Hey folks, it's me Michael Bach, and this is Monday Morning Musings.
(upbeat music)
Happy Monday.
I hope this finds you well, safe, and healthy.
And I hope not to have to say that much longer.
If you're new to my channel, welcome.
So glad you could stop by.
Please do remember to subscribe by clicking on the link
which is somewhere in the vicinity of my face.
Could be up, it could be down, I don't know.
Mainly 'cause I've never subscribed to my own channel.
Or anyone else's for that matter.
And today, Monday June 21st, 2021 is National Indigenous People's day.
And it occurs in National Indigenous History Month.
So happy National Indigenous People's day.
Today is a day to recognize and celebrate
the many Indigenous cultures that make Canada a fantastic place.
So happy National Indigenous People's day.
I hope you are doing something to recognize and acknowledge Indigenous People's day.
It's also Pride Month.
You may have noticed I have a subtle background going on.
June is Pride Month, LGBTQ2+ Pride Month,
when we celebrate the diversity of sexuality and gender in our communities.
And I get asked a lot why we need Pride.
And I roll my eyes because I'm a little tired of the question.
Why do we really need Pride when we have marriage?
Right, isn't that everything? We have marriage.
Yeah, right.
So the reason why we need Pride, I think,
can be articulated in one incident that happened
in Toronto at the beginning of June. And I'll paste a couple links down below.
As the story goes,
a man was on his way home from
Hanlan's Point which is the nude beach on Toronto Island.
And he was beaten unconscious by three people,
two men and a woman, and it turns out that, allegedly, one of the men was
a player for the Ottawa Football team as part of the Canadian Football league.
And they attacked him because he was gay.
It was unprovoked.
At least as the stories go.
I wasn't there.
But they attacked him because he was gay.
They felt that his sexuality was such an affront to them
that they needed to nearly kill him.
He had a broken nose, a broken cheek,
a concussion, I mean he was really badly beaten.
That's why we need Pride.
Because we still face violence because of our sexuality or our gender.
The number of trans women of colour who are killed
every year because of their gender.
It's horrifying.
Particularly when you consider the percentage of trans women of colour in our countries.
We need Pride because we're not there yet.
Because there is still homophobia, transphobia, and biphobia in the world.
LGBTQ2+ people make up over a *million* Canadians.
And it's probably higher than that based on the census numbers.
We need Pride because we don't have safety yet.
Because stores in Windsor, Ontario
will deny a person an ice cream cake with a photo of a drag queen on it.
That's why we need Pride.
So I'd encourage you to do something for Pride.
I know most Prides are cancelled in Canada and the United States.
I get that.
Hang a rainbow flag, post something on social media, do something.
Make a statement that you are an ally of the LGBTQ2+ community.
Whether you're a member of those communities or not.
Make a statement. Do it on your social media.
We have a flag hanging outside our house.
Do something like that.
Do something that really makes a statement
that homophobia, transphobia and biphobia will not be tolerated in your presence.
The more people who do that,
you sort of take transphobia, and homophobia, and biphobia
and you just squish it to the point where it disappears
because everyone knows that it's not acceptable anymore.
Do something today.
That's it for me.
Thanks so much for watching.
Remember to like and share this video.
It's very simple. It's a button just click on it.
Like it, share it all of your friends
to find out what I'm saying because, you know what, they were talking to me the other day and they were like,
"we want to watch your videos, but our friends don't share them." So,
that's not a thing, but just share it anyway.
And, what else?
Remember to connect with me on social media.
I'm @TheMichaelBach.
And also remember to pick up a copy of my best-selling and *award-winning* book
Birds of All Feathers: Doing Diversity and Inclusion Right
avaira - available wherever (mumbles)
available wherever you buy books, as long as they're selling mine.
Or you can go to MichaelBach.com and click on
"The Books" to find out where you can get yours.
Last, but not least, I'm going to be doing something special for the remainder of June and into July.
Every Tuesday and Thursday I am going to be going live on my social media platforms.
On LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook.
Starting at about 5 o'clock each day, PM.
Have a glass of wine, I'm going to kibitz about something.
We're trying something new so do remember to check in.
Any of those platforms and you can find the links below.
I hope you have a fantastic day.
Stay safe
and I will see you next week for another episode of Monday Morning Musings.
Bye.
(upbeat music)