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I waited until after the Pride events were finished before responding to the cancelled Pride parade so as to not disturb the events. I am a member of the 2SLGBTQ+ community, specifically I am a transgender woman.
I am dismayed and disheartened by the decision to cancel the parade as it was based on not wanting our police services working the parade. It is their lawful and right place to provide route management services. Every parade is properly provided these same services and this is not a partisan issue.
The theme I heard was “Pride is a protest”. If so, there are some very important questions that need to be considered and here are a few.
Exactly what are we protesting? This question has international, national, provincial, and local aspects to it.
Next, who is the target of the protest? What is the message and what is the remedy wanted? What is the actual evidence to support that they are fairly targeted? This is very important especially at the local level.
Let’s take religion for example. Religion has been at the root of so very much persecution, rejection and oppression, historically and to this very day. Given this, should not all churches be banned from participating? Even the church that supports and participates in Pride here in Sudbury has such a history in the past, yet now they are welcomed and rightfully so, thank goodness.
They are judged worthy based on their work on right relations and their present welcoming of our community. I would suggest that the same logic and measure be used in all cases. We have enough to protest with the rise of anti-LGBTQ rhetoric, bullying and violence right here in Sudbury.
To address that we need an ally on our side with the power to make a difference. Lets face it, when there is violence and trouble it is a police officer we turn to for help.
I am at a loss to understand the animosity towards the Greater Sudbury Police Services (GSPS) as I have yet to hear any evidence that they are involved in any oppression of our community.
In short, I do not believe they deserve the treatment they have been afforded. Yes, in the past, the police in general have been a particular source of oppression, but those wars are long past and won.
Yes, there is still work to do, but let us not forget that all police services are not the same nor are they all in the same place regarding rights relations.
Let us focus locally on our police services. They were the ones that reached out to the transgender community looking to better understand us and foster better relationships. A lot of important good work was done for people in Sudbury, but also across Ontario and across Canada.
Our police services have been trying very hard to do the work of understanding and working on rights relations with a multitude of diverse communities. The evidence of the work speaks for itself. I would suggest that they be measured and judged with the same logic and measure as the churches. Judge them on their own merit.
We at TG Innerselves believe the better path is to build bridges through dialogue to build understanding and foster allyship, rather than building walls of isolation. To that end we are actively committed. We sincerely hope that we all can engage in that work.
Rita OLink
TG Innerselves
Sudbury