Straight Ahead and On the Track Now
Having missed out on Winnipeg's Pride March over the past couple of years (for a number of reasons), I want to be doubly sure I make it this Sunday...
In the meantime, the status of various GLBT issues in North America is the same mixed bag as it was at this time last year. One (pleasantly) shocking turn of events was discovering that President Obama actually proclaimed June as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month:I call upon the people of the United States to turn back discrimination and prejudice everywhere it exists.
I couldn't have said it better myself.
There are plenty of places in the States where discrimination and prejudice in this area need to be turned back, too. While same-sex couples there are still struggling to get the same immigration rights and adoption rights as their heterosexual counterparts, and some public schools are blocking pro-GLBT websites, marriage rights continue to be a primary battleground--with the good news out of New Hampshire seemingly cancelled out by the upholding of the same-sex marriage ban in California (and you all know how I feel about that).
Lest we Canadians look upon those problems and pat ourselves on the back for being so much more enlightened, I would remind you that Alberta just passed a law allowing parents to pull their children out of class when lessons on sexual orientation are being taught.
Things might be all right where I'm sitting, but they continue to be worse elsewhere--for our neighbours to the south as well as so many other parts of the world.
And that's why I need to show my support at Pride this year.