Pride and Solidarity
In the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn in New York City — a gathering place for young, mostly racialized members of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community. Outside, the crowd that watched the bar’s patrons being herded into police vans became enraged. Before long, under the leadership of Marsha P. Johnson (who is said to have thrown the first brick/shot glass) and Sylvia Rivera, some 400 people were rioting. The riot lasted six days and helped spark the modern fight for 2SLGBTQIA+ rights and what is now marked as Pride Month.
While Pride has roots in protest, it is also a celebration. Pride month (which lasts until late August in BC) features celebrations of 2SLGBTQIA+ people and culture in communities around BC.
However, we also recognize that 2SLGBTQIA+ communities are under threat from increasing transphobia and homophobia across the United States and Canada. This is not just a problem in the USA; our federal government just announced new funding for safety and security at Prides because of this increase in anti-2SLGBTQIA+ hate.
The entire labour movement, including the BC Federation of Labour and the Canadian Labour Congress, has and will continue to stand in solidarity with the 2SLGBTQIA+ community. Your union is proud of the advances — ratified by members like you — in the last round of collective bargaining, including access to gender-affirming leave and supports in most collective agreements.
If you’d like to learn more about the 2SLGTBQIA+ community, or the importance of 2SLGBTQIA+ rights and the connection they have with labour rights, here are some links to get you started:
- Learn from a presentation from Labor Notes on the history of Queer and Trans labor activists and the related list of resources
- Learn about the overlap between civil rights and gay rights in this Ted Talk: Yoruba Richen explores how the two struggles intertwine and propel each other forward.
- Qmunity Educational Resources: a wealth of queer and gender-diverse resources
- Trans Care BC’s Educational Resources
- The Canadian Labour Congress publication Workers in Transition