June is Pride Month. For decades, the 2SLGTBQ+ community and their allies have been advocating and organizing for rights recognition. This month is both a celebration of that community and a remembrance of the struggle for justice and equality. A struggle that is ongoing.

Even as we celebrate Pride, the Canadian government is fighting to uphold a discriminatory policy that requires men who have recently had sex with men to wait three months before they can donate blood. The state’s intransigence reminds us that political sloganeering is one thing, but true and complete equality in practice is another. So, we must ask: What is the state of 2SLGTBQ+ rights in Canada?

On this episode of Open to Debate, David Moscrop talks with Chris Karas, a human rights advocate who is challenging the blood donation deferral policy that applies to men who have sex with men, and Gregory Ko, a human rights lawyer at Kastner Lam LLP who represents Karas.