In response to the Million Person March for Children – a nation-wide parental rights demonstration calling on schools to cease LGBT indoctrination under the slogan “Leave Our Kids Alone” – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sent out a response. “Let me make one thing very clear: Transphobia, homophobia, and biphobia have no place in this country,” he posted on X (formerly Twitter). “We strongly condemn this hate and its manifestations, and we stand united in support of 2SLGBTQI+ Canadians across the country – you are valid and you are valued.”
This statement is not surprising – Trudeau is the most pro-LGBT prime minister in Canadian history, and support for LGBT causes has been part of his brand since he was just a backbench MP. He has marched in “Pride” parades; made guest appearances on drag shows; squabbled with foreign leaders over their lack of enthusiasm for gender ideology; and made funding for LGBT causes a centrepiece of his government’s budget.
When New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs first announced his support for parental rights, Trudeau stated at an LGBT charity fundraiser in Toronto that “angry, hateful rhetoric” was “on the rise.”
“Far-right political actors are trying to outdo themselves with the types of cruelty and isolation they can inflict on these already vulnerable people,” Trudeau fulminated. “Right now, trans kids in New Brunswick are being told that they don’t have the right to be their true selves, that they need to ask permission.” Which is nonsense, of course – but what Trudeau is saying is that simply bringing parents into the conversation is an attack on LGBT rights. Higgs pointed out that Trudeau was opposing the involvement of parents in essential conversations.
Polls increasingly indicate that close to 80 percent of Canadians support the law in New Brunswick and elsewhere, with Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe announcing that he will use the “notwithstanding clause” to override an activist judge’s attempt to block Saskatchewan’s similar parental rights policy. Moe’s willingness to use the notwithstanding clause is evidence of how confident politicians have become in defending parental rights and the overwhelming support they feel from the public. One Canadian Muslim group responded to Trudeau’s condemnation of the September protests as “hate” by calling on him to publicly apologize.
Trudeau appears to have realized his mistake, and thus he is trying to rewrite history. While speaking to reporters on October 5 in Vaughan, Ontario, Trudeau insisted that he was not, in fact, condemning the parental protests his tweet had been responding to. “I never suggested that someone who’s concerned about parental rights is somehow filled with hate or intolerance,” Trudeau claimed. “But what we need to make sure is that when we do see expressions of hatred or intolerance against Muslims, against the (LGBTQ2S+) community, against any Canadians, that we are firm in standing against intolerance – that we reach out to bring people together.”
When asked if he would apologize for his characterization of the parents, Trudeau went further: “We will always stand against hatred and intolerance wherever and from whoever it comes, but anyone who’s trying to politicize or spin this as an attack on one particular group is trying to divide communities against each other.” That’s a clever dodge, but it is also obviously false.
