The Green Party participated in the Capital Pride Parade and Info-Fair on Sunday August 26, 2007. It was not only fun, but informative for both us Green Party participants and those people we spoke with and gave flyers to. This page is intended to give you an idea of how the Green Party advocates gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer (GLBTQ) issues.

At the Pride Info-Fair we spoke to Heather Jopling of Nickname Press in Cobourg, Ontario, who told us about some questionable behaviour by Canada Customs regarding the import of children’s books written for families with gay and lesbian members (see below for our party’s policies on Canada Customs with respect to their definition of “obscene” material – call us crazy, but we don’t think children’s books are obscene). We also spoke to representatives of a local organization for transgendered people and learned more about some of the bureaucratic discrimination they endure from governments.

We are proud that our party’s policies continue to advocate equality, even for issues that are ‘untouchable’ for too many politicians. I encourage you to read more about our party’s relationship with the GLBTQ community at the federal, provincial, and Ottawa levels.

GLBTQ FIRSTS FOR THE GREEN PARTY

• First federal party to officially support the inclusion of same-sex couples in civil marriage (1996)
• First political party in Canada (and still the only federal party) to have an openly-gay leader (Chris Lea, 1990-1996)

GREEN PARTY OF CANADA GLBTQ ADVOCACY:

• Public education to end prejudice and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity
• Amending the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code to explicitly protect trans people from discrimination and hate crimes
• Repealing s.159 of the Criminal Code, which sets a higher age of consent for anal intercourse and unfairly singles it out for restrictive treatment
• Ending the targeting by Canada Customs of GLBTQ bookstores and other GLBTQ businesses
• Ensuring Canada advocates internationally for an end to state-sanctioned discrimination and violence against GLBTQ people

GREEN PARTY OF ONTARIO GLBTQ ADVOCACY:

• Protecting same-sex marriage in all areas of the law that are provincial jurisdiction
• Moving toward a single public school system for each official language, and increasing education about all religions in public schools. The Progressive Conservatives’ proposal to fund separate religious schools is not only financially irresponsible, but also opens the door to a new level of segregation among our children. We want our children to learn the values of tolerance, equality, and diversity.
• Green Party of Ontario Leader Frank de Jong was the only party leader to agree to participate in a debate hosted by queer lobby group Egale Canada. Read the story on Xtra’s website.

GREEN PARTY IN OTTAWA GLBTQ ACTION:

• In February-March 2007, Ottawa city staff investigated whether they could legally limit Captial Xtra newspaper distribution from Community Centres, after a citizen visiting a community centre complained about what he considered obscenity in the newspaper. Capital Xtra is targeted toward GLBTQ readers in the Ottawa-Gatineau region, and often contains provocative material. The Ottawa-Vanier Greens urged City Hall to respect the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and allow the distribution of Capital Xtra in public places, quoting Salman Rushdie in their letter: “It is very, very easy not to be offended by a book. You just have to shut it.â€? Thankfully, city staff agreed that removing Capital Xtra from Community Centres could contradict Freedom of Expression, and Capital Xtra is still available in Community Centres. Read more on the Ottawa-Vanier Greens’ website: http://www.ottawavaniergreens.ca/localcampaigns.aspx.
• The Green Party of Ontario in Ottawa Centre is working in cooperation with local health organizations towards the re-implementation of Ottawa’s Safer Inhalation Program. This program is cheap and successful in several regards in its goal of reducing HIV and Hepatitis C transmission among crack users. HIV is not a strictly GLBTQ issue, but the GLBTQ community is the one that brought the issue from the realm of dirty secrets to open discussion, and the GLBTQ community is still at the forefront of HIV awareness and prevention campaigns. Read more about this issue on the Ottawa Centre Greens’ website: www.ottawagreens.ca/ottawacentre.
• Our Pride Parade entry was greenhouse gas emission-free (except our own breathing as we walked and biked), unlike the Liberal sports car two positions behind us that tried to impress spectators by repeatedly revving its engine. Numerous Green Party candidates participated in the parade including Dr. Qais Ghanem (federal candidate, Ottawa South), Julien Lamarche (federal candidate, Ottawa-Vanier), Leonard Poole (provincial candidate, Ottawa-Vanier), John Ogilvie (provincial candidate, Carleton-Mississippi Mills), and our own Greg Laxton (provincial candidate, Ottawa Centre). The Leader of the Green Party of Ontario, Frank de Jong, also joined us!

Our party supports equality, human rights, and diversity. What a shame that we still have to fight for these fundamental rights in 2007.

Some pictures of Greens in the Capital Pride Parade are below. For more such pictures visit the University of Ottawa Greens’ website: uottawagreens.googlepages.com/events

Green: Proud member of rainbows everywhere!
Jay Fitzsimmons
Green Pride Coordinator, 2007

Greg Laxton in the parade (note the Liberal sports car behind us):

Our Greens at the start of the parade:

Green Party of Canada logo in GLBTQ flag (feel free to use for a good cause):

Green Party of Ontario logo in GLBTQ flag (feel free to use for a good cause):