Quebec Will Be a Global Leader in Fight Against Homophobia

by Michael Jones · 2009-12-10 17:53:00 UTC
Topics:

QuebecThe Canadian province of Quebec is set to announce a wide-reaching series of measures to fight anti-LGBT discrimination, becoming the first Canadian province to officially adopt policies geared toward rooting out homophobia. Quebec's Justice Minister, Kathleen Weil, is set to announce the sweeping policies tomorrow.

This past May, Weil made the announcement that Quebec would be instituting province-wide policies to fight homophobia. It was an announcement made on the International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO). Tomorrow, one day after another worldwide day of action -- International Human Rights Day -- Weil will announce how Quebec will become a leader in the fight for equal rights for LGBT people.

The plan is expected to play off of recommendations made in 2007 by Quebec's human rights commission, where they noted that anti-LGBT discrimination tends to be particularly harsh for young people. The plan is also expected to focus on Quebec's immigrant population.

Weil has said that this won't just be a set of policies in name only. Rather, they will include actions to make Quebec one of the most accepting places on the planet for LGBT folks.

"Minorities are often confronted with obstacles, obstacles that stop them from reaching their full potential as human beings," Weil said when she announced the initiative. "Society can't afford that, can't afford to lose these great people."

More specifics will be announced tomorrow. But in the meantime, count Quebec among the most progressive spots on the continent for LGBT people.

(Photo courtesy of Abdallahh's photostream on Flickr.)

Michael Jones is a Change.org Editor. He has worked in the field of human rights communications for a decade, most recently for Harvard Law School.
PREVIOUS STORY:
Pastor Rick Warren Denounces Uganda's Anti-Homosexuality Bill
NEXT STORY:
Bullied high schooler convinces MPAA to change ‘Bully’ rating to “PG-13”

COMMENTS (7)

    Comment Policy

    · All fields are required to comment.

    [X]

    Comments on Change.org are meant for further exploration and evaluation of the campaign on Change.org. To that end, we welcome constructive comments. However, we reserve the right to delete comments which, as determined solely in our discretion: (1) are offensive, abusive, or off-topic; (2) include content solely intended to personally attack the campaign creator, (3) are designed to subvert or hijack comment threads rather than contribute to them; and/or (4) violate our terms of service and/or privacy policy. Repeat offenders may be permanently removed from the site at our discretion. Please also be advised that: (A) we do not actively curate and/or monitor in any manner whatsoever the comments made on the Change.org platform, and (B) the creator of each campaign on Change.org may remove any comment at her/his/its discretion.