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House Hansard - 199

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
May 17, 2023 02:00PM
Context: House Hansard - 199 - May/17/23
Ms. Soraya Martinez Ferrada (Hochelaga, Lib.)
  • May/17/23 2:21:51 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, May 17 is the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia. In 2003, Fondation Émergence, a non-profit organization in Hochelaga, created the first-ever national day to fight homophobia. Today, it is celebrated in over 100 countries. I am pleased and proud to welcome a delegation to Ottawa today to highlight the theme of this year's campaign, “LGBTQphobias are Irrational Fears”. As Patrick Desmarais, president of Fondation Émergence, put it so well, “LGBTQphobias have a serious impact on the people who experience them. We erase them, we assault them, and we try to correct them. A quarter of the world’s population believes that being LGBTQ+ should be a crime, which is a troubling reality.” That is why recognizing May 17, both here and elsewhere, is still so important and relevant. We must continue to educate the public, inform them and raise awareness about the realities of those who identify as sexually and gender diverse in order to defuse these irrational fears.
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