The Liberal Party has abandoned Capital Pride in Ottawa. I am enraged.
They made this choice because they thought it will be politically convenient, and we must prove them wrong.
On August 6th, Capital Pride in Ottawa put out a media release entitled “Capital Pride Statement in Solidarity with Palestine.” This came in contrast to Toronto Pride and Montreal Pride, both of which were ended prematurely due to protests from pro-Palestinian queer people.
The organizers of Capital Pride opted instead for a conciliatory approach, based on solidarity, inclusion, and mutual respect. They spoke to the pain that queer Jews and Palestinians and Arabs and Muslims are all feeling right now. Capital Pride spoke both to our fears for our families abroad, as well as explicitly calling out, in their own words, the “rising tide of antisemitism and Islamophobia we are witnessing here in Canada.”
Capital Pride literally condemns the acts of terror by Hamas on October 7th “in the strongest possible terms”, stating that “the world watched in horror as the full extent of the atrocities committed against civilians were uncovered.” Capital Pride in the same voice then criticizes Israel’s brutality against innocent Palestinians in both Gaza and the West Bank, highlighting that the International Court of Justice ruled it plausible that Israel has committed acts against Palestinians in Gaza violating the Genocide Convention.
Additionally, Capital Pride points out how a campaign of pink-washing by the Israeli government has demonized Palestinians with “racist notions that all Palestinians are homophobic and transphobic.” This is entirely fair, and Israel does not get to claim to be a ‘protector’ of queer rights when Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich proudly exclaims that he is a “fascist homophobe” but “won’t stone gays.” How generous of this fascist homophobe, to pinky-promise that he won’t commit violent acts against us. How could you not believe him?
Indeed, the majority of queer Palestinians are at the highest risk of harm from the IDF’s unrelenting and brutal violence in Gaza and the West Bank. The bombs that Israel drops on Gaza will kill both gay and straight Palestinians alike, the same way those unguided bombs kill scores of innocent civilians despite Israel’s claims of conducting the war “humanely”. We all know too well that there is no such thing as a humane war; the devastation is all-encompassing.
Queer Palestinians are at risk from Israeli intelligence services like the Shin Bet, blackmailing them by forcing them to betray their own family under threat of having their queerness forcibly outed. Capital Pride has every right to condemn this kind of behaviour, because solidarity between members of the queer community should never end at national borders. Israel’s government targets both queer Israelis and queer Palestinians, and both of those actions are a threat to queer liberation.
Finally, Capital Pride commits to the following four actions, quoted verbatim with bold and italics maintained:
Integrating resources such as the Palestinian BDS National Committee’s boycott list in our existing review process of current and future sponsorship agreements;
Hosting Zaffa: A Queer Arab Showcase, a Signature Event as part of the 2024 Capital Pride Festival that features discussions about ongoing issues facing LGBTQIA+ Arabs locally and abroad;
Recognizing the ongoing genocide against Palestinians in opening remarks at 2024 Capital Pride Festival Signature Events; and
Working with all our partners, both public and private, to push for an immediate and permanent ceasefire, the immediate release of all hostages, increased access to humanitarian aid, and more accessible pathways for refugees.
All four of these are completely reasonable actions to take, including support for boycotts against companies directly tied to Israel’s military occupation of Palestine. Why should any queer person at Pride be comfortable with a corporate sponsor that directly helps maintain those systems of oppression? As a Jew, I have found the entirety of the moral handwringing around the ethics of the BDS movement rather amusing, on the simply basis that Canada boycotts and sanctions other countries all the time.
Because we opposed their illegal military invasion and occupation of Ukraine, Canada successfully pressed for Russian banks to be forcibly removed from the SWIFT international payment system. I need not remind anybody that boycotts and sanctions against Apartheid South Africa had a significant role in combating that racist regime, despite the protestations of conservatives in America and Britain.
In summation, Capital Pride released a milquetoast statement, barely discernible from the mainstream centre-left perspective, that explicitly recognized our shared humanity and openly disavowed antisemitism and Islamophobia. There is genuinely very little to pick apart in this press release, and you can disagree while also respecting the sincere thought behind it.
Instead, Liberals decided to disgrace themselves, and I am ashamed.
Mark Sutcliffe was the first politician to drop out of Capital Pride as a result of the statement. I will not interpret his actions in good faith; he has explicitly written in previous years about his desire to de-fund Capital Pride, deriding queer organizers as “looking for a handout.” Sutcliffe saw a way to attack Capital Pride, and he pounced on it without hesitation, and right-wing actors have followed him through the opening he created.
The Ottawa Hospital and CHEO would both drop out of Capital Pride as well, as these medical professionals were severely offended by Capital Pride’s statement that violence against civilians is always wrong. OCDSB Trustee Nili Kaplan-Myrth successfully pressured board administrators into pulling out of Pride, but now other elected trustees are threatening to overturn the decision of the unelected Director, with Trustee Donna Blackburn correctly pointing out that this will send an awful message to Muslim and queer students that she represents.
But what upsets me the most, was hearing on my final day in Ottawa meeting with Liberal friends and colleagues that the Liberal Party of Canada would be pulling out of Capital Pride entirely. One day later, as I returned home on the train from Ottawa, I then learned that the Ontario Liberal Party would also not be attending. But the implication is far beyond merely not having the parties attend, or not having our MPs and MPPs attend.
Queer Liberal staffers working on Parliament Hill have credible reason to believe their employment may be affected if they attend Pride. I have received messages from Liberals seeking provincial nominations under Bonnie Crombie’s OLP, worried that attending Capital Pride will cause them to be rejected as candidates for the Party. Both the Liberal Party of Canada and the Ontario Liberal Party are flexing their authority to make Liberals afraid to attend Capital Pride, and that enrages me.
For one thing, the Liberal MPs and MPPs and candidates that live in Ottawa are independent human beings with the ability to make their own choices. I do not care if the caucus whip tells you you’re not allowed to go, the decision is yours and it is yours alone. I will harshly judge every Ottawa region Liberal MP and MPP who makes the choice to not attend Capital Pride.
You will be telling your queer constituents that your support for them is conditional, that you will revoke it if they displease you. The NDP will have every legitimacy in attacking you for your false allyship, and progressive voters will remember the fact that you abandoned Pride and that you cannot be trusted to stand with the queer community when we are put under pressure.
But it is even worse that queer Liberal staffers genuinely have to worry that attending Capital Pride and posting about it on their socials can get them in trouble with their boss. Every single day, the federal and provincial Liberal parties push their staffers to the absolute limit. Staffers in Ottawa are used, and abused, and churned out of the meat grinder, and then they are expected to be grateful for the privilege.
Enough. They do not get to take Pride away from queer staffers on the Hill. They ask too much of staffers, and this has finally crossed the line into the unacceptable. We will not suppress our queer identity, or cut ourselves off from the rest of the queer community. That is not a price any staffer should ever be expected to pay to maintain a career in politics.
To her credit, Ottawa City Councillor Ariel Troster has written an op-ed in the Ottawa Citizen, making clear her intention to march in Capital Pride this week. She makes clear that while the intersection between identities can become messy, as a queer Jew she will not be pressured into choosing between two parts of herself. In her own words:
What I find more hurtful than a well-intentioned statement from Capital Pride is to see that so many organizations and institutions are choosing to walk away from us when we need their solidarity the most. Their support seems contingent on the queer and trans community remaining placid, uncontroversial and in total agreement with each other — a standard that has not been applied to many other communities.
I agree with Ariel, and as a fellow queer Jew, it is heartening to see more of us speaking out as she does. But the fact that she is one of very few politicians to do so, should fill her elected colleagues in Ottawa with shame, whether they serve on the school boards or as a federal cabinet minister. As a Liberal, my pressure is best applied to the federal and provincial parties that are abandoning us in our greatest hour of need.
Capital Pride will hold their signature parade in Ottawa on August 25th, in four days. I’m sure that the Prime Minister’s Office feels very clever for scheduling their Cabinet retreat on that date, but I frankly do not care in the slightest. Every variation of queerphobic bigot has become emboldened by the Liberals pulling out of Capital Pride, and it is being represented through an onslaught of bile and hatred towards the queer community, both online and in real life.
By pulling out of Capital Pride, the Liberals gave the bigots an inch, and in exchange the bigots have now taken a mile. I expect every Liberal MP and MPP in Ottawa to march in the Capital Pride Parade on August 25th, regardless of any consequences the central parties may impose on them. I will take note of which Liberal caucus members refuse to support the queer community, and I will remember their names.
If you also believe that Liberal MPs and MPPs in Ottawa should attend Capital Pride, and that they should stand with their queer constituents and staffers, then you can politely and respectfully contact them at the phone numbers listed below for their Ottawa offices. Tell them that if they want to keep your support, they need to do the right thing, and march in Capital Pride. Convincing them to do the right thing will be in our hands.
Federal Liberal MPs
Kanata—Carleton / Minister Jenna Sudds / (613) 592-3469 Nepean / Chandra Arya / (613) 825-5505 Orléans / Marie-France Lalonde / (613) 834-1800 Ottawa Centre / Yasir Naqvi / (613) 946-8682 Ottawa South / David McGuinty / (613) 990-8640 Ottawa—Vanier / Mona Fortier / (613) 998-1860 Ottawa—West Nepean / Anita Vandenbeld / (613) 996-0984
Provincial Liberal MPPs
Kanata—Carleton / Karen McCrimmon / (613) 599-3000 Orléans / Stephen Blais / (613) 834-8679 Ottawa South / John Fraser / (613) 736-9573 Ottawa—Vanier / Lucille Collard / (613) 744-4484
I made a meme you might like: https://x.com/DevinDignam/status/1826380942791049233
I will be marching in the Capital Pride Parade myself, on behalf of Fair Vote Canada. I do not object to most of the actions to which Capital Pride committed. However, I strongly object to Capital Pride's use of the g-word to describe Israeli misconduct in this war.
I am self-conscious of the fact that I am a non-Jew communicating towards a Jew, and that there are Jewish groups such as Independent Jewish Voices who have labelled Israel with the g-word accusation. That arguably does not diminish the historical repetition of the blood libel that is evident in the selective use of the g-word against Israel; whereas several major powers have committed equal or worse crimes without equally being accused with the g-word. (Although, our representatives have officially accused Putin's Russia, China, and Canada itself of "genocide", and I am skeptical of use of the word in all those instances too.)