Fifty years ago this month: E. A. Lacey's The Forms of Loss was the first book published in English Canada that expressed overt gay sexuality. The book includes the following poem, which is called “Oneiromancy.”
In cities nobody knows young thieves lie down at night in toothless hollows of old skulls, whose dreams are terminals and latrines of memory: The last time – a pick-up I said “Wanna get sucked off?” he said "it was down at Union Station” “Yeah yeah sure! Where do we go? You got a room?” Boy he was eager! Just fifteen … Queerer then I am … Sometimes they’ll kiss you. He had stated blue jeans, tight, light yellow hair The ways he moves in bed … You never know though with rough trade March 7, 1964:
Maclean's finished publishing a two-part series by Sidney Katz entitled "The Homosexual Next Door: A Sober Appraisal of a New Social Phenomenon." These are believed to be the first full-scale articles in a mainstream Canadian publication to take a generally positive view of homosexuality. Katz was influenced in his views through contact with James Egan, Canada's most prominent gay activist for the period 1949-1964. Learn more about James Egan. March 7, 1976: The Metropolitan Toronto Area Regional Conference of theNew Democratic Party (NDP) voted to recommend the adoption of the program of the Coalition for Gay Rights in Ontario (CGRO), virtually unaltered, as party policy. This was the first time that a comprehensive stance on gay rights had been introduced into the policy-making process of a major political party in Ontario. On March 11, 1976, the St. George NDP Riding Association passed a similar resolution; this riding included most of the “gay” neighbourhood of downtown Toronto. March 9, 1966: Everett George Klippert was declared a dangerous sexual offender at the Territorial Court of the Northwest Territories. In August 1965, Klippert had been convicted on four counts of gross indecency involving non-violent acts with consenting adult males in private, and was sentenced to three years in prison on each count, to be served concurrently. Klippert had been convicted of gross indecency previously (in Calgary in 1960);his record of convictions had prompted Klippert's entry into the dangerous sexual offender sentencing procedure.
In sentencing Klippert to an indefinite period of detention as a dangerous sexual offender. Justice Sissons said from the Bench,"I think the penitentiary term is going to do the accused considerable harm and will not help him and will not help the public." Klippert was transferred to the federal penitentiary at Prince Albert, Saskatchewan; his subsequent appeals were rejected. The Klippert conviction was so draconian it generated a public outcry that eventually led to the 1969 decriminalization of sex between two consenting male adults in Canada. Interestingly, it was never illegal for women to have sex with each other. Prosecution was still an option if more than two men had sex or the act was not confined to the privacy of one’s home. Police took full advantage of these exemptions throughout the 1970s to harass gay men. For more stories of men arrest for having gay sex read "Tabloids — A Homosexuals Best Frenemy." March 12, 1977: Approximately thirty people, representing the Queen’s Homophile Association (QHA) and other groups, picketed The King’s Landing, a bar in Kingston Ontario, due to its prohibition of male same-sex dancing. The demonstration drew a crowd of more than 100 spectators, as well as reporters from the Whig-Standard and local radio and television stations. This was the first gay demonstration held in Kingston.
March 12, 1974: The Western Producer, a weekly farm newspaper in Saskatoon, refused to print a classified ad for the Zodiac Friendship Society/Saskatoon Gay Action. The Society filed a complaint with the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission, and the complaint was investigated. The Commission ruled that refusal of the ad was not a breach of the Human Rights Code because sexual orientation was not included in the Code. This is believed to be the first time that a Canadian Human Rights Commission actively investigated a complaint of discrimination based on sexual orientation. March 14, 1976: Windsor City Council adopted a resolution prohibiting discrimination against city employees on the basis of sexual orientation. The resolution carried by a narrow margin, four to three, and only after outbursts of homophobic comments from members of Council and spectators. Windsor Gay Unity had lobbied for support of the resolution. Windsor was the third Canadian city (after Toronto and Ottawa) to pass such a resolution. Learn how activists successfully lobbied for Ottawa's resolution.
March 26, 1971: Meetings were initiated in Montreal that led to the formation of the first francophone gay organization in Quebec, the Front de liberation homosexuelle (FLH). In its first five months, the FLH grew from thirty to 200 members, attracting a wide diversity of men and women with differing goals and ideologies. In November 1971, the more progressive members (including the founders) left when the membership decided to legally incorporate the FLH, and the group became more service oriented and social. By October, the FLH was operating a drop-in centre, which was active until May 1972 when it was closed by order of the City. In June 1972 the centre was reopened but police raided the centre’s grand reopening. As a result, many FLH members were scared away and the group's executive resigned. By the autumn of 1972, the FLH had collapsed.
March 30, 1964: The first issue of the magazine Gay appeared. Published by the Gay Publishing Company in Toronto, it was one of the earliest periodicals written for a homosexual audience and one of the first to use the word "gay" in its title. Gay was a tabloid containing general articles on homosexuality (some reprinted from American homophile publications), fiction, photos, local gossip, jokes and cartoons, and personal ads. It was renamed Gay International and is thought to have ceased publication after issue fifteen in 1965.
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This page lists key Canadian LGBTQ+ events, listed by the
month in which they occurred, and sourced from records and publications housed at the CLGA.* CategoriesArchives
May 2015
*Unless otherwise noted, sources are Lesbian and gay liberation in Canada: a selected annotated chronology, 1964-1975 &
A Selected Annotated Chronology, 1976-1981 by Donald W. McLeod. |