The Canadian government yesterday warned members of the LGBTQ community traveling to the U.S. about the risks in some parts of the country. A notice posted 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, such warnings have mainly been issued to countries that ignore the rights of LGBTQ people, such as Russia, Egypt and Uganda.
“We have experts in government whose job it is to look around the world and see if there are particular risks to certain groups of Canadians,” said Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, stressing that the warning was not political in nature.
The announcement comes amid rising anti-LGBTQ rhetoric in the US, with states seeking to ban drag shows and transgender people from participating in sporting events, for example. Supporters of such restrictions are calling for boycotts of brands such as supermarket chain Target that publicly support LGBTQ causes.
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