Scroll down for a list of pride events across Ontario.
Pride Month this year also marks the 50Th Anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, a series of demonstrations in the US against police raids targeting the LGBTQ2S+ community. This event inspired Canadians to rise and join a worldwide resistance through Pride events and activism.
On this important anniversary, strong resistance is once again needed to push back against the Ford Conservatives’ attempts to return to a time when LGBTQ2S+ Ontarians were second class citizens. This has been apparent since Ford’s first weeks in office, when he cancelled the sex education component of the revised 2015 Health and Physical Education Curriculum, reverting to a 1998 version that did not address gender identity or sexual orientation. Only a massive outpouring of community outrage, led by the students of Ontario, made the Ford Conservatives promise to return most of the components of the curriculum addressing LGBTQ2S+ issues. You can read the CUPE Ontario response here.
This Pride Month, CUPE Ontario recognizes LGBTQ2S+ Ontarians, like many other equity-seeking people, are facing a rising tide of hate. A report this past April by Statistics Canada revealed not only an increase in hate crimes targeting the LGBTQ2S+ community, but that 65% of those incidences were violent. These numbers show how important it is for us to continue our actions to fight right-wing motivated, Islamophobia, homophobia, Racism, ableism, anti-Semitism and all forms of discrimination.
CUPE Ontario has a proud tradition of fighting for equity for all members, and as a union we have been at the forefront of fighting for LGBTQ2S+ rights. Our union was the first in Canada to use collective bargaining to advance LGBTQ2S+ rights. We challenged the definition of “spouse” in court and won, opening the door for same-sex spousal benefits for all Canadians. We supported member Martine Stonehouse in her landmark case that resulted in gender reassignment surgery being relisted by OHIP. And we actively campaigned for legislation such as “Toby’s Law,” which extends human rights protection to transgender people.
Through political action and collective bargaining, our union has made important strides for LGBTQ2S+ rights for our workers, our communities and for everyone in Canada.
It is a tradition that we are continuing, and this year especially, we encourage all members to fight the Ford Conservative assault on the LGBTQ2S+ community and show solidarity by participating in your local Pride events and make 2019 a summer of CUPE Ontario Resistance and Pride.
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Join the CUPE Ontario contingent at this year’s Toronto Pride Parade, Dyke March, and Trans Pride March.
York Pride Fest, June
Barrie Pride, June
Pride Durham, June
Sudbury Pride, July
Hamilton Pride, June
Thunder Pride, June
Pride Month and Pride Toronto, June – July
Grey Bruce Pride, June
Brantford Pride, June
Perth Pride, June
Kincardine Pride, June
Muskoka Pride, July
Pride London Festival, July
Peel Pride, July
Brockville Pride, July
Simcoe County Pride, July
Toronto Leather Pride, August
Ottawa Capital Pride, August
Windsor Essex Pride Fest, August
Chatham-Kent Pride, August
Peterborough Pride, September
Queer North Film Festival, June
Prism Toronto, June
