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This is a very short list — Canada has a lot of LGBTIQ history. If you have a date you think should be included, please join in and add it in the comments section below! It is an excellent Pride activity. HISTORY PARTY!
1918: Les Mouches Fantastiques, the first openly lesbian magazine was published in Montreal by poet Elsa Gidlow, and writer Roswell George. You can take a look at clips here.
1965: Everett Klippert was arrested and charged with arson in the Northwest Territories, but as he was a known homosexual, he was charged with gross indecency. He tells police he is gay and will not change. Two years later, Klippert is sentenced an indefinitely long prison term.
1969: The Stonewall riots in Greenwich Village, NYC launch the modern LGBTIQ movement. Canada decriminalized homosexual acts for consenting adults over 21. This when Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau uttered the famous words “The state has no place in the bedrooms of the nation.” Good line, Pierre.
1971: Everett Klippert is released from prison.
1977: Quebec becomes the first major jurisdiction in the world to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation. Canada lifts immigration ban on homosexual men.
1981: Time for Torontonians to take to the streets. Approximately 3,000 people march to protest the arrest of more than 300 men at four bath houses in Toronto.
1982: The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees the “right to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination.” It does not protect sexual orientation until 1995.
1986: Ontario becomes the second province to include sexual orientation as a protected class under the Human Rights Code.
1987: Manitoba becomes the third province to include sexual orientation as a protected class under the Human Rights Code.
1988: Canada’s Svend Robinson becomes the country’s first openly gay Member of Parliament. The United Church of Canada becomes the first church in Canada to allow the ordination of gay and lesbian ministers.
1991: The City of Toronto officially proclaims Pride Day for the first time. In following years, most of Toronto’s Mayors join the celebration.
1992: Canada lifts ban on homosexuals in the Canadian Forces.
1998: Supreme Court of Canada says (allow me to paraphrase): “Hey Alberta, no institution can fire a person for being gay, even if that institution is a Christian College with an anti-gay statement of religious belief.” College instructor Delwin Vriend WINS, and GLBTIQ folks across Alberta cheer very loudly. They’re cheering now!
2001: Libby Davies becomes Canada’s first openly lesbian Member of Parliament.
2003: British Columbia and Ontario begin marrying same-sex couples. Other provinces and Territories follow suit within the next few years.
2005: Canada becomes the fourth country to officially sanction same-sex marriage.
2012: Ontario Human Rights Tribunal finds that trans folks must be allowed to change the sex designation on government documents, whether they have had transsexual surgery or not, leading to this quote from Barbara Hall: “Transgender people’s rights are human rights.” Yeah!
2014: Vancouver School Board formally adopts transgender policy. That means training for staff and gender neutral pronouns and all kinds of great stuff that will make life nicer for trans folks.
We are sure we’ve missed a lot of history here. Know an important date in LGBTIQ Canadian history? Add it in the comments section below! To add comments, you must be a registered user of rabble. It is free and easy. Sign up by clicking here.
This piece was produced with files from UFCW.ca/pride. Sources: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance, Les archives Gaie du Quebec.
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Meagan Perry is the Editor-In-Chief of rabble.ca, and she wants to know more about LGBTIQ history in Canada. Fill in those comments.
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