Justin Trudeau raises Pride flag on Parliament Hill for 1st time

Prime Minister Justin Trudeauraised aPride flag on Parliament Hill today for the first time in the country's history,in recognition of the people who have "fought a long time" to secure equal rights for LGBT Canadians.

The multi-colour rainbow flagwidely recognized as a symbol of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transcommunitywill be flownon a temporary flag pole in front of Centre Block to mark the beginning of Pride Month,a time to celebrate sexual and gender diversity.

Many members of the Liberal caucus were inattendance at the event, including openly gay MPsRandyBoissonnault,SeamusO'Regan, RobOliphantand Treasury Board President ScottBrison.

"This is a great day for Canada and it's part of a long series of milestones this country has hit over the years. It hasn't been easy, it hasn't been automatic, a lot of people fought for a long time for this day to happen," Trudeau said.

"Canada is united in itsdefence of rights and it's standing up for LGBTQ rights," he said, noting it was not only Liberal MPs in attendance, but politiciansfrom all the parliamentary parties."And quite frankly we still have more work to do," Trudeau said, adding that his government is pushing a transgender rights bill to extend protections to transCanadians.

Trudeau raises the Rainbow flag on Parliament Hill for the first time

8 years ago

Duration 1:17

Trudeau raises the Rainbow flag on Parliament Hill for the first time

The flaggesture comes after the party announced thatTrudeauwould march in Toronto's Pride parade, thefirst sitting prime minister to take part in the festivities. "It's not going to be my first time," Trudeau said to laughs from the crowd.

Trudeauhas been something of a regular at Pride in years past: he launched his election last August at Vancouver's parade, and marched alongside NDP Leader TomMulcairand the BlocQubcois'sthen leaderGillesDuceppelater that monthat Montreal's celebration.

Boissonnault said flying the Pride flag on Parliament Hill issignificant both "symbolically and substantively."

Longtime LGBT rights activistand Liberal MPHedy Fry agreed with that sentimentsaying the flaggives validation to those in the community who have "remained hidden and in the closet for so long."

"We've seen such progress in our lifetime," Brisonadded. "The fact is that there is a broad consensus across party lines today that I've never seen exist before. People know that LGBTQ rights are human rights and this is a strong sense of who we are as Canadians, and that's a wonderful step forward.

"I was born in 1967.Homosexuality was decriminalized in '68 I was part of a cabinet that brought equal marriage to Canada in 2005, which enabled me to get married in 2007.This has all happened in my lifetime, and now the government moving forward ontransrights. This is very exciting, and I feel very fortunate as a Canadian to have been able to live during such a period of remarkable social progress."

• Prime minister will march in Toronto's Pride parade
• Trudeau government introduces Bill C-16
• New bill will bring 'full protection of transgender people'

The Liberal governmentrecently introduced legislation that would extend further legal and human rights protections to transgender Canadians.

BillC-16would update the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code to include the termsgender identityand gender expression.

If passed, the legislation would make it illegal to discriminate on the basis of gender identity or expression.It would also extend hate speech laws to include the two terms.