NDP attended Pride to fight for more equity

Zac Miller and Barbara Doyle (pictured) are the communications team for the Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock NDP Riding Association. They were at Pride in the Park this past weekend because the LGBTQ2SI+ community is still fighting for better equity.

The NDP are committed to easier access to vital medication including transition drugs PrEP, and to treat and prevent HIV; greater access to primary gender affirming surgery, including secondary gender affirming surgeries that are not covered now; reducing barriers to supportive long-term care that is fully inclusive and affirming; making sure that health care decisions respect the internationally-accepted standards of care established by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH).

The NDP also supports including gender identity and gender expression in Ontario’s Human Rights Code (Toby’s Act 2012), GSA’s (Accepting Schools Act, 2012) and recognizing LGBTQIA2S+ parents (All Families Are Equal Act, 2016).

One of the most talked about issues for the day was Premier Doug Ford’s apparent rolling back of the sex education curriculum and reverting to a 1998 version where Ontario students will no longer be taught the concept of “consent,” zero discussion on gender identity or same-sex relationships, and nothing on gender-based violence, sexual harassment, homophobia, the social impacts of puberty, sexting, cyberbullying or protecting oneself from online predators.

NDP leader Andrea Horwath said, “We worked hard to make sure that everyone in Ontario feels that they are respected, that they are able to be who they are, able to have opportunity, able to be free of violence and hate. And anything that starts to erode people’s ability to be be themselves and be respected in this province is problematic.”

There is a petition online here to support the reinstatement of the 2015 curriculum.