Learn about gay rights and related civil rights movements
During October, I encourage you to learn more about the history and experiences of the LGBTQ+ community and not just throughout this month, but throughout the rest of the year as well. Canada is often seen as a leader for LGBTQ+ rights. While we have come a long way, there is still a long way to go, both in societal attitudes and laws. Those in the LGBTQ+ community are still discriminated against. Some examples of systematic discrimination include the fact that men who have sex with men cannot donate blood, Canadian customs seize LGBT material, and the age of consent for anal sex is 18 while the age of consent for penile-vaginal sex is only 16.
In an effort to learn more I did some research and created a timeline of LGBT legal history in Canada.
1760s — During the colonization of Canada policies of the colonizers were followed. Under British rule, homosexuality (known then as sodomy) was punishable by death.
1861 — British law changed the punishment for sodomy to be imprisonment ranging from 10 years to a life sentence. The laws regarding homosexual acts became stricter over the next century and tended to target men. There were various charges for people found to be homosexual, such as gross indecency, criminal sexual psychopath, and dangerous sexual offender.
June 1969 — Canada decriminalized gay sex.
August 1971 — The first gay rights protests took place in Ottawa and Vancouver.
November 1971 — The Body Politic, one of Canada’s first significant gay publications, was released as a magazine.
1973 — The Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives was founded.
December 1977 — Quebec amended their Human Rights Code to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation. This impacted housing, public accommodation, and employment.
1978 — The Canadian Immigration Act was amended to allow gay men to immigrate to Canada.
February 1981 — Raids on bathhouses became commonplace. These raids continued for the next 20 years. The charges during these raids were often dismissed, but the raids made safe spaces unsafe and created issues with police.
December 1986 — Ontario added sexual orientation to their Human Rights Code.
1987 — Manitoba and Yukon added sexual orientation to their Human Rights Code.
November 1992 — Those who are gay or lesbian could join the military.
1994 — Those who are gay or lesbian could apply for refugee status due to facing persecution in their country.
1995 — In the charter of Rights and Freedoms, the right to equal protection was understood to include sexual orientation. Also in 1995 Ontario allowed same-sex couples to adopt children.
1996 — Canadian Human Rights Act, which covers federally-regulated activities, added sexual orientation.
April 2000 — Same-sex couples were given the same rights as opposite-sex couples in common-law relationships.
2000 — Training programs were developed to teach Toronto Police how to interact with the LGBTQ+ community. Also in 2000, it was ruled that gay publications (even sexually explicit ones) are protected under freedom of speech. This ruling was needed due to seizures of LGBT material at Canadian customs.
May 2002 — The Superior Court ruled that a gay student has the right to take his boyfriend to prom.
June 2003 — The Ontario Court of Appeals upheld a ruling that legally allowed same-sex marriages.
July 2003 — British Columbia and Yukon legalize same-sex marriage.
March 2004 — The Quebec Court of Appeal ruled to legally allow same-sex marriages.
September 2004 — Nova Scotia and Manitoba ruled that the definition of marriage is made denying it to same-sex couples unconstitutional. This led to the legalization of same-sex marriage.
November 2004 — Ontario entitled gays and lesbians to survivor benefits under the Canada Pension Plan dating back to 1985 (previously had a 1998 cut-off).
December 2004 — Newfoundland and Labrador become the seventh province to legalize same-sex marriage.
June 2004 — The first same-sex divorce was filed and granted.
June 2005 — New Brunswick ruled that their definition of marriage violates the rights of gay people should they be denied this right.
July 2005 — Canada became the fourth country to legalize same-sex marriage.
2012 — Ontario stated that all publicly funded schools must allow students to organize gay-straight alliances.
2013 — The blood donor rules changed. Men could donate blood if they hadn’t had sex with another man in the last five years. The prior rules, which had been in place since some time in the mid-1980s, prohibited men who had had sex with another man even once since 1977 from donating blood.
2016 — The blood donor rules changed again. Now, men were allowed to donate blood if they hadn’t had sex with another man in the last year.
Photo by Tasha Falconer