October is municipal election month, we go to the polls on October 24, and advance polls are already open! There are several issues that are important to the health, well-being, and prosperity of the Toronto LGBTQ2S+ community. If you're a parent, partner, or family member of a queer community member, please talk to your candidates and keep these issues in mind as you make your voting decision.
Homelessness is rampant among LGBTQ2S+ youth. especially those, who are not accepted and supported by their parents, who make up 21% of the youth in shelters, and struggle to find shelter space where they feel safe and their identities respected; violence and harassment of queer youth in shelters is common. Housing affordability is also a major issue for the LGBTQ2S+ community, especially the trans community. A 2018 study found that 45% of trans respondents lived in unsafe or unstable housing, and 22% suffered housing discrimination. ("From Surviving to Thriving", Toronto Trans Coalition Project). Housing struggles for the trans community are exacerbated by employment barriers and lack of income security with the median income for the trans community being in the mid-20 thousands, unemployment rate of 17% and 40% in precarious work (same study). Access to gender affirming care is another issue for trans people with far too few resources, and long waiting lists, including for vulnerable trans youth. Finally, rising hate in Canada is leading to increased violence against the queer community; homophobic hate crimes in Canada were up 64% in 2021.
We would love to see these issues discussed during the upcoming municipal campaign. Let's discuss adding new housing options for queer youth, and training to increase cultural competence of staff around queer youth. Candidates could discuss employment programs for trans people and programs to promote the benefits of trans inclusion to Toronto employers. We'd love to see candidates talk about the need to have more physicians providing gender affirming care and the fact that training and support is available. Or perhaps the need for the city to fund a gender affirming clinic to reduce waiting lists. We also need candidates to have an open discuss about the increasing rise of homophobic and transphobic hate in media and on the streets, and how it can be combatted.
We'd also love to see more queer representation in municipal government, making it easier to achieve progress on our issues. Queer politicians often understand our issues "from the inside", from their own lived experience. Representation also matters, seeing members of our community working on council will make the LGBTQ2S+ community feel more included.
While queer representation would be beneficial, there are candidates for school boards in this election running on "anti-woke" platforms; they campaign against schools accepting and supporting LGBTQ2s+ students. To support your queer and trans loved ones, please stay well away from these regressive candidates.