New Democrats attend World Outgames and LGBTT rights conference
OTTAWA - This week, New Democrats are joining more than 700 lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual and transgender (LGBTT) activists, trade unionists, government officials and NGO representatives in Copenhagen, Denmark, in the 2nd World Outgames and International Conference on LGBT Human Rights, the world’s largest international LGBTT rights conference.
New Democrats are being represented by Deputy Leader Libby Davies, LGBTT Rights Critic Bill Siksay, and the party’s federal LGBTT co-chair, Matthew McLauchlin.
“This conference is an amazing opportunity to meet and exchange information, stories, strategies, and challenges with brilliant and courageous activists from around the world,” said Davies, who gave a presentation at a Monday panel for LGBTT parliamentarians. “We’re learning strategies and best practices for our own activism at home, and gaining an international perspective on the work we do.”
“In Canada, we’ve made so many advances in the 42 years since New Democrats first called for the decriminalization of homosexuality, but there’s still so much left to do,” Siksay added. “As activists in a country with a high standard of LGBTT rights but an unsupportive government, we have a lot to share and a lot to learn about working for LGBTT liberation at home and supporting LGBTT movements abroad.”
The conference itself, part of the 2009 World Outgames, is being co-chaired by former New Democrat MP Svend Robinson, Canada’s first out gay MP. Canada has a large contingent at the conference, including numerous members of Canadian NGOs and unions. A large number of Canadian LGBTT athletes are also participating in the Outgames sporting events.
The New Democrat delegates will report on the conference at the party’s federal convention in Halifax on August 14-16. At the last convention in Quebec City in 2006, the New Democrats became the first political party in the world to adopt the Declaration of Montreal on LGBTT Human Rights, the product of the 1st World Outgames International Conference in Montreal in July of that year.
