Increasingly, 2SLGBTQIA+ rights and freedoms are under attack in Canada.
Beamsville, Ontario. Ponoka, Alberta. Summerland and Delta, BC. These are all the towns where United Churches were vandalized during Pride Month last year. The provincial governments of New Brunswick, Alberta, and Saskatchewan have all either considered or implemented so-called parents’ rights bills that restrict consent for trans and questioning youth.
Increasingly, 2SLGBTQIA+ rights and freedoms are under attack in Canada.
There has been an exponential rise in anti-2SLGBTQIA+ hate-fueled movements, hate crimes, and hate speech across Canada. Anti-trans policies and policy proposals are emerging provincially and federally. There is also an alarming wave of anti-2SLGBTQIA+ demonstrations, vandalism, and assaults on affirming clergy and faith communities.
March 14 is PIE Day.
The United Church of Canada joins Affirm United/S’affimer Ensemble and Affirming Connections in urging individuals and communities of faith across Canada to commit to concerted efforts to be Public, Intentional, and Explicit (PIE) in the public square.
Join the call to action to promote and protect the rights and freedoms of 2SLGBTQIA+ people, particularly the outward acts of transphobia. Your voice represents a commitment to fostering welcoming and affirming spaces for all members, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, or expression. We believe that all 2SLGBTQIA+ individuals are created in the Divine image and that advocacy for their human rights is not antithetical to faith, but a central tenet of our religious faiths.
Sign onto this open letter to support faith communities committed to upholding the full and comprehensive human rights of 2SLGBTQIA+ individuals.
Communities of faith are also called to show up in public places to support gender and sexual diversity, especially now when challenges to human rights in Canada are leading to vulnerability, silencing, and violence against 2SLGBTQIA+ people.
In her 2024 PIE Day message, The United Church of Canada Moderator, the Right Rev. Dr. Carmen Lansdowne, encourages faithful and intentional witness to this affirming work.
We are all called to be present—to broadly heed the challenge to actively work towards a vision of a more loving, boundless, expansive faith—a faith that breaks binaries and reminds us that we are all created in the diversity of God.