Revolutionary Solidarity with Pride Season 2025
by Socialist Action Canada
Warmest solidarity and greetings from Socialist Action/ Ligue pour l'Action Socialiste for Pride Month 2025. We are happy again to congratulate the organizers for their hard work across country which is keeping the spirit of Pride alive, in defiance of rainbow capitalism and corporate liberalization. Never forget that the relative equality and recognized status of LGBTQ+ people were won by militant mass action and radical resistance to state power. In 2025 the re-emboldened reactionary right, both at home and abroad, continues to make it necessary to organize in defense of our rights and safety.
Antagonism towards trans people has grown to a fever pitch. Crossing the U.S. border is no longer safe; three provinces have passed laws targeting trans youth/athletes/washroom use; and human rights watchdogs consider the majority of provinces and territories to be at "moderate risk or higher" likelihood of waging a legislative assault. Fortunately, the second iteration of the bigoted "Million March" floundered -- but its billionaire-funded provocateurs remain active.
Over the past year, attacks on queer people, as well as Muslim, Black, and Asian people have increased again. Fueled by noxious rhetoric from conservative institutions, and police "hate crimes" departments' exclusive focus on pro-Palestinian solidarity activists, the absence of consequences for brutal cops makes our community a target. We never expected police to protect us. We must continue to protect ourselves. How long should we settle for community defense under the boot of politicians, police, and hatemongers who will serve us with copious repression? We must build a system which affirms and secures our position of dignity in society.
Homelessness and poor housing conditions worsen. No serious solutions are offered by capitalist governments. Our queer and trans siblings who suffer disproportionately in these circumstances deserve better. As Frederick Engels wrote "On the Housing Question" in 1872, the private sector has no solution, and no interest in finding one. Only massive public sector construction will do, as it did in post-WW2 Britain under the first Labour government, and during the Hugo Chavez government in Venezuela. We demand that municipalities and provinces provide safe high quality housing universally to advance the right to life and dignity of all people, gay and straight, trans and cis.
Similarly, we suffer inadequate healthcare. Our hormones, STI testing and treatment, and surgery costs are under constant threat of privatization. At present, the provision of all forms of trans healthcare and queer-centered mental health support are woefully inadequate. The taxes queer people pay for required medical services are not being recognized.
Members of SA/LAS participate regularly in actions in the queer liberation movement. We note that the early Soviet republic, born in the Russian Revolution of 1917, was the first on the planet to de-criminalize homosexuality and abortion. Sadly, those gains were lost in the 1930s under the self-serving party-state bureaucracy of Stalinism, but it has always been socialism and socialists who lead the way forward for queer and trans rights; a tradition to which we are deeply committed.
Consider what kind of society we wish for, and what we've got instead. Queer rights will never be secure under capitalism. Divide and rule is the method of the tiny, obscenely rich minority who call the shots in the economy and the state. The huge inequality gap continues to widen, and it's endemic disasters will continue to hit us and other minority groups first and hardest.
In a socialist society, housing, food, education, and healthcare are human rights. Public ownership and workers' control of the commanding heights of the economy are essential for production to serve human needs, not private profit. We invite you to join us in the fight for a better world.