A recent Canadian survey to ascertain how comfortable Canadians felt about LGBT people playing significant roles in their lives showed an overwhelmingly positive result. 91.8 percent of those surveyed responded they would be “comfortable” with a gay, lesbian or bisexual neighbour. Also, 87.6 percent were comfortable with the idea of a transgender neighbour.
The Canadian government conducted the survey. They described it as a preliminary assessment to better understand the challenges faced by Canada’s LGBT communities.
Helen Kennedy, executive director of the advocacy group Egale Canada described the results as encouraging.
“We obviously have more work to do. But it’s definitely a step in the right direction.”
The Canadian government takes a weekly poll to ascertain Canadians attitudes to the government’s performance and people’s priorities.
Canadian survey questions
Last July, the poll included six questions related to attitudes towards minority sexual orientations and gender identities.
It asked people to identify their comfort level if their neighbour, superior at work or doctor identified as gay/lesbian/bisexual or transgender.
Helen Kennedy told Global News she suspected the government’s motive for the poll was to assess how quickly they can move on LGBT issues.
“Within government, with any political party, they want to know what the political risk is for embracing LGBT issues.
“It’s always a political lightning rod that can be used… as a political football.”
On nearly every metric, Canada rates as one of the world’s most LGBT friendly countries.
Although originally, as a British colony, the country threatened the death penalty for homosexuality, no executions ever took place.
Canada decriminalised homosexuality in 1969, before most other western nations. Then Justice Minister, current Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s father, Pierre Trudeau famously said at the time, “There’s no place for the state in the bedrooms of the nation.”
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