Pride 2025: Fight capitalism’s deepening exploitation, bigotry and division!

Pride was born in the militant protest and struggle for liberation against police brutality and systemic oppression. In the face of growing far-right attacks on 2S/LGBTiQ+ (Two-Spirit / Lesbian / Gay / Bisexual / Transgender / Intersex / Queer) rights, the Communist Party of Canada reaffirms our solidarity with progressive and working-class 2S/LGBTiQ+ people across Canada.

While polls show strong public support for equality rights, a dangerous “culture war” by far-right and fundamentalist groups is growing, relentlessly targeting the hard-won rights of our communities, with transgender people facing the most intense hatred.

This attack is not abstract. It is playing out in our provinces and communities:

• In New Brunswick, Saskatchewan, and Alberta, far-right forces have cynically weaponized the language of ‘parental rights’, not to empower families, but as a wedge issue to dismantle inclusive education policies and pave the way for privatization of education. These laws forcibly out trans and non-binary students by mandating parental consent for chosen names/pronouns, endangering youth in unsupportive homes.
• Alberta has enacted restrictions on life-saving gender-affirming healthcare for youth, banning puberty blockers and hormones for those under 16 and surgeries under 18. This sets a dangerous precedent for all of Canada: a Conservative government is forcibly intervening to restrict medical care against the wishes of trans youth, their families, and medical professionals.
• Far-right forces, emboldened by the re-election threat of Donald Trump and the rise of ultra-right leaders globally, are waging a coordinated campaign against public education. They demonize “gender ideology” to:
  • Ban books with 2S/LGBTiQ+ themes from school libraries.
  • Disrupt and intimidate school boards and drag storytime events.
  • Undermine inclusive SOGI (Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity) curricula and sexual health education.
  • Promote privatization by destabilizing public schools and bolstering fundamentalist private alternatives (e.g., Alberta’s push for more unregulated charter schools).
• Hate crimes and harassment are surging, targeting 2S/LGBTiQ+ individuals, community centres, and events, fuelled by toxic online rhetoric amplified by politicians and media figures scapegoating trans people, particularly trans women and girls in sports and public spaces.

This hatred does not exist in a vacuum. The violence and bigotry directed against trans and gender-diverse people today is a weapon aimed at all working-class and oppressed peoples. It impacts racialized and Indigenous communities, women, immigrants and refugees, trade unionists, environmental defenders, anti-racists and anti-fascists, Palestine solidarity campaigners, socialists, Communists, and all progressive activists. The ruling class uses bigotry to fracture our unity and divert attention from their exploitation of the whole working class.

The ultimate source of this reaction is the deepening crisis of capitalism. A system imposing inadequate wages, unaffordable food, and a crushing housing catastrophe seeks scapegoats for the misery it creates. Dividing workers along lines of race, gender, nationality, or sexuality is instrumental for the capitalist class, especially in times of capitalist crisis. To protect their obscene profits, big corporations and the political servants of monopoly corporations actively encourage and fund the far-right parties and groups that demonize our communities and immigrants. They fan the flames of hatred to prevent a united working-class challenge to their power. Our resistance must be as united as the attacks are coordinated. 

True solidarity requires confronting all forms of oppression and complicity. Building unity means rejecting the “pinkwashing” of Israel’s genocide against Palestinians. Corporations like weapons manufacturers (e.g., Lockheed Martin, BAE Systems) profiting from Israel’s daily massacres in Gaza have no place sponsoring Pride. Pride events must ban complicit corporations and stand unequivocally with Palestine.

This Pride, let us reclaim its spirit of militant struggle and defend our rights. The Communist Party of Canada demands:

End 2S/LGBTiQ+ discrimination: Full legal/political protections for sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, and bodily integrity. Strengthen hate crime enforcement & ban hate groups.

Reverse anti-trans attacks: Immediately repeal the measures that mandatorily out trans kids to their families in schools. Ensure safe haven for refugees fleeing 2S/LGBTiQ+ persecution.

Universal public healthcare: Fund Medicare expansion to include pharmacare, dental, vision, long-term care and mental health, and guaranteed gender-affirming care. Stop healthcare privatization.

Fully funded inclusive public education & libraries: End far-right censorship; fully fund inclusive public schools/libraries. Mandate progressive SOGI programs & support student groups. End public funding for private/religious schools; create a single secular public education system in all provinces.

Raise wages & living standards: Roll back prices on essentials (food, fuel, rent); raise wages/pensions; implement a livable annual minimum income. Build social housing as a public utility. Stop evictions/foreclosures/utility cut-offs due to unemployment or labour disputes. Provide specific housing/shelters for homeless 2S/LGBTiQ+ youth.

Employment & social equity: Enforce employment equity for Indigenous peoples, women, disabled, racialized, and 2S/LGBTQIA+ people. Increase anti-oppression program funding. Regulate care facilities to end 2S/LGBTiQ+ elder abuse & “re-closeting”.

Peace & prosperity, not war & austerity: Reverse massive military spending increases and cut the military budget by 75%; convert funds to civilian needs and to create jobs by funding health, education, housing and social programs.

Central Executive Committee, Communist Party of Canada