Why LGBTQ+ Pride is Still Needed, Open Letter
Dear homophobes, transphobes, and dearest queers,
Hello, my name is Lake and I’m a nonbinary bisexual who believes in the importance of Pride. I decided to write this for myself and the community I am a part of; for decades upon decades we have lost friends, been bullied, harassed, and assaulted. We have been disowned, murdered, and even set on fire for something that we cannot change. That is a fact.
We as a community deserve our right to feel safe and to live. Not only live but thrive. Our community has sowed the seeds of supportive organizations like The CHEW Project, The Outloud Foundation, as well as Camp Fyrefly and Fyrefly in schools. Most of these are year round support for queer youth in Edmonton and the surrounding area. Organizations like this didn’t just happen, we did not get where we are today without fighting for it.
For many of us when we think of riots and queer history we think of the Stonewall Riots of 1969 that took place in New York City. It was a huge first step to the gay rights movement however there are many more victories to remember. In January of 1975 the first bill for gay rights was introduced, it was sadly never brought into consideration. In 1975 a transgender woman and professional tennis player had gender reassignment surgery. A year later in 1976 she was banned from playing due to a “women born women'' rule. She challenged the rule in a legal battle and in 1977, she won it in the New York Supreme Court, going on to play in the US Open soon after. In 1978, Gilbert Baker was inspired to create a symbol of hope and pride for the queer community. Thus, he designed and stitched together the first ever rainbow pride flag which we still use today. In October of 1979 the first national march on Washington for LGBTQ+ rights happened. 17,000-125,000 people came. There are many more important moments in our history, but I will fast forward to 2005 when Canada legalized gay marriage then to a decade later, in 2015, when the United States did the same.
These are more notable victories but that doesn't mean that we haven’t lost many battles in terms of rights and the lives of those who came before us. We are still losing members of our community to violence. In 2018 alone, there was 26 tracked murders of rangers and gender nonconforming people, in 2019 there were 27 tracked murders. 97% of them were Black women. This is America. These are statistics from the HRC, they are calling this an epidemic of violence.
In Canada, anywhere between 25-40% of homeless youth identify as LGBTQ+. 1.7% of people aged 18-59 identify with the community. In 2014-2018 there were 7937 reported hate crimes in Canada, 10.7% of these crimes were over sexual orientation. Frankly this is horrifying, and this is Canada.
LGBTQ+ youth are 4x more likely to attempt suicide; those rejected by family are 8x more likely. In 2007, 7% of youth attempted suicide, of this number 33% were queer. To add, there are 195 countries in the world and a mere 30 of them have legalized gay marriage. 72 countries criminalize consensual homosexual sex and there are six countries were the death penalty is confirmed to be imposed, six more where it’s very likely.
I understand that this is a lot of information, and I want it to be clear that we as a community are not just another statistic. The above statistics are to show you why we matter. We all deserve to feel comfortable in our bodies, to feel safe. That is why I’ve compiled this information, we still need Pride. Not only that, but we deserve it.
The month of June is our month. It is our time to remember the people who have lost something because of their sexuality and/or gender. It is our time to celebrate how far we’ve come. It is a reminder of how far we have to go. This year especially has been important, it has been a year we have highlighted the importance of the Black community, returning pride to its origins: a riot. While the rights of our own American siblings were stripped away by the Trump administration, we still fight. This year has brought to light how important it is to protect discriminated and marginalized groups, specifically transgender women of colour.
In June, at our festivals and parades we have the rare opportunity to feel loved and safe, to celebrate ourselves. It is an important time where we remember those we have lost, what we have gained, and it’s a positive reminder to those homophobic or transphobic that we are still here and we’re proud of it.
Thank you for reading,
Lake B.
SOURCES:
https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/countries-where-gay-marriage-is-legal
https://www.humandignitytrust.org/lgbt-the-law/map-of-criminalisation/
https://egale.ca/awareness/backgrounder-lgbtq-youth-suicide/
https://learn.library.ryerson.ca/lgbtq/stats
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=3510006601
https://www.statcan.gc.ca/eng/dai/smr08/2015/smr08_203_2015
https://www.hrc.org/resources/violence-against-the-transgender-community-in-2019
https://www.cnn.com/2015/06/19/us/lgbt-rights-milestones-fast-facts/index.html
