{"id":48938,"date":"2021-06-22T11:29:34","date_gmt":"2021-06-22T15:29:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/?p=48938"},"modified":"2021-12-06T06:23:00","modified_gmt":"2021-12-06T11:23:00","slug":"pride-has-always-been-and-will-always-be-a-protest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/en\/story\/48938\/pride-has-always-been-and-will-always-be-a-protest\/","title":{"rendered":"Pride has always been \u2013 and will always be \u2013 a Protest."},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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On June 5th, around 11:15 PM, David Gomez was severely beaten in a homophobic attack <\/strong><\/a>near Hanlan\u2019s Point. It is disgusting that it happened during Pride Month in Toronto, and at a place that has historically been considered a haven for the LGBTQ2S+ community. The attack cuts deeper because it happened on Pride month but shouldn\u2019t be happening at any time.<\/p>\n\n

A few days prior, a Muslim family<\/strong><\/a> in London ON was also violently attacked, leaving four people dead and a child seriously injured and traumatized \u2013 making Gomez\u2019s attack the second incident this month motivated by hate. This is a clear sign that white supremacy and homophobia are still very much alive in Canada. That the inclusive, diverse society which so many pictures in their minds as being so characteristic of this country are more fiction than non-fiction.<\/p>\n\n

This is not the Canada that I came to know, the one that embraced me when I migrated here ten years ago. But sadly, this is the lived reality for LGBTQ2S+, Black & Indigenous communities, people of color, and other marginalized communities still experiencing discrimination and systemic racism. <\/p>\n\n

We still have a lot of work to do. This cannot continue happening \u2013 not in 2021. We must call out systemic racism and discrimination when we see it. We need to expose it. We need to continue to listen to \u2013 and believe \u2013 the affected communities to become better allies by dismantling the system that perpetuates this kind of behaviour. We need to educate our peers, our own family, our neighbors. We need to spread love \u2013 not hate.<\/p>\n\n

Isn\u2019t that what Pride is about?<\/h2>\n\n

This month, the Toronto Pride Parade is going virtual<\/a>.<\/strong> And although it is impressive that the event organizers managed to make it happen in the midst of a pandemic, Pride these days has become an increasingly branded holiday.<\/p>\n\n

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We used to proudly march in the streets to celebrate our individuality, our history and to fight for freedom, for acceptance, for love, and for our right to be seen as equal. But the commercialization of pride has become to many in the LGBTQ2S+ community what greenwashing<\/em><\/a> <\/strong>is to the environmental community. Joining a pride parade or putting a rainbow on your company logo during pride month but not advancing any real systemic change that improves the lives LGBTQ2S+ community is just pure pink or rainbow washing<\/strong><\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

Corporations put on a show for pride month, wanting us to believe that they are allies, and yet don\u2019t bat an eyelash when it comes to donating money to politicians that pass anti-gay legislation. <\/p>\n\n

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AT&T donated $56,295 to Mitch McConnell\u2019s 2020 campaign \u2014 while he was actively blocking the Equality Act. But what a great Pride Twitter banner ?\ufe0f\u200d? pic.twitter.com\/qDeBzaGVo2<\/a><\/p>— Rep. Pramila Jayapal (@RepJayapal) June 6, 2021<\/a><\/blockquote>