacerbates my condition and increases my inclination to hide out from the world. If the leader of a country isn't protected from the stigma, then what hope do regular people have of not being ridiculed, insulted or run out of a job? What the fuck does Canada Proud have to be proud of anyway?