MEDIA RELEASE
18 September 2023
We Stand Proudly with the Yukon's 2SLGBTQIA Community
The Million March for Children is a rally to promote hatred and exclusion. It’s a march against science, against human rights, and against human dignity. Coercing children to skip school and march against the rights of their peers is misguided and regressive, and it’s anti-2SLGBTQIA indoctrination. We invite you instead to join the counter-protest, taking place September 20th, noon at the Yukon Legislative Building.
In 1960, six-year-old Ruby Bridges faced a mob of sign-waving, screaming white parents and students as she entered her elementary school in Louisiana – a small, pigtailed child facing rage, hatred, and intolerance. On September 10, 1963, all 275 white students of the newly integrated Tuskegee High School in Alabama boycotted school in a vain attempt to fight desegregation. They lost that fight because their racist demands were founded in hatred and ignorance. They lost because they were in the wrong, and justice prevailed.
This march is only the latest pro-segregation movement, a desperate attempt to hold on to the status quo and deny equal rights for all. Remember, the racist anti-segregation rhetoric in the American south was also preached from the pulpit and championed by white Christian churches.
The founders of this event have been affiliated with alt-right, anti-gay, Christian nationalist organizations and are closely linked with white supremacist groups including Diagolon. This far-right Canadian extremist group was designated a national security threat for its Freedom Convoy activities. They have now focused their radical and dangerous attention on the 2SLGBTQIA+ community. The movement’s leaders have been at the forefront of the violently homophobic, pro-Nazi hate movement and this Million March for Children is another poorly disguised rallying cry against equality and human kindness.
Yukon Employees’ Union says No to Hate. As J.S. Woodsworth said, “What we desire for ourselves, we wish for all.” We believe that everyone should have the freedom to live without prejudice, safe from hateful attacks.
Yukon Employees’ Union stands proudly in defense of the rights of Trans Youth. We stand united against bigots and bullies threatening harm to any member of our community. We will continue to fight to help ensure everyone can live safely and thrive here, including Two-Spirit, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer, Intersex, and Asexual Yukoners.
We encourage all allies and people of conscience to join the counter-protest Wednesday September 20th at the Legislative Assembly Building. If you identify as a member of the 2SLGBTQIA and you are seeking community, please reach out to Queer Yukon. If you’re a parent or guardian of a 2SLGBTQIA youth, you’re invited to join the Parent & Guardian Peer Support Group; more information is available at https://www.queeryukon.com.
Solidarity means standing together, supporting one another, and speaking in defense of what is right. Yukon Employees’ Union supports the right of everyone to feel safe in our communities and we will be at the counter protest.