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The Vancouver Pride Society (VPS) has publicly stated that no political party or candidate will receive special treatment during the annual pride parade.
The BC Liberal Party says it will not participate in the annual parade on August 2nd, after refusing to sign a pledge calling for new legislation to protect transgender people. As part of a new initiative, the VPS announced in May that participants in the parade must sign the pledge in order to take part.
Premier Christy Clark commented on the issue, saying she would still like to participate, but did not confirm if she would sign the pledge.
“I’m really disappointed because BC Liberals have participated for many years and I have marched in the pride parade myself, many times,” said Clark. “The thing that is most disappointing is transgender people observing this debate from afar might conclude that they are not protected under B.C. human rights laws, and they absolutely are.”
The annual Pride Parade is one of the largest parades in the country, attracting hundreds of thousands of people and has been long considered the thing to do for people, political groups, organizations, and community groups to show their support for the LGBTQ2+ community.
“No political party will receive special treatment for the Parade. Political parties that march must sign the pledge on behalf of the party. If they refuse to stand up for LGBTQ2+ rights, they have no place at the Parade,” says VPS Parade Coordinator Bry Leckie.
The VPS is encouraging the BC Liberals to sign the pledge and support the bill to include gender identity in the BC Human Rights Code. The bill was introduced by NDP MLA Spencer Chandra-Herbert and it would ensure that Transgender and Gender-Variant people are protected under the code.
As part of Vancouver Pride 2015, the VPS is beginning a long term campaign for Transgender and Gender-Variant rights in Canada. The pledge is the first part of the VPS Trans Equality Now Campaign, which supports the creation of legislation at the federal and provincial levels of government that would amend laws to include explicit protection for Gender Identity, extending legal rights to Transgender and Gender-Variant Canadians.
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