YCL-LJC Central Executive Committee, June 2021

Forty years after the historic bathhouse raids, we call for increased struggle for the equal rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and two-spirit people in Canada!

Though the COVID-19 pandemic has cancelled many in-person Pride events across Canada, the fight for LGBTQ2S+ rights is as essential as ever. We look back at the militant roots of Pride and recall our own history within Canada. Following years of repression by police and the RCMP, the catalyst for Canada’s own gay liberation movement were the Toronto bathhouse raids, which at the time saw the largest mass-arrest of people since the October Crisis. These raids, which took place 40 years ago, were not at all unique, with Canadian gay and transgender organizations or establishments seeing repeated raids in the years prior. However, even under the most oppressive of conditions, LGBTQ2S+ people in Canada and around the world have always fought militantly for their rights. We reject the corporatization and white-washing of Pride in Canada and recognize the organization and action of our LGBTQ2S+ predecessors.

The struggles of the LGBTQ2S+ community are not limited to social issues but are intertwined with systemic issues of capitalism, racism and white supremacy, the inaccessibility of healthcare, and the repression of civil rights. These are also issues of class, affecting those who are the most precarious in our society, including unhoused people (and in particular unhoused youth). Gay and trans people experience higher rates of harassment and discrimination in the workplace and job market, and with the high-costs and restricted access to important healthcare services, LGBTQ2S+ people suffer — especially those most deeply affected by issues of poverty and racism. The rights of LGBTQ2S+ people are continually at risk in both Canada and the United States, highlighted by conservative and anti-progressive lawmakers.  Capitalism continues to perpetuate these inequities, and working class LGBTQ2S+ people thus face a double burden. 

We as young communists call for the expansion of free, universally-accessible healthcare in Canada, including mental health care, dental care, pharmaceuticals, optometry, and other areas of healthcare often left unfunded by provincial government plans. Many areas of chronically-underfunded and inaccessible healthcare are those disproportionately accessed by LGBTQ2S+ people. LGBTQ2S+ people also face discrimination while accessing healthcare, often dealing with homophobia and transphobia from pharmacists and doctors.

We demand an end to pharmaceutical monopolies and privatization which allows companies to charge exorbitant prices for medications. We also demand the immediate implementation of universally-accessible healthcare in all areas, including for pharmaceuticals. In some areas of Canada, HIV medications (PrEP and PEP), which are disproportionately accessed by LGBTQ2S+ people, cost thousands of dollars per month, and even generic alternatives cost hundreds of dollars without private insurance plans. Hormone replacement therapy for transgender patients can cost hundreds of dollars a year without private insurance.

Other areas of LGBTQ2S+ healthcare, like trans-specific surgeries, are not fully funded in Canada: in provinces where these surgeries are “funded”, patients still have to pay thousands of dollars in fees for work deemed “cosmetic”, but which are non-negotiable and essential procedures. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many of these surgeries — which are already waitlisted — were outright cancelled, being deemed “non-emergency” procedures.

In calling for free, universally-accessible health care, we also recognize that LGBTQ2S+ people in Canada are at a higher risk of developing mental health disorders. These higher rates of depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation, self harm, substance abuse, obsessive-compulsive disorders, phobias, and PTSD are a direct result of homophobia and transphobia, which stem from our capitalist, class-based society. We demand an immediate end to years-long waitlists for mental health care, and the full funding and expansion of psychiatry, therapy, and other mental health care, including making it free and accessible for all people in Canada.

We demand an end to discrimination and hate crimes against LGBTQ2S+ people, which according to Statistics Canada reached a record high in 2019. The rise in hate crimes against LGBTQ2S+ people in Canada is intertwined with racist, anti-Asian, and anti-Indigenous hate: statistics show that, of reported homophobic hate crimes, those perpetrated against racialized people are often more violent. 

We call for increased protections of transgender people, who face higher rates of workplace discrimination, violent attacks, and homelessness. One Ontario-based study found that over half of transgender people in the province were living well under the poverty line.

As young communists, we are in solidarity with the gay liberation movement and the fight against homophobia, transphobia, racism, and white supremacy. We reject the corporate campaigns so prevalent during Pride season, which serve only to distract from the material and systemic issues that LGBTQ2S+ people are affected by. We recognize the links between capitalism, homophobia, transphobia, and racism and call for full equality now.