Please note that our office will be closed from Tuesday, December 24, 2024 to Wednesday, January 01, 2025 for the Christmas Holiday season.
We will be happy to assist you when our office reopens on Thursday, January 2, 2025 at 8:30am.
The Queer Justice Project and the Hamilton Community Legal Clinic are proud to join the Two-Spirit and LGBTQIAPGNC (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, Asexual, Pansexual, and Gender Non-Conforming) communities in celebrating 2021’s Pride month!
Once again, the circumstances certainly are not ideal. We are in the unfortunate position of having to celebrate for the second year in a row while the COVID-19 pandemic and necessary public health measures continue to restrict our ability to gather in person, as a community and as a family. The impact of this on Queer community members cannot be minimized, as we often look to each other’s company for acceptance, understanding, and safety when we are unable to find them in other parts of our lives.
These are difficult times, but Queer communities have shown their resilience time and time again. Doing our best to persevere and care for ourselves and those close to us through this pandemic is itself an act of resistance and accomplishment. Pride, as must always be acknowledged, started as a courageous act of protest during the Stonewall Rebellion on June 28, 1969, when Queer community members rose up against the discriminatory and violent actions of police. In that same vein, many battles for rights, freedoms, and acceptance have been won in the decades since, yet there is still much more to do.
Still today, including here in Hamilton, Queer communities face forces that seek to commit violence against us, that would have us repress our identities, and which propagate hatred. We watch in horror and solidarity with the U.S. Transgender community as their rights to exist in a multitude of spaces come under direct attack by transphobic groups and politicians, just as we do for all Queer communities and individuals around the world who continue to face persecution and hatred. Queer communities must stand united to protect each other and ensure that none are left behind in our ongoing battle for equity for all Queer identities and intersections. Despite these recurring attacks, we are still here, and we remain proud.
While the present is full of challenges, there is also significant reason for hope. Through the tireless efforts of healthcare and frontline workers, a collective adherence to public safety measures, and the truly remarkable development and now delivery of vaccines, we have reason to believe that we may soon be through the worst of the pandemic. Over this past year, we have all watched as collective, brave, societal action has forced the acknowledgement and the challenging of systemic racism and police violence against marginalized communities. The pandemic has also exposed many other systems that drive inequality and the exploitation of essential and vulnerable workers, with many now calling for changes that would create a more just recovery towards a new status quo. Queer activists and perspectives will undoubtedly help shape our collective path forward on these and other important issues.
The Queer justice Project has also undergone some changes this past year. We welcomed a new project lead in Michael Blashko, and have also had to change the way we work in light of the pandemic, moving to providing primarily virtual services. While we have not been able to interact directly with the community as much as we would have liked, each interaction reminds us of the strength, persistence, and pride found within all of our Queer communities. At the same time, we are reminded that no individual or community must always show strength. There is value and truth in vulnerability and in needing to take time for ourselves. We have also been privileged enough to have seen examples of this from our Queer family members during this difficult period.
We look forward to celebrating the past, present, and future of Queer rights and communities this Pride month, because there is so very much to celebrate. While we may not be able to do so in the way we would want, with us all together in person, we will connect in the ways we can, in ways that aim to keep all of us safe.
To everyone, you are beautiful and strong, and have a safe and happy Pride!!!
The Hamilton Community Legal Clinic and its Queer Justice Project express our significant concerns about the sequence of actions and decisions taken by Council regarding the Integrity Commissioner’s recommendation report on the complaint filed against Cameron Kroetsch. Please read our full open letter here:
2020-10-02 Open Ltr to Council re Integrity Commissioner Report
Note: The Queer Justice Project recognizes that language is important. In an effort to be inclusive, we use the language “Two Spirit and LGBTQIAPGNC communities” to de-colonize our work and represent and affirm people’s diverse identities and lived experiences. When referring to historical events, we aim to be as inclusive as possible while also being accurate to the language used when these events took place. For this reason, LGBT is used in this article when referring to historical events that used this term. However, going forward, the Queer Justice Project will use the more inclusive terminology of Two Spirit and LGBTQIAPGNC communities.
The Queer Justice Project joins the Two Spirit and LGBTQIAPGNC (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, Asexual, and Gender Nonconforming) communities in celebrating Pride Month this June 2020.
This month-long celebration takes place in June to commemorate the anniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion, which took place on June 28, 1969. On this date, the Stonewall Inn, a bar catering to LGBT patrons, was raided by police and in a ground-breaking demonstration of strength and courage against homophobia and hate, its LGBT patrons fought back in a collective uprising. Many credit Marsha P. Johnson, a black transgender activist and drag queen, of being instrumental in the Stonewall Rebellion.
The Stonewall Rebellion sparked demonstrations and led to the creation of the first LGBT Pride march. Activist Brenda Howard is known as the “Mother of Pride” for organizing the first LGBT Pride march and originating the idea for a week-long series of events around Pride Day, the anniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion. This has now transformed into a month-long celebration of Pride, where members of the Two Spirit and LGBTQIAPGNC communities and their allies celebrate every June in events around the world that commemorate the brave and courageous actions taken by folks to fight oppression and champion human rights and dignity for members of the Two Spirit and LGBTQIAPGNC communities.
In January 1979, Montreal and Vancouver each held an official Pride march and festival, becoming the first Canadian cities to do this. The Hamilton Gay and Lesbian Alliance (GALA) launched the first Pride events in Hamilton in 1991 and since then, annual events take place in June during Pride, culminating in a community festival in Gage Park.
In June 2019, the Hamilton Pride event was violently disrupted by a group of hateful protestors. An independent review of the Hamilton police is currently underway to investigate the response of the Hamilton police to the violent protests and to examine the procedure, leadership, and culture in the Hamilton police. While there has been significant progress made since the Stonewall Rebellion that initiated Pride Month, events like Hamilton Pride in 2019 demonstrate that there is still much work to be done to fight discrimination and hate. The Queer Justice Project is dedicated to educating and empowering Two Spirit and LGBTQIAPGNC communities in Hamilton and improve access to justice for members of these communities.
Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the way that we celebrate Pride this year will be different. On March 25, Pride Hamilton issued a statement that Pride in the Park 2020, previously scheduled for June 20, has been cancelled due to the ongoing public health emergency. Despite this, events are being organized to celebrate the Two Spirit and LGBTQIAPGNC communities and commemorate the history of Pride, in virtual, socially-distant spaces. We recognize that it is especially important in times like these to connect with and hold space for folks and to reflect on and celebrate the resilience and strength of Two Spirit and LGBTQIAPGNC communities.
Wishing everyone a safe and happy Pride,
The Queer Justice Project, Hamilton Community Legal Clinic
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