LGBT+

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau makes history by flying Pride flag for first time on Parliament Hill

by Craig Takeuchi on June 2nd, 2016 at 4:28 PM
    1 of 1 2 of 1

      Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made history when he raised the Pride flag on Parliament Hill in Ottawa for the first time.

      The flag was raised on a temporary pole on June 1 for the launch of Pride Month.

      "This is a great day for Canada and it's part of a long series of milestones this country has hit over the years," Trudeau said. "It hasn't been easy, it hasn't been automatic, a lot of people fought for a long time for this day to happen."

      Vancouver Centre MP Hedy Fry, a longtime advocate for LGBT rights, helped to raise the flag.

      Also in attendance were openly gay Liberal MPs Randy Boissonnault, Seamus O'Regan, Rob Oliphant, and Treasury Board President Scott Brison.

      But that's not all the new ground that Trudeau is breaking as prime minister in the name of LGBT acceptance—he'll also become the first sitting Canadian PM to march in a Pride parade when he participates in Toronto's on July 3.

      He has previously participated in Pride parades before he was elected prime minister, including both the 2014 and 2015 Vancouver parades as well as Montreal's 2015 parade.

      Meanwhile, the struggle for LGBT rights continues in Canada as Liberal Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybold, MP for Vancouver Granville, introduced a transgender rights bill on May 17.

      The federal Conservative party only recently voted to end its exclusion of same-sex marriage from its official policy at a convention in Vancouver on May 30—11 years after same-sex marriage was legalized in Canada in 2005.

      Comments