$24.7 million: Quebec doubles budget to fight homophobia and transphobia

"We want to do more than survive. We want to live."

Those were the words of James Galantino, executive director of the Conseil québécois LGBT (Quebec LGBT council), who took part in presenting the provincial government's new plan to combat homophobia and transphobia in Montreal on Thursday.

Martine Biron, the minister responsible for the file, said the new plan, the budget for which doubled to $24.7 million over five years, is essential "in a particularly difficult context right now with the LGBTQ communities."

"Honestly, anti-LGBTQ hate speech in the U.S. worries me enormously," said Biron. "I wanted this fight plan to be a response, a way of working, of getting us to counter the rise in violence, the rise in intimidation, the rise in intolerance."

While she sees a polarization of the debate among our neighbours to the south, Biron also acknowledged that "it's quietly rising here."

She said LGBTQ2S+ community groups have observed an increase in street harassment, with derogatory comments -- once confined to social media -- lobbed increasingly in plain view.

"This rise in hatred and intimidation is here to stay, so we have to do something about it," said the minister.

"This rise in intolerance is our new daily reality," confirmed Galantino. "We feel it and experience it every day ... We're very worried about the effectiveness of this social turnaround."

Organizations like his will receive the lion's share of the new envelope: $11 million.

"The organizations are good, they know their clientele well. Sometimes better than we do. We need community organizations to move us forward and tell us what's going on in the field," said Biron.

Galantino is pleased with the plan's contents, as it recognizes many of the requests made by organizations: "We feel we've been heard this time."

But while he's delighted with the marked increase in funding, he was quick to point out that this envelope is "still insufficient to address the issue of underfunding experienced by LGBTQ+ organizations".

The plan's main objectives are to support LGBTQ2S community action, promote respect for the rights of people from diverse sexual and gender backgrounds, and improve the administrative practices of public services.

It includes over 40 measures focused on raising awareness in several sectors of activity and with stakeholders in all fields, from education to policing.

- This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Dec. 14, 2023.