Defence Team 2SLGBTQI+ Champion Message for Pride Season 2023

June 5, 2023 - Defence Stories

As we move into the summer, communities across Canada will be celebrating different events in recognition of Pride and Two-Spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and additional sexually and gender-diverse identities (2SLGBTQI+) communities. I encourage everyone to take some time to recognize the contributions of the 2SLGBTQI+ individuals and their allies. Pride Season offers so many great opportunities to create and foster connections within our local communities, and to learn more about each other. I invite all of you—public service employees and military members alike--to attend and enjoy Pride celebrations, which are held from June through to September. Let’s all get out there and show our support and commitment to building a safe and inclusive society for all.

Historically, Pride gatherings emerged from the first large-scale protests for 2SLGBTQI+ rights, the Stonewall uprising in New York City on June 28, 1969. In Canada, we’ve been celebrating Pride since 1971, with the celebrations growing bigger over the years in communities across the country. We’ve come a long way. A lot of progress has been made in ensuring that 2SLGBTQI+ individuals have the right to be their true and authentic selves, but there is still a lot of work to do. Lately, we’ve seen a rise in hateful comments on social media, and similar regressive attempts to marginalize these communities. These are attempts to erase the presence of persons based on their sexual orientation and gender identity or expression in the public sphere, and are even encouraging hatred against them. These actions are contrary to the inclusive and diverse society – and workplace – we are cultivating, and opposite to essence of the Pride movement.

Pride is about coming together and being visible. Pride is about being proud, conscious, courageous, loyal, and upright about one’s affirmation of their identity and dignity. Pride is about healing, honouring new ideas and living in harmony. It represents self-love, inclusivity, diversity, awareness, and so much more.

Pride is also about solidarity, advocacy, hope, acceptance, tolerance, and inclusion, which all weave into the Department of National Defence and Canadian Forces Code of Values and Ethics. The Code sets out the principles and behaviours that apply to all members of the Defence Team—first and foremost being “respect the dignity of all persons.” By being welcoming and compassionate of everyone’s identities in our workplace, we can continue to build strong and efficient teams for which trust and respect are paramount. By ensuring all members of the Defence Team can be their authentic selves and bring their diverse perspectives to the workplace, we promote creativity, innovation, and trust—all of which makes us more operationally effective.

I encourage all Defence Team members to show support for 2SLGBTQI+ communities and become allies in creating safe, inclusive, and respectful workplaces. You can participate in the Positive Space Program (DWAN access only) or join the Defence Team Pride Advisory Organization (DTPAO) (DWAN access only). Both organizations are great resources for support, advice and guidance on addressing the challenges and issues affecting the 2SLGBTQI+ communities. These organizations, along with other Defence Team Advisory Groups and employee networks, are helping advance our culture evolution efforts.

This summer, let us continue embracing and celebrating the diversity of our Defence Team!

BGen. Roger Scott, Defence Team 2SLGBTQI+ Champion