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statement. While National Gay Conferences
took place during the 70’s (Winnipeg hosted
in 1974), it wasn’t until Operation Soap in 1981,
when over three hundred men were arrested
as part of a Toronto police raid on four
bathhouses, that Pride movements gained
momentum in Canada. Operation Soap is
still one of the largest mass arrests in
Canadian history and sparked an unprecedented community mobilization in support
of LGBTTQ* people.
Pride Winnipeg traces its roots back to August
2, 1987 when approximately 250 people
gathered at the Manitoba Legislature and
awaited the provincial government’s vote on
passing the Manitoba Human Rights Code
– one of the first to protect sexual orientation. It
was passed and so a march of celebration
took place in downtown Winnipeg, unofficially
becoming Winnipeg’s first Pride Day.
museum of its kind and one of the only
museums in the world to document the
LGBTTQ* human rights journey.
That being said there is still much to do. It was
only two years ago on May 22nd, that Health
Canada lifted the lifetime blood donation ban
on men who have had sex with men, and
replaced it with a five year deferral period.
Within our own community prejudices exist
such as ‘thug’ pornography, hookup profiles
with statuses indicating ‘no Asians,’ and
notions that interracial couples are together
based on stereotypes of the persons’ skin
tone – indicating that racial discrimination and
racism still exist and as a community we must
stop it. Most recently, Bill C-279 – a bill to
protect gender identity and gender expression – was amended in the Senate, despite
being passed in the House of Commons. The
amendments have forced the bill back onto
the Order Paper where it will likely die due
to the forthcoming fall election; another
devastating setback to the LGBTTQ*
community and for gender rights everywhere.
Since that day our organization has witnessed
and advocated for an evolution of human
rights. In 1990, Winnipeg hosted the 3rd
Annual Intertribal Native American/First
Nations Gay and Lesbian Conference. At
this conference the modern umbrella term
‘two-spirit’ was chosen to express Native/First
Nations’ gender-variant individuals. While
most indigenous communities have specific
terms in their own languages for gendervariant members, ‘two-spirit’ was chosen to
modernly represent these terms and replace
otherwise offensive terminology. This year
marks the 25th anniversary of this historic
decision.
The evolution of human rights is a reflection of
the advancements made by society. Human
rights and freedoms are vital to the LGBTTQ*
community as they permit equal recognition
and treatment, which enables continued
progress. The Evolution theme calls for us to
reflect on our history and focus on the
evolution of human rights through education
and awareness. Education and awareness are
the links from ignorance to knowledge, denial
to acceptance, and hate to love.
July 20th, 2015 is another milestone as it marks
10 years of equal marriage in Canada, and it
was only three years ago that the Manitoba
government added protection from discrimination on the grounds of gender identity to
The Manit