By Roger-Luc Chayer / Translation Robert Frank
Editoral 103: Queen Elizabeth II
Surprised? We suppose that you would be, to discover that Gay Globe is featuring Canada’s Queen without taking sides politically—a potential minefield that I have nonetheless decided to navigate, and for good reason. Elizabeth II is the Queen of many countries including Canada, England, Australia and New Zealand.
She is also head of the world’s largest trade body, the Commonwealth. In this capacity, the Sovereign decided a few years ago to press member-countries to adopt a new approach to homosexuality by linking future membership in the organization to legislative reforms that would decriminalize homosexuality and stop stigmatizating members of this community.
Some of the smallest countries resisted at first. They shouted loud and long that the Queen held no sway over any local parliament but, following a great deal of diplomacy—admittedly her strong point—she made history by signing a new Commonwealth Charter in 2013, which prohibited discrimination against women, ethnic minorities and gays.
That was a first for most Commonwealth countries, some of which are Muslim states that practice Sharia.
For this reason, in recognition of her unique political accomplishment, Queen Elizabeth II of Canada had earned pride of place on our cover.
Our country is unified—or, at least, nearly so—on the gay issue. For that reason, we must honour her on our cover like the other world greats who have contributed to improving our collective well-being.