The accomplishments I speak of are those that the LGBT community has fought for for over a century. Currently there are 76 countries whose laws make it illegal for sexual intimacy between two people of the same sex. You want a list of some of our accomplishments? Here's some:
- Canada, 1969 - Homosexual relations removed from the Criminal Code of Canada, making sex between same sex couple legal.
- Canada, 2002 - Marc Hall fought a successful legal battle against the Durham Catholic District School Board to bring a same-sex date to his high school prom.
- Canada, 2003 - Same-sex marriage was legally recognized in Ontario and British Columbia.
- Canada, 2004 - Same-sex marriage was legally recognized in Quebec, Yukon Territory, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan, Newfoundland and Labrador.
- Canada 2005 - Same-sex marriage was legally recognized in New Brunswick, Alberta, Prince Edward Island, Nunavut Territory, and the Northwest Territories.
- Canada, 2005 - Canada became the fourth country in the world, and the first country outside Europe, to legalize same-sex marriage nationwide.
And this is just the tiniest fraction of accomplishments for the LGBT community. There have been so many more, here in Canada and around the world. It's these accomplishments that we celebrate.
Yes, we do celebrate individual accomplishments as well, because, believe it or not, in this day and age it is still dangerous for many LGBT persons to come out. Some are ostracized from their families and become homeless youths, some are assaulted (there have been instances where young boys who come out have been forcefully castrated by family members), and even some are even killed by family. In one case a 4 year old little boy was killed by a religious cult leader who thought the boy was gay (
https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2013/07/07/us-cult-leader-sentenced-for-killing-of-woman-and-gay-4-year-old-boy/). It is these types of atrocities that we continue to fight against, and a small part of that fight is the Pride Parade.
I personally wish there was no need for a Pride Parade. But we do. We do because there continues to be, and increasingly it seems, instances where people who are gay or lesbian or bisexual or transgendered are attacked simply because of who they are.
The situation is intolerable, and we're fighting to make it better for everyone. If you or anyone doesn't like this. Too bad. This is a fight we intend to win.