First Nations participant in Pride Parade, Vancouver, BC Canada, 2002
The Cascadia Movement has been an active supporter of LGBTQ rights since the beginning. We have spent June 2023 celebrating alongside our LGBTQIA+ friends, family, and neighbors as we combat an increase in anti-LGBTQ bills in the United States. Our movement isn't environment, conservation, or sustainability-focused but people and place-oriented. This vision of the future includes all people within our place and, therefore, is a social movement of change.
Whilst it feels like we are moving in reverse we want to remind everyone of how far we have come as a bioregion. Our LGBTQ+ history throughout Cascadia has a painful past but has evolved into a place where people can move to, create roots, and build their communities knowing they will be accepted as their true selves. We have some of the most influential LGBTQ human rights activists in history and, as a bioregion, have continued their legacies by voting in favor of the rights of LGBTQ+, women, and BIPOC.
As time has progressed, support of minority groups has increased, with the majority of those living within Cascadia supporting equal rights. There has also been a significant increase in attendance at pride events and voting in favor of legislation that supports minorities. And while BC Canada has a lead on the work being done in the US, our US Cascadian states have surpassed the boundaries of our corner by sharing our belief system of inclusivity, equity, and individuality spread across the country.
“A critical component of each bioregion is the human culture which has developed within and is integral to that area. This essential human element is what distinguishes the concept of bioregion from similar ecological entities which traditionally treat humans and their cultures as interlopers rather than as integral components of a natural community.”
RESOURCES
World Gender Customs (mapping)
The Urgency of Intersectionality by Kimberle Crenshaw (video)
Intro to Gender Diversity (e-learning)
Trans Rights Toolkit (e-learning)
Supporting Gender Creative Children and Their Families (e-learning)
Indigenous Gender Diversity: Creating Culturally Relevant and Gender-Affirming Services (e-learning)
Organizations
Seattle
Lavender Rights Project
Lambert House
Out of the Closet
Legal Voice
Portland
SMYRC
Our House
Cascade Aids Project
New Avenues
Q Center
Outside In
Sage Metro
Friendly House
BC
Qmunity
Rainbow Refuge
Qchat
Vancouver Island Queer Resource Center
Trans Care BC
Trans Lifeline
