Most of the historical records we have encountered at the CLGA date from the early 1970s onwards. This is unsurprising given that there was little political or community organizing prior to 1969, the year Canada decriminalized sex between men. Following this watershed event, a groundswell of gay and lesbian organizations began forming across the country. In fact, between 1969 and 1975, we counted a minimum of 90 new organizations. These groups engaged in an uphill battle of challenging homophobia, which was widespread and entrenched. To get a sense of how much headway these groups were making, we looked up polls from that era focused on homosexuality. They show that by the late 1970s public attitudes were shifting. However, much of the population remained hostile or fearful of gays and lesbians.
A 1979 poll showed that 60 per cent of Canadians agreed homosexuality was wrong. A paltry 13 per cent disagreed with this statement. Complicating matters, in the late 1970s a considerable backlash against gays and lesbians was roiling across Canada’s political landscape. Religious conservatives helped lead this counteraction. This is unsurprising given that approximately 80 per cent of evangelical Christians believed homosexuality was a sin. They supported reintroducing stricter laws.
One of the most prominent pied pipers for the millions who wanted gays and lesbians tossed back into the closet was Claire Hoy. He was a columnist for the right-wing publication The Toronto Sun. The CLGA has a file crammed with articles Hoy wrote in the mid- to late-1970s. Many are laced with rabidly hateful comments about “immoral, unnatural and depraved” gay and lesbian “creatures.” In one column, he calls for the protection of children from “the clawing hands and demented aspirations of the radical homosexuals” who wanted homophobia challenged in the classrooms through education.
Despite being a poster boy for bigotry and intolerance, Hoy denied that there was widespread discrimination against gays and lesbians. Hoy snidely characterized their political organizing as a “limp wrist lobby.” He branded their efforts to make sexual orientation prohibited grounds for discrimination an attempt “to gain official blessings from society for their disgusting behavioral disorder.”
We could not help but take a bit of guilty pleasure in reading Hoy’s articles. They were so delightfully appalling that they must have helped gay and lesbian causes. Unwittingly, Hoy demonstrated that homophobia was ugly and irrational. Nevertheless, it must have been dispiriting for gays and lesbians to live in a society that allowed people like Hoy to peddle what today would likely be considered hate speech under the law. They could, however, take solace in the fact that change was afoot. Gays and lesbians were slowly building alliances with people in political power prepared to stand up for their rights. One of the earliest examples is John Sewell.
We interviewed Sewell this past December. He described to us how he was part of a new wave of young reformers elected to Toronto City Council in 1972. Their platform was informed by a belief in a more equal society. As Sewell explained to us, “We created this very powerful new idea [that] people should be accepted.” Much to the chagrin of people like Hoy, Sewell was part of an emerging Bay Boom Generation of leaders. As Sewell recounted, they had “new values … of a more open city, a more accepting city. We sold that as politicians and people agreed with it.”
Sewell ran successfully for mayor in 1978 and served until 1980. During his tenure, he became the first prominent elected official in this country to speak up for gays and lesbians. We asked him why he was prepared to take what was then a considerable political risk. He had the following to say in response:
“You stand up for people. And if you are unpopular well okay that’s the breaks of the game. But you gotta do it. It might not be popular politically but you do the right thing. My assumption here was not that I’m trying to get reelected. I’m sorry. My job in politics was to do the right thing.”
If only more politicians believed this today! Sewell recounted how, at the time, “there had been no significant voice in Canada” against homophobia. Talking about himself in the third person he noted, “someone finally said, ‘This is okay. Being gay is okay.’” He added that he made it easier for other people in positions of power to speak up.
After the interview, we were curious to know what Hoy thought about Sewell as mayor. We headed back to the CLGA, pulled out his file and found the following: “[It is not useful] for elected ninnies like John Sewell to allow himself to be used by the militant homosexuals. … Because of sympathetic leaders, however, Toronto is becoming one of the homosexual capitals of the world.” Well, that was one thing Hoy got right!
A 1979 poll showed that 60 per cent of Canadians agreed homosexuality was wrong. A paltry 13 per cent disagreed with this statement. Complicating matters, in the late 1970s a considerable backlash against gays and lesbians was roiling across Canada’s political landscape. Religious conservatives helped lead this counteraction. This is unsurprising given that approximately 80 per cent of evangelical Christians believed homosexuality was a sin. They supported reintroducing stricter laws.
One of the most prominent pied pipers for the millions who wanted gays and lesbians tossed back into the closet was Claire Hoy. He was a columnist for the right-wing publication The Toronto Sun. The CLGA has a file crammed with articles Hoy wrote in the mid- to late-1970s. Many are laced with rabidly hateful comments about “immoral, unnatural and depraved” gay and lesbian “creatures.” In one column, he calls for the protection of children from “the clawing hands and demented aspirations of the radical homosexuals” who wanted homophobia challenged in the classrooms through education.
Despite being a poster boy for bigotry and intolerance, Hoy denied that there was widespread discrimination against gays and lesbians. Hoy snidely characterized their political organizing as a “limp wrist lobby.” He branded their efforts to make sexual orientation prohibited grounds for discrimination an attempt “to gain official blessings from society for their disgusting behavioral disorder.”
We could not help but take a bit of guilty pleasure in reading Hoy’s articles. They were so delightfully appalling that they must have helped gay and lesbian causes. Unwittingly, Hoy demonstrated that homophobia was ugly and irrational. Nevertheless, it must have been dispiriting for gays and lesbians to live in a society that allowed people like Hoy to peddle what today would likely be considered hate speech under the law. They could, however, take solace in the fact that change was afoot. Gays and lesbians were slowly building alliances with people in political power prepared to stand up for their rights. One of the earliest examples is John Sewell.
We interviewed Sewell this past December. He described to us how he was part of a new wave of young reformers elected to Toronto City Council in 1972. Their platform was informed by a belief in a more equal society. As Sewell explained to us, “We created this very powerful new idea [that] people should be accepted.” Much to the chagrin of people like Hoy, Sewell was part of an emerging Bay Boom Generation of leaders. As Sewell recounted, they had “new values … of a more open city, a more accepting city. We sold that as politicians and people agreed with it.”
Sewell ran successfully for mayor in 1978 and served until 1980. During his tenure, he became the first prominent elected official in this country to speak up for gays and lesbians. We asked him why he was prepared to take what was then a considerable political risk. He had the following to say in response:
“You stand up for people. And if you are unpopular well okay that’s the breaks of the game. But you gotta do it. It might not be popular politically but you do the right thing. My assumption here was not that I’m trying to get reelected. I’m sorry. My job in politics was to do the right thing.”
If only more politicians believed this today! Sewell recounted how, at the time, “there had been no significant voice in Canada” against homophobia. Talking about himself in the third person he noted, “someone finally said, ‘This is okay. Being gay is okay.’” He added that he made it easier for other people in positions of power to speak up.
After the interview, we were curious to know what Hoy thought about Sewell as mayor. We headed back to the CLGA, pulled out his file and found the following: “[It is not useful] for elected ninnies like John Sewell to allow himself to be used by the militant homosexuals. … Because of sympathetic leaders, however, Toronto is becoming one of the homosexual capitals of the world.” Well, that was one thing Hoy got right!