(no subject)

[felis_ultharus]

Today is the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, which is the touchstone moment of the gay movement in the United States. Celebrations are planned all over Canada.

Don't get me wrong. It's worthy of commemoration. But yesterday, another anniversary passed that no one's talking about -- the 40th anniversary of the day the omnibus bill was made a law, making homosexuality legal in Canada.

It was the result of tireless efforts on the part of our activists, starting with Jim Egan. Egan became Canada's first gay activist in 1949, and our only one until 1961. He tried constantly to get others to campaign with him, but they wouldn't. They were too scared.

And they had a reason to be. Penalties were actually getting harsher. As late as 1964, a man named George Klippert was sentenced to prison for the rest of his natural life -- as opposed to a "life" sentence of 25 years -- as a "dangerous offender," because he'd had consensual sex with several men.

Egan retired from activism in 1961 -- his partner begged him to, because of the death threats. By then, he'd opened up enough of a space for the first activist organizations -- starting with Vancouver's Association for Social Knowledge. Activists from ASK and the groups that followed risked their jobs, their families, even their lives to fight an unjust law.

And they're the reason homosexuality was legalized between consenting adults in Canada on June 27, 1969.

So please, take a moment to remember the activists who fought for our freedom. Stonewall was a great event, but it was not the beginning of our movement in Canada, and saying so does a great disservice to everyone who risked so much so that we'd have the right to live our lives without fear.

(cross-posted to queer_mtl)

Comments

[infinitecomplex.livejournal.com]

Thanks for posting this - a good reminder of the people who fought so hard and risked so much. We'd all be in a very different place today if it weren't for them.