FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Statement from The Queer Interfaith Coalition and its Affirming Allies
RE: Transgender Day of Remembrance, World Children’s Day
Dear Human Rights Supporters,
This November 20th, the Queer Interfaith Coalition and its Affirming allies are inviting all people of faith to join us in advocating for queer human rights and working to protect the lives of all 2SLGBTQIA+ people whose safety is at risk due to the mounting increase of queerphobic hate speech and legislation. Recent research shows that in the last year there has been a 72% increase in suicidal ideation and self-harming behaviours amongst queer teens that live in communities where transphobic laws and policies that violate their human rights have been allowed to become law.
Since our founding in March 2024, 202 communities of faith and religious leaders have signed our letter, including two religious denominations in their entirety. Sixteen different religious denominations and traditions have come together, despite other differences, to unanimously champion the human rights of all 2SLGBTQIA+ humans. As interfaith clergy, religious community leaders and people of faith, we denounce the ways that religion has been weaponized against the most vulnerable and marginalized. We firmly state that there is no room for political divisiveness or debate when it comes to human rights for all.
November 20th marks two important reasons to join us in yet another sacred act of advocacy. November 20th is Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR), and we recognize that this holy advocacy is lifesaving and urgent. We call for human rights to honour the memory of the transgender people whose lives were taken in acts of anti-transgender violence, including at their own hands, due to the hopelessness that anti-2SLGBTQIA+ hate causes. November 20th is also National Child Day, not only in Canada, but globally, by the United Nations, which designated it as World Children’s Day, to mark the date in 1989 when children’s human rights were recognized with the UN General Assembly's Convention on the Rights of the Child, and to mark the date in 1959 when the UN General Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child.
We call upon all people of faith to join us in advocating to protect queer children from the lifelong harms of SOGIECE (Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity and Expression Change Efforts) which include Conversion "Therapy" Practices (CTP) that cause suicidal ideation and self-harming behaviours of children. Please contact your elected Member of Parliament to support Bill C-404 which would establish January 7th as National Conversion Therapy Awareness Day. This day will help ensure that people can recognize and prevent the harms of CTP while providing survivors a platform to share their stories, find support, and raise awareness.
We recognize that hate legislation and identity change efforts contribute to the disproportionate violence against and mental health challenges of 2SLGBTQIA+ individuals, in particular those children who are unable to advocate for themselves. We call upon all levels of government to fund the lifesaving healthcare needs of all 2SLGBTQIA+ individuals, including mental health services, as a result of the promulgation of queerphobic hate speech in the public sphere.
We believe that all 2SLGBTQIA+ individuals are created in the Divine Image and that advocacy for their human rights is not antithetical to faith, but a central tenet of our religious faiths. We denounce the historic and current harms caused by fear-mongering, misinformation, disinformation, political maneuvering, and hate speech.
We affirm that the shared understanding of our religious duty is to dedicate ourselves to advocating for the full and comprehensive human rights of all people, by promoting mental health, realizing the rights of 2SLGBTQIA+ children, youth, and adults, and ending gender-based violence. We commit to creating and advocating for religious communities that are reflective of these sacred tenets of intersectional equity so that all people can flourish.
We believe that every person is holy, every love and life is sacred, and that our faiths invite us to be more of who we are, not less. We denounce the damaging heresy that some people are more deserving of equality than others.
We will not be silent. We will not be invisible.
On this November 20th, we invite each of you to add your voice to ours by contacting your elected officials and advocating for a world where the rights of 2SLGBTQIA+ individuals are no longer debatable.
- Queer Interfaith Coalition and its Affirming Allies
If you or your faith community have not yet signed onto our letter, please consider doing so today: https://affirmingconnections.com/interfaith-coalition
Find more information on Bill C-404 at https://www.parl.ca/legisinfo/en/bill/44-1/C-404.
Learn more about a related Petition, e-4625 (Civil and human rights) here.
Sign Our Open Letter calling for 2SLGBTQIA+ rights:
The Queer Interfaith Coalition and its Affirming allies are reclaiming the religious voice from those who have sought to weaponize faith. We believe that all 2SLGBTQIA+ individuals are created in the Divine Image and that advocacy for their human rights is not antithetical to faith, but a central tenet of our religious faiths.
We denounce the historic and current harms caused by fear-mongering, misinformation, disinformation, political maneuvering, and hate speech. We seek to bring healing and justice on behalf of our communities of faith that have, far too often, been responsible for adverse religious experiences and spiritual wounds that have caused enduring harm to 2SLGBTQIA+ communities and their advocates.
We affirm that the shared understanding of our religious duty is to dedicate ourselves to advocating for the full and comprehensive human rights of all members of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community; promoting mental health, realizing the rights of 2SLGBTQIA+ children and youth, and ending gender-based violence. We commit to creating and advocating for religious communities that are reflective of these sacred tenets of intersectional equity so that all 2SLGBTQIA+ people can flourish.
We encourage people of faith to engage in the public square and support the Society of Queer Momentum’s response to rising anti-2SLGBTQIA+ hate, including the #FactsOverFear campaign, helping change the conversation on inclusion in schools, and the #Act4QueerSafety initiative, mobilizing communities to call for the Government of Canada to take action on rising hate and violence.
We believe that every person is holy, every love and life is sacred, and that our faiths invite us to be more of who we are, not less. We call upon all people of faith to join us in denouncing the damaging heresy that some people are more deserving of equality than others.
We will not be silent. We will not be invisible. And we invite every person of conscience to join us in advocating for a world where the rights of 2SLGBTQIA+ individuals are no longer debatable.
- Queer Interfaith Coalition and its Affirming Allies
Add your signature here:
To view a list of our current signatories as of November 2024, click here.
The QIC was co-founded by Pam Rocker, speaker, activist, and Director of Affirming Connections, and Rabbi Dr. Nachshon Siritsky, Spiritual leader of The Chavurah Collective: Decolonizing Judaism in Mi'kma'ki. Along with dozens of 2SLGBTQIA+ faith leaders and organizers across the country, we make up the QIC.
Queer Interfaith Coalition on the “Queer and A” Podcast
Host Nadya Pohran talks with Pam Rocker and Rabbi Naj Siritsky about the Queer Interfaith Coalition and the ways it is reclaiming the religious voice from those who have sought to weaponize faith against 2SLGBTQIA+ folks. Listen here or through your favourite podcast app.
Watch our Interfaith Pride Service
Join the Queer Interfaith Coalition for our first annual Interfaith Pride Service. Led by and for queer people of all faith traditions. Allies and 2SLGBTQPIA+ folks are all encouraged to join us for this sacred time of celebration and reflection.
ASL Interpretation is provided in the video. Recorded from the live event on June 6, 2024.
Recording of Queer Interfaith Coalition Launch
From the live event March 14, 2024
*ASL Interpretation available starting at minute 4:12.
Join us as we officially launched the Queer Interfaith Coalition (QIC) on National Affirming / PIE Day! We introduce our purpose, have reflections from several speakers from our group, read our open letter, and hold a sacred time of silence for those who are suffering from queerphobic hate and discrimination.