The Canadian government on Tuesday warned members of the LGBTQ community traveling to the United States about risks in some parts of the country. A notice published on the State Department’s website urges affected travelers to “review state and local laws and policies” that may affect members of the LGBTQ community.
So far, warnings of this kind have mainly been issued for countries that are known to disregard the rights of LGBTQ people, such as Russia, Egypt or Uganda.
“We have experts in government whose job it is to look around the world and see if there are particular threats to certain groups of Canadians,” Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said at a news conference on Tuesday (local time) and stressed that the warning was not of a political nature.
Around 40 million people live in Canada, and around one million belong to the LGBTQ community. The USA is the most popular travel destination for Canadians, who paid 2.8 million visits to the neighboring country in June alone.
The announcement comes amid escalating anti-LGBTQ rhetoric in the US, with some states trying to ban drag shows, for example, or banning transgender people from participating in sporting events. Proponents of such restrictions are also calling for boycotts of brands, such as supermarket chain Target, that publicly support LGBTQ causes.
See the gallery: Each year, in commemoration of the Stonewall riots, supporters of the LGBTQ community around the world demonstrate for tolerance and equality. The history of Christopher Street Day in pictures.
