Vancouver’s 37th annual Pride parade is just over a week away -- and while thousands are expected to participate, the BC Liberals will not be amongst them.

The Vancouver Pride Society announced in May that all parade entrants were being asked to sign the Trans Equality Now pledge, which calls for legislation to protect transgender people.

But the BC Liberals say everyone already has the right to protection under the province’s Human Rights Code, and therefore they will not be signing the pledge.

The VPS disagrees. Organizers argue that while sexual orientation is protected under both the Canadian Human Rights Act and B.C.'s Code, there is no language specifically protecting gender identity and expression.

The same applies for hate crimes, according to the pledge; while violence based on sexual orientation is classified as a hate crime, violence based on gender identity is not.

And unless the BC Liberals decide to sign the pledge, the VPS says they are not permitted to participate in the parade.

“No political party will receive special treatment for the parade. Political parties that march must sign the pledge on behalf of the party. If they refuse to stand up for LGBTQ2+ rights, they have no place at the parade,” parade coordinator Bry Leckie said in a media release.

Laura Miller, executive director of the BC Liberals, took to Twitter to defend the party’s stance.

“BC Human Rights Code has been tested and is inclusive of trans + gender-variant ppl. We @bcliberals firmly support that,” Miller tweeted Wednesday.

The question is if the protections need to be explicitly stated, Miller continued, not if they should be extended.

“They EXIST,” she tweeted, noting that this is the first time in four years the Liberals won’t be marching in the pride parade.

The private member’s bill was introduced by NDP MLA Spencer Chandra Herbert, Vancouver-West End.

As of Thursday afternoon nearly 900 people had signed the Trans Equality Now pledge.

Joshua Mark Ferguson, who identifies as non-binary transgender, supports the VPS decision to exclude the Liberals. Ferguson says trans people often face discrimination in society.

“I think it’s a monumental step forward to provide explicit protection for trans people in the Human Rights Code in B.C.,” Ferguson said. “I think it’s courageous…Ignoring the reality for trans people in B.C. and not pushing for legislation that would explicitly acknowledge trans people is a type of exclusionary practice that the BC Liberals are practicing.”

Some confusion initially arose over who could sign the Trans Gender Equality pledge on behalf of a political party.

The West End BC Liberals riding association has signed the pledge -- but on July 21 the VPS clarified that “a member of the political party’s board of directors or equivalent governing body must sign the pledge on behalf of the party, as opposed to a riding association, electoral district, or equivalent body.”

Any elected official or candidate for election must also sign the pledge in order to participate in the parade, the release states.

The Pride parade takes place at noon on August 2 with the theme “gender superheroes.”