LGBT group defends its backing Tories
An LGBT group is defending its support for Conservative politics amid calls to have the organization banned from marching in Sunday’s Pride parade.
Nearly 200 people have signed an online petition that asks Capital Pride organizers to stop a group called LGBTory Canada from taking part in the annual event celebrating the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.
“While (a) progressive movement within conservative elements of Canadian politics is a wonderful ideal, LGBTory supports politicians who have actively attempted to repeal samesex marriage, blocked important human rights legislation for the trans community and marginalized sex workers,” the petition states, singling out Ontario Tory Leader Patrick Brown.
Brown led the group’s Pride delegation in Toronto earlier this summer — becoming the first PC leader to officially march in the event — but his track record as an MP includes voting against two bills that sought to add gender identity and gender expression to the list of protections under the Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code, and voting to repeal same-sex marriage in 2006, along with other stances that critics feel do not represent the interests of LGBT Canadians.
The petition says that “by not distancing themselves from politicians who are actively dismantling our rights,” the LGBTory group’s participation in Pride events is “in bad faith.”
But Ottawa-based LGBTory member Alex Lewis said the group only wants to show that people can vote Conservative while also supporting and being part of the LGBT community.
While the Tories have earned a reputation for often positioning themselves against or steering away from LGBT issues — Conservative Leader Stephen Harper was noticeably absent from last weekend’s Pride celebrations in Montreal — Lewis said there still are Conservative politicians who break the mould and are worth supporting.
“It hasn’t always been a great road for the relationship between the LGBT community and the Conservatives,” said Lewis.
“I don’t think there is a party, whether federally or provincially, that can really stand out there in a beam of light by themselves and claim that they’ve been perfect toward the LGBT community.”
He pointed to a recent example in which the B.C. Liberal Party refused to sign a pledge calling for new legislation to protect transgender people, as required by organizers of this year’s Vancouver’s Pride parade, and thus would not participate in the event.
The petition’s creator was unavailable for comment Friday.
Critics have also been vocal about the group name’s replacement of the “T” for “trans” in LGBT with the word Tory, which they say amounts to erasure of trans persons’ recognition and support. Lewis said that’s not the case.
“It would not serve our interests to remove transgender individuals from our organization,” he said. “On Sunday, we will be marching with trans individuals in our group. We will have signs that explicitly state we support transgender rights. We support equality.”
The group branches from the original LGBTory, which has been operating in the United Kingdom for nearly a decade.
Capital Pride’s head organizer said the festival would not consider banning the group.
“We’re a festival of inclusivity,” said Tammy Dopson. “We’re not going to exclude anyone based on their partisan politics. As long as the people who are marching in the parade are allies, they’re welcome. Once you start excluding people, where do you draw the line?”
Dopson said the festival only has an informal policy on what would qualify a group for exclusion from its events, which allows any group that does not practise hate speech to participate.
“We also believe that the people who are involved in this march are looking for change within, and we wouldn’t discourage that,” she said.