Should MLAs be forced to attend Pride parades?

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 02/06/2023 (1036 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

“Will the premier do the right thing and will she commit that 100 per cent of the PC caucus will walk in a Pride parade in Manitoba this year?”

— NDP MLA Lisa Naylor

“(I) believe that people should march if they feel that they wish to march, and that compelling people to march is probably contrary to the spirit of Pride.”

— Rochelle Squires, families minister and minister responsible for gender equity

 

What should we expect of our elected officials? When their beliefs run counter to our expectations, should we demand their participation and support regardless?

In these days of hyper-partisan tensions that too often bump up against evolving societal morals and attitudes, these are fair questions to ask.

There’s no doubt that the subject of LGBTTQ+ rights have become a hot-button topic again in our society, not only in the United States where groups like the right-wing Moms for Liberty have been fueling anti-gay, anti-trans and “anti-woke” hysteria, but here in Canada too.

We saw it happen last month in Brandon when a former school board trustee called for the creation of a committee to review books discussing gender identity and sexual health, with an eye toward removing them from the shelves.

The presenter linked the discussion of books with transgender themes to the sexual grooming of youth and pedophilia, a common argument against queer content. In spite of a majority of the school board rejecting the idea outright two weeks later, she had her supporters in the room, and presumably still does in the community and elsewhere.

In the middle of that two-week debate, which consumed much of the oxygen here in Brandon and made news headlines around the province, Premier Heather Stefanson very reluctantly waded into the controversy by offering a tepid defence of her government’s position of allowing local school boards and communities to make their own decisions about whether to ban books or not.

“The provincial government is responsible for curriculum,” Stefanson said during a scrum with CBC and Brandon Sun journalists following her State of the Province luncheon with the Brandon Chamber of Commerce.

“So when it comes to books and libraries and all of these things, it’s up to the local communities to make those decisions. Again, this is an autonomy that was asked for. It’s autonomy that I as premier gave back to those local communities to ensure that they have that local say.”

That’s the political equivalent of passing the buck. And when pressed by those same journalists on whether she was against the practice of banning books in Manitoba schools and libraries, she found herself on shaky ground.

“I’m not in favour … and there is no ban right now, right across this province,” Stefanson said. “You know, I don’t like bans of … of … of things of this nature. I don’t think we do, we’re past that. I hope. We don’t want to go back to … you know … that kind of … um … trying to control those things.”

This being an election year, it was quite clear that Premier Stefanson did not want to step on a political mine field and further alienate potential voters outside the Perimeter Highway. And yet, not only has she and other ministers in her cabinet committed to walk in Pride parades and marches, her government has increased funding and supports for the queer community.

That doesn’t mean all elected officials — for personal and/or political reasons — want to offer the same level of support.

For this reason, Stefanson seems to be walking on uncertain ground, and is vulnerable to the virtue signalling of her political opponents. It’s no wonder, really, that the NDP have promised that its entire caucus will march in at least one of the many Pride parades taking place in the province this year, and thus challenged the premier to promise the same.

But as Pride Winnipeg president Barry Karlenzig told CBC this week, making participation in Pride parades mandatory is the wrong approach. He said there should be a willingness from the PC party and its members to show solidarity. And while he — and we — would like to have that expectation, it needs to be a choice that MLAs are able to make on their own.

Just like the choices we get to make at the ballot box this fall, when we consider who will best represent our community’s interests going forward.