Canada
Canadian Pride events ban anti-transgender politicians
United Conservative Party officials pushing anti-trans measures in Alberta, Saskatchewan
Pride festivals in two of Canada’s most politically conservative provinces are putting their feet down and barring lawmakers who are pushing anti-transgender legislation from participating in Pride festivities this season.
This week, nine Pride festivals across Alberta — including those in the largest cities Calgary and Edmonton — put out a joint statement that they will “not allow the participation of the United Conservative Party (UCP) in our 2024 Pride celebrations.” The move came days after several Pride festivals in neighboring Saskatchewan announced they had barred the conservative Saskatchewan Party from participating in their parades.
Both provinces have recently passed or announced policies that would harm trans youth.
Last year, Saskatchewan enacted a regulation that would require schools to out gender non-conforming children to their parents, and when the regulation was struck down by a court, the government enacted a law using the “notwithstanding” rule that allows governments to circumvent the federal Charter of Rights.
In January, Alberta’s conservative government announced it would bring forward legislation in the fall to ban gender confirming surgeries on minors, restrict hormone treatment for minors under 16, bar trans children from playing in gender-appropriate school sports, and require parental notification for students to use a preferred name or pronoun.
“This is a direct response to Premier Danielle Smith’s stated intention to infringe on the rights, freedoms, and healthcare of the transgender community in Alberta,” the statement put out by the Alberta Pride organizations reads. “You may not join our celebrations in June when you plan to attack us in September.”
“Queer rights should not be a political decision. Trans rights are human rights. We invite Premier Smith to re-consider her harmful and damaging policies and engage in meaningful discussions with the Two Spirit, Trans, Nonbinary, and Queer community.”
Other Pride festivals barring the UCP from participating include festivals in Red Deer, Lethbridge, Banff, Canmore, Lacombe, Jasper, Fort Saskatchewan, and Okotoks. The statement was also joined by three queer service organizations.
“When queer people are being attacked by our government, we come together and get things done,” says James Demers, a community organizer with Queer Citizens United, the umbrella organization of Alberta Pride societies that put together the statement.
Queen City Pride, which organizes the annual Pride festival in Saskatchewan’s capital of Regina, was the first city to announce that it would not allow the Saskatchewan Party to participate in its events.
“We decided as a board that we might have to put some distance between us and the Saskatchewan Party. We were very hopeful that they would change course, but they’ve gone against our Charter of Rights. We’re not ok with this, and they’re not backing down,” says Queen City Pride Co-Executive Director Riviera Bonneau.
The Saskatchewan Party has participated in the Queen City Pride in the past, with Premier Scott Moe even marching in the parade in 2019. At the time, he told CTV News he believed it was the “right thing for a premier to do.”
“The thing that triggered our announcement was that the Saskatchewan Party had put forward a registration to participate in our parade,” Bonneau says. “I don’t know why they’d want to participate, but they did try.”
Bonneau says she communicated with other Pride festivals in the province before announcing the decision publicly, as she didn’t want to pressure other festivals to make the same decision. In the event, Pride festivals in Prince Albert, Moose Jaw, Swift Current, and the Battlefords announced that they would not allow the Saskatchewan Party to participate, while a spokesperson for Saskatoon Pride told CBC that it would carefully vet any application to participate, and the Party would be unlikely to be accepted.
While the federal Conservative Party has offered support for the anti-trans policies announced by both provinces, Bonneau says her organization has not banned the federal party yet for a simple reason: it hasn’t applied to participate.
But Demers says his group’s stance is that the federal Conservatives are not welcome at the member festivals either.
“They’re not any nicer to us than the UCP are. I think the consequence extends to them as well,” he says.
Demers says that the federal Conservative Party often applies to participate in Alberta’s Pride festivals, but is typically rejected.
“We have an application process for all of our Prides, and they never pass the process. They’ll typically hold a barbeque somewhere and call it a Pride event, but they have not been invited,” Demers says. “We’ve now formally disinvited them. We would not like them to show up and pretend that they care about us as their constituents. It’s us making it clear that they are not welcome.”
Canada
Liberal Party wins Canadian election
Prime Minister Mark Carney railed against US tariffs, sovereignty threats
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberal Party won the country’s federal election that took place on Monday.
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation notes the Liberals won 169 seats in parliament, compared to the 144 the Conservative Party won. The Liberals need 172 seats for a parliamentary majority.
Liberal Bruce Fanjoy defeated Pierre Poilievre, an anti-LGBTQ MP from Ontario who is the Conservatives’ leader, by a 50.6-46.1 percent margin.
The Liberals last month elected Carney to succeed Justin Trudeau as the country’s prime minister. Monday’s election took place against the backdrop of growing tensions with the U.S. that stem from tariffs the Trump-Vance administration has imposed against Canada, and suggestions the country should become the 51st state.
“Our strength lies in our resolve to work together,” said Carney on Tuesday in a post to his X account. “United, we will build Canada strong.”
Thank you, Canada.
Our strength lies in our resolve to work together. United, we will build Canada strong. pic.twitter.com/uN6h4LUAEP
— Mark Carney (@MarkJCarney) April 29, 2025
Egale Canada, the country’s largest LGBTQ and intersex rights group, earlier this year announced it will not attend WorldPride and other events in the U.S. because of the Trump-Vance administration’s anti-transgender policies and “economic warfare and threats to our national sovereignty.”
“Democracy thrives when people engage, and our voices are used in a way where we can say we voted with pride,” said Egale Canada on Tuesday.
“As the new parliament takes shape, we recognize that the journey toward equity and inclusion — especially for 2SLGBTQI communities — extends far beyond election day,” added the group in its post-election statement. “The work of understanding, addressing, and acting on the issues faced by 2SLGBTQI people must be ongoing, collaborative, and grounded in human rights and lived experience.”
Egale Canada said it looks “forward to working with all members of parliament, both newly elected and returning, to help build a Canada where every person is treated with dignity, where diversity is celebrated, and where all are equal — and none are other.”
Canada’s Liberal Party on Sunday elected Mark Carney to succeed Justin Trudeau as the country’s next prime minister.
The Associated Press reported Carney, a former governor of the Bank of Canada, won with 85.9 percent of the vote.
Trudeau became prime minister in 2015 when he defeated then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Trudeau’s father, Pierre Trudeau, was Canada’s prime minister from 1968-1979 and from 1980-1984.
The younger Trudeau is the first Canadian prime minister to have marched in a Pride parade.
Canada in 2022 banned so-called conversion therapy, which Justin Trudeau described as a “hateful and harmful practice.” Justin Trudeau in 2017 also formally apologized to Canadians who suffered persecution and discrimination under the country’s anti-LGBTQ laws — including those convicted of “gross indecency” before Canada decriminalized consensual same-sex sexual relations — and policies.
Justin Trudeau resigned as the Liberal Party’s leader in January.
Randy Boissonnault, a gay MP who represents Edmonton Center (Alberta), previously advised Justin Trudeau on LGBTQ issues. Boissonnault on Sunday applauded the outgoing prime minister.
“It was an honor to start this journey as part of the 2015 Class of MPs that you brought to Ottawa,” said Boissonnault in a social media post. “It was a privilege to serve as your Special Advisor on LGBTQ2 issues and then in your Cabinet to see first-hand the work you did everyday for Canadians.”
Carney will take office against the backdrop of growing tensions with the U.S. that stem from tariffs the Trump-Vance administration has imposed against the country. President Donald Trump has also suggested that Canada should become the 51st state.
“There is someone who is trying to weaken our economy,” said Carney after he won the election, according to the AP. “Donald Trump, as we know, has put unjustified tariffs on what we build, on what we sell and how we make a living. He’s attacking Canadian families, workers and businesses and we cannot let him succeed and we won’t.”
National elections must take place before Oct. 20.
Polls indicate the Conservative Party of which anti-LGBTQ MP Pierre Poilievre, who represents Carleton in Ontario, is the leader remains ahead of the Liberal Party. The gap, however, appears to have narrowed in recent weeks.
Canada
Canadian LGBTQ group cancels WorldPride participation over Trump policies
Egale Canada cites need to ‘safeguard our trans and nonbinary staff’
Egale Canada, one of Canada’s largest LGBTQ advocacy organizations, announced in a Feb. 6 statement that its members will not be attending any events in the U.S., including WorldPride set to take place in Washington from May 17-June 8, because of policies put in place by President Donald Trump.
The statement says the decision not to come to the U.S. resulted in its cancellation of plans to attend a meeting of the Commission on the Status of Women at U.N. headquarters in New York in March, at which it planned to discuss LGBTQ related issues.
“After deep consideration, we have decided not to engage in-person in this year’s Commission on the Status of Women or any other UN, OAS (Organization of American States) or global convergings, including WorldPride, taking place in the United States in the foreseeable future,” the statement says.
“This decision is foremost based on the need to safeguard our trans and nonbinary staff who would face questionable treatment at land and aviation borders to attend such convenings, and to stand in solidarity with global colleagues who are experiencing similar fear around entry to the U.S.,” the statement continues.
“It is also founded in the unique situation that has been thrust on Canadians (and citizens of other countries) regarding economic warfare and threats to our national sovereignty,” according to the statement. “We cannot in good conscience engage in a process of disentangling our organization from the U.S. goods and services (as we have recently released in a statement) and then proceed to travel to the U.S.”
The Egale Canada statement marks the first known time that an international LGBTQ rights organization has declared it will not come to the U.S. to attend WorldPride because of the controversial policies adopted by the Trump-Vance administration, which so far have included a roll back of programs and policies in support of transgender people.
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