Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has confirmed he will not be attending any Pride parades this year — something that might not come as a surprise to anyone who has been watching his rhetoric lately.
Poilievre has increasingly attacked trans rights in recent years, sparking condemnation from groups like Amnesty International Canada and Egale Canada.
Speaking during a press conference last week, a journalist asked the leader of Canada’s official opposition whether he’ll be attending “any Pride parades this year.”
“I’m not planning to,” Poilievre replied.
The journalist asked for an explanation, and Poilievre stumbled through a dismissive, vague reply.
“It’s just not on my, my plan,” he said.
Later that same week, Prime Minister Mark Carney and NDP Leader Avi Lewis marched in Toronto Pride. Both posted scenes full of smiles, joy and, in the case of Avi Lewis, reminders that Pride is a protest.
In response to a photo of Carney shaking hands with a person in a leather mask at Pride, however, Conservative MP Jamil Jivani went on the attack.
“We should never accept a political culture in which politicians have to answer questions about NOT attending events like this. Those who attend should be the ones answering questions,” he wrote on Twitter.
That’s not to say every Conservative MP is turning away from publicly supporting LGBTQ rights.
Two Conservative MPs, Melissa Lantsman and Scott Aitchison, have announced a fundraiser for Rainbow Railroad, a non-profit that helps LGBTQI+ people around the world to escape persecution.
However, in the video announcing the fundraiser, Lantsman said the organization helps “persecuted members of the Gay and Lesbian community,” leaving out the Rainbow Railroad’s work supporting transgender people.
Poilievre has also not publicly supported the fundraiser, nor has he stepped in to support his MPs and his deputy leader — Melissa Lantsman — as accounts on Twitter swarmed coverage of the announcement.
In fact, the day after Aitchison and Lantsman announced the fundraiser, Poilievre specifically attacked trans women on his Twitter account.
Poilievre’s poor record on LGBTQ rights
Poilievre’s decision not to make time to attend a Pride parade is just the latest in a concerning trend: the leader of the Conservative Party has been vocally dialling back his support for the LGBTQ community in recent years.
In 2005, Pierre Poilievre voted against the legalization of same-sex marriage, despite his adoptive father coming out as gay when he was 12 years old. However, Poilievre’s position later evolved — in 2020, he called a conservative leadership hopeful “ignorant” for saying that being gay is a “choice.”
“Being gay is NOT a choice. Being ignorant is,” Poilievre wrote.
While Poilievre has publicly affirmed his support for same-sex marriage as recently as 2024, the Conservative leader has become an outspoken opponent of the rights of trans people.
Poilievre has attacked and spread misinformation about gender-affirming care. He has defended transphobic policies from Alberta Premier Danielle Smith that would deprive trans youth from accessing care, despite studies proving that this care saves lives. He has called for trans women to be unable to access bathrooms and changerooms that correspond with their gender, and called for trans women to be barred from playing on their gender’s sports teams.
In an interview early last year, Poilievre said he’s “only aware of two” genders, clearly confusing gender — which is how you identify — and sex — which is definitionally linked to biological attributes — while also ignoring the scientific fact that intersex people exist.
When, in 2023, then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau posted that “transphobia, homophobia and biphobia have no place in this country,” Poilievre accused Trudeau of “demonizing concerned parents.”
Poilievre also missed the Pride flag raising that year, stating he was working late.
2023 was also the final year that I’ve been able to find a record of Poilievre wishing Canadians a happy Pride month.
2SLGBTQIA+ rights advocates sound the alarm
Poilievre’s refusal to attend Pride — especially when coupled with his broader record on LGBTQ rights — sends a dangerous message, according to advocates I spoke with.
Victoria Bucholtz, also known as Karla Marx, is a university instructor, a drag queen and the Alberta organizer for the 2SLGBTQIA+ rights advocacy group Queer Momentum.
Bucholtz told me this is a “disappointing sign of where we’re at.”
“We are looking at a world now where queerness in general is a politicized topic. That is a deliberate choice by Conservative representatives by Conservative leaders to view acceptance of queer Canadians as a political act, and it’s really disappointing,” she said.
Bucholtz warned that this is “not going to stop with trans people.”
“It’s also about the broader status of where queerness in Canada goes,” she said.
“We’re seeing this quiet discrimination, this quiet hierarchy being played out in things like, who gets celebrated as a Canadian, whose days do we show up for? These are subtle signs of how a Poilievre government would legislate.”
Egale Canada, one of Canada’s largest organizations defending 2SLGBTQI rights, also sounded the alarm about Poilievre’s decision not to attend Pride.
“By vocally commenting against Pride while the majority of Canadians and other political leaders support, attend events, and advocate for 2SLGBTQI communities, Pierre Poilievre sends a clear message that does not align with Canadian values: everyone, no matter what part of the country they live in, should feel safe to be who they are,” Egale Canada’s spokesperson told me in a statement.
“Egale calls on all political leaders to actively support and defend 2SLGBTQI people in both their words and their actions. The people of Canada expect their elected officials to stand up for inclusion, not step back from it.”
I also reached out to Pierre Poilievre’s office to ask them for comment on this, but did not hear back from them. I’ll update you if I do.
Why does it matter if politicians attend Pride?
There have been plenty of debates about Pride parades in recent years.
Debate over corporate sponsors, the question of whether to accept the attendance of police — these are just some of the questions the community has grappled with in recent years.
Does it matter if politicians attend an event that is, at its core, a protest?
Advocates told me it does. In fact, political attendance sends an important signal.
“It does matter. It’s simple. It’s a sign of their values, it’s a sign of their support for the queer community, and that’s so important — now more than ever,” Bucholtz told me.
“We have a chance to depoliticize this, and that’s by all politicians standing up for queerness.”
According to Egale Canada, political leaders “play an important role in demonstrating Canada’s commitment to human rights, equality, and inclusion.”
“Decisions about whether to participate in events like Pride send a message about whose rights and experiences are prioritized and affirmed in our public life. At a time when 2SLGBTQI communities are facing increasing hate and violence, leadership matters,” their spokesperson told me.
Attending Pride parades could help to heal some of the escalating attacks on trans people, Bucholtz said.
“There’s a way to deescalate the political fights that are using trans people, are using queer people, as a political football. A gesture like that, to say ‘no, this party does stand with queer people,’ would have been amazing,” she said.
“Instead, he’s chosen to deepen the divisions and heighten the rhetoric.”
