This is a gentle nudge to my Conservative colleagues, as hopefully they would vote for it in a future time when you need more money.
Morgane, thanks for sharing your raw and real comments and for creating your foundation. It's important. It's not easy, but it is critical. Keep being a voice for the voiceless. We need you to do more, and I know you will.
Ricki, thank you for being an outstanding leader and a voice in a time that has been very difficult for the LGBTQ2 community in Edmonton. It's not easy when a community has disagreement within itself. Your work at the Pride Centre of Edmonton has been exceptional, so thank you. Thank you for coming out from Edmonton today.
Colleagues, tomorrow we and others will mark the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia. Fondation Émergence started this day 16 years ago. I can't believe we're here in 2019, 50 years after the decriminalization of homosexuality, with so much work left to do.
I'm in a reflective mood. I'm 45% sad and 55% hopeful and resolved that we're going to get through this. I think we need to reflect on difference and diversity, and how difference leads to diversity, which is great. How does diversity get twisted into being the other?
Just to be who you are, just to be who we are, we go through the fires of hell and we risk losing it all. It's about being different in a society that wants everybody to conform. Everybody on the panel today is linked, because the origins of biphobia, homophobia and transphobia are found in misogyny. As soon as somebody believes that being feminine or less masculine is somehow a bad thing, the phobias come up.
I will get to some questions. I don't usually do this, but I'm in a mood.
We have to figure this out. I don't know if it's progressives or people who don't hate, or I don't know what it is, but if we could just come together and get to the root of how people are othered, then I think we stand a chance. We shouldn't give the hate platforms any more oxygen, full stop.
I want to ask you some questions. How do we stop the hate from having a platform? In the United States, if you take a look at privacy laws, you'll see that there is a $40,000 U.S. fine for every privacy breach. What if we held the platforms accountable every time they posted something hateful online? For every view, there could be a $25,000 fine. Don't you think they would move quickly? Would that kind of fine system work to actually move the platforms to do more, in your opinion?
We'll have a quick yes-or-no round. Jennifer, go ahead.