More than five decades of milestones

Canada’s first 2SLGBTQIA+* book store, the Glad Day Bookshop, opens in Toronto. Today, it is the oldest LGBTQ book store in the world.

Gay liberation groups are launched across the country: the Community Homophile Association of Toronto, the Front de libération des homosexuels (FLH) in Montréal, the Gay Alliance Toward Equality in Vancouver and Gays of Ottawa.

The influential publication  The Body Politic is established in Toronto and publishes until 1987.

Toronto holds its first Pride celebration with a picnic on the Toronto Islands organized by the University of Toronto Homophile Association, Toronto Gay Action Now and the Community Homophile Association of Toronto.

Maclean-Hunter’s cable community channel in Toronto airs the first episode of Coming Out, Canada’s first television series about 2SLGBTQIA+* issues.

Québec gay literary icon Michel Tremblay’s landmark play Hosanna, about a drag queen who dresses as Elizabeth Taylor’s Cleopatra, opens at the Théâtre de Quat'sous in Montréal on May 10. Hosanna later opened on Broadway, in New York, in 1974.

Montréal nightlife pioneer Denise Cassidy – better known as Babyface from her brief professional wrestling career – ran the Baby Face Disco (later renamed Chez Baby Face and Face de bébé) from 1973 until 1983.

The Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives are founded in Toronto. The CLGA changed its named to The ArQuives in March 2019. Today, The ArQuives is the largest independent 2SLGBTQIA+* archives in the world.

On October 22, some 50 Montréal police officers carrying machine guns raided the Stanley Street gay bar Truxx, arresting 146 people who were charged with being found in a common bawdy house. The raid and subsequent demonstrations – including 2,000 protestors the next day – forced Québec’s National Assembly to amend the Québec Human Rights Charter (Charte des droits et libertés) to include sexual orientation as a prohibited form of discrimination, in a landmark vote on December 15, 1977. The amendment is a North American first and the Truxx raid is often referred to as “Montréal’s Stonewall.”

Toronto female impersonator Craig Russell crosses over to the mainstream with the theatrical release of the Canadian film Outrageous!

Vancouver holds its first Pride Parade. Today, the Vancouver Pride Parade is the largest Pride in Western Canada.

The pioneering 2SLGBTQIA+* theatre company Buddies in Bad Times is launched in Toronto.

Legendary Montréal gay activist John Banks – personal secretary of Marlene Dietrich for many years – forms La Brigade Rose which organizes Montréal’s first Pride Parade drawing 52 marchers.

Edmonton holds its first Pride Parade.

Toronto police arrest close to 300 men in raids on four bathhouses on February 5. The following day, some 3,000 protestors take to the streets. The event is considered a turning point in Toronto 2SLGBTQIA+* history and leads to the establishment of the Lesbian and Gay Pride Day in Toronto, which draws 1,500 participants that same year.

Canada’s first AIDS service organization, AIDS Vancouver, is launched.

The non-profit Québec Gay Archives (Archives gaies du Québec) are founded in 1983 by Ross Higgins and Jacques Prince. The archives are home to the prized photos of famed Montréal physique photographer Alan B. Stone, as well as to a copy of the historic LGBTQ publication Les Mouches Fantastiques. The Archives regularly present public lectures, museum and gallery expositions, as well as poster exhibits.

Montréal’s “Gay Village” gets its name from gay businessman Bernard Rousseau who opens the “Cinéma du Village” porn theatre, today the National concert venue.

Two Canadian 2SLGBTQIA+* publications are founded: Fugues magazine in Montréal, and Xtra in Toronto.

Montréal’s first openly-gay city council member, Raymond Blain, is elected. Blain is credited as the first openly-gay politician ever elected to public office in Canada. After Blain died from AIDS-related complications in May 1992, “Parc Raymond Blain,” on Panet Street, is named after him.

2SLGBTQIA+* advocacy organization Equality for Gays And Lesbians Everywhere (today Egale Canada) is founded.

Some 250 people march in Winnipeg’s first Pride Day on August 2.

British Columbia MP Svend Robinson comes out as Canada’s first openly gay Member of Parliament.

Some 75 participants take part in the first Halifax Pride March.

The Kids in the Hall debuts on CBC Television. The trailblazing sketch comedy series co-stars openly gay comedic actor Scott Thompson who creates the character Buddy Cole.

Canada’s first 2SLGBTQIA+* film festival, Image + Nation, is founded in Montréal. Many of the early films and activist videos screened at Image + Nation dealt with queer resistance, liberation, AIDS and HIV.

Canada’s pioneering researcher Dr. Mark Wainberg becomes the first to identify the anti-HIV properties of the drug 3TC (Lamivudine) that is used in the treatment of AIDS. Professor and Director of the McGill AIDS Centre and former President of the International AIDS Society, Wainberg helped revolutionize the world’s understanding of HIV-AIDS. He was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2001 and died in 2017.

Montréal hosts the Fifth International Conference on AIDS in June. AIDS activists take over the opening plenary session, denouncing the government of Prime Minister Brian Mulroney’s “inaction” on AIDS to the world press, and then publishing the Montréal Manifesto, an international bill of rights for people living with AIDS. “Montreal was a milestone because of what we accomplished,” Larry Kramer, co-founder of ACT UP, said at the time.

Montréal Police raids the Sex Garage loft party in the early hours of July 15. The raid and subsequent protests politicize a generation of queer activists who would change the Québec political landscape, establishing the Divers/Cité Pride March and political-action groups like La Table de concertation des gaies et lesbiennes du Grand Montréal to successfully fight for LGBTQ2+ civil rights. Alongside the 1977 Truxx police raid, the game-changing Sex Garage police raid is widely considered to be “Montréal’s Stonewall.”

Vancouver hosts the 1990 Gay Games.

Chris Lea of the Green Party of Canada becomes the first openly-gay leader of a political party in Canada.

The first Black & Blue event draws 800 people. Black & Blue becomes the world's largest gay-benefit dance festival, raising money for HIV/AIDS and the gay community. Attendance peaked in 1999 when B&B drew 17,000 to Montréal’s Olympic Stadium. The following year was the famous “Candle and Ribbon” edition when the Olympic Stadium’s centre field was filled with 25,000 candles creating a giant AIDS ribbon as the spectacular entranceway to the event.

A federal court ruling lifts Canada’s ban on gays and lesbians in the military.

Co-founded by Puelo Deir and Suzanne Girard, Divers/Cité is launched as Montréal’s annual Pride Festival, in reaction to the Sex Garage raid of 1990. In 2006, the organization stops organizing Montréal’s Pride Parade, bit continues the queer arts festival until 2015.

In the Supreme Court of Canada case of Canada v. Mossop, the court rules against Brian Mossop’s appeal after he is denied bereavement leave to attend the funeral of his partner Ken Popert’s father. Although unsuccessful, it was the first gay rights case to ever be heard by the Supreme Court.

Public hearings on violence against 2SLGBTQIA+* people are held by the Québec Human Rights Commission in Montréal from November 15 to 22 and chaired by Fo Niemi. The Commission publishes its report From Illegality to Equality in May 1994 with 41 recommendations – including improving relations with the police — which see concrete results.

Building on the success of the Black & Blue festival and of Divers/Cité, Tourisme Montréal begins marketing the city as a gay-friendly destination.

In the Supreme Court of Canada case of Egan v. Canada, the court rules against activist Jim Egan who applied for Canada Pension Plan spousal benefits for his partner Jack Nesbit. Although the Supreme Court of Canada dismisses the appeal, Egan v. Canada creates an important precedent: all nine judges agree that sexual orientation is protected under Section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, even if not specifically mentioned in the Charter.

Parliament passes Bill C-33 which formally adds sexual orientation to the Canadian Human Rights Act’s prohibited grounds of discrimination.

Journalist Richard Burnett launches his column Three Dollar Bill in the Montréal alt-weekly HOUR newspaper. The column becomes the first and only syndicated 2SLGBTQIA+* column in Canadian publishing history, running in alternative weeklies across the country until 2011.

In the Supreme Court of Canada case of Vriend v. Alberta, the court rules that “sexual orientation” must be read into the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Glen Murray is elected mayor of Winnipeg, becoming the first openly-gay mayor of a major city in North America.

In the Supreme Court of Canada case of Little Sisters Book and Art Emporium v. Canada, the court rules in favor of Vancouver’s Little Sister's bookstore that gay publications – even sexually explicit ones – are protected under freedom of speech provisions in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Parliament amends 68 federal statutes, giving same-sex couples the same social and tax benefits as heterosexuals in common-law relationships.

Joe Clark marches as the Grand Marshal of Calgary Pride, becoming the first former Prime Minister of Canada to attend a Pride Parade.

OUTtv, the world’s first 2SLGBTQIA+* television channel, is originally launched as PrideVision.

The Ontario Superior Court rules that the Durham Catholic District School Board must allow Marc Hall, an openly gay student, to bring a same-sex date to the high school prom. The Marc Hall story was made into the acclaimed movie Prom Queen in 2004 and adapted into the critically-hailed 2016 musical play Prom Queen: The Musical, which premiered in Montréal.

The Québec National Assembly unanimously votes to allow civil unions for same-sex couples. The law also enshrines parental rights for 2SLGBTQIA+* families, creating filiation for the biological children of one of the partners, and for adopted children, as well as the recognition of parental authority and child support obligations. The legislation will serve as a model for the rest of Canada.

In the case of Halpern v. Canada, the Court of Appeals for Ontario rules that the common-law definition of marriage as being between one man and one woman violates section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The decision immediately legalizes same-sex marriage in Ontario.

Parliament passes the federal Civil Marriage Act, legalizing same-sex marriage across Canada.

Allison Brewer becomes leader of the New Brunswick New Democratic Party, becoming the first openly-lesbian leader of a political party, and the first openly-gay leader of a provincial political party, in Canada.

Montréal hosts the inaugural World Outgames. On July 29, the Declaration of Montréal, an international statement of principle about 2SLGBTQIA+* human rights worldwide, is adopted at the Outgames Human Rights Conference.

Fierté Montréal becomes Montreal’s official 2SLGBTQIA+* Pride organization, organizing the city’s annual Pride Parade.

Toronto’s 103.9 Proud FM becomes Canada’s first 2SLGBTQIA+* radio station.

The 2010 Winter Olympic Games begin in Vancouver and Whistler features the first-ever Pride House for 2SLGBTQIA+* athletes.

Lesbian filmmaker Gerry Rogers becomes the first openly- 2SLGBTQIA+* politician ever elected to the Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly.

McGill University's Beta Omega Chapter of Delta Lambda Phi becomes the first chartered gay fraternity in Canada.

Kathleen Wynne becomes both Ontario’s first female Premier and Canada’s first openly- 2SLGBTQIA+* Premier.

Edmonton Pride begins with the raising of the Rainbow flag at Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Edmonton, the first time in Canadian history that the Rainbow flag has flown on a military base.

Whitehorse’s first annual Pride Parade is part of Queer Yukon’s annual 24 Hours of Gaylight celebration.

Toronto hosts the hugely successful 2014 edition of World Pride.

Activists launch Pride P.E.I. in Charlottetown to organize the Prince Edward Island Pride Festival.

Activists organize the first Iqaluit Pride Party in Nunavut.

The Canadian Football League’s Montréal Alouettes make sports history when they sign American player Michael Sam to a two-year contract, making Sam the first openly gay player in the league’s history.

Toronto drag queen Michelle DuBarry (a.k.a. Russell Alldread, born November 23, 1931) is awarded the title of World’s Oldest Performing Drag Queen by the Guinness Book of World Records. Dubarry was 84-years-old at the time.

On February 12, Kael McKenzie is sworn in as Canada’s first transgender judge, on the Provincial Court of Manitoba.

For the first time, the ceremonial first kiss between a Canadian Navy sailor and their partner after returning from active duty was between two men: Master Seaman Francis Légaré – at sea aboard the HMCS Winnipeg for over eight months – and his partner, Corey Vautour, on February 23.

For the first time in Canadian history, a rainbow flag is raised on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, on June 1.

The Beardy’s and Okemasis First Nation hosts the first-ever Two-Spirit and Pride Parade in Saskatchewan on June 9.

Black Lives Matter stages a protest during the Toronto Pride Parade, demanding reforms to counter police participation, as well as against racism within the 2SLGBTQIA+* communities. Later that summer, the Vancouver chapter of Black Lives Matter protest the Vancouver Pride Parade for including a police float.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is the first sitting PM to march in Pride parades in Canada.

The Eskasoni First Nation’s Pride Day in Cape Breton is the first celebrated by a First Nations community in Atlantic Canada.

Federal MP Randy Boissonnault is named Special Advisor to the Prime Minister on 2SLGBTQIA+* issues.

Calgary drag queen Mz. Rhonda – a.k.a. 2SLGBTQIA+* activist and ordained pastor Ron Eberly – lays a wreath beneath the cenotaph at Central Memorial Park on Remembrance Day, to honour fallen 2SLGBTQIA+* soldiers.

Bill C-16 adds protection of gender identity and expression to the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code. The new law also includes transgender and non-binary individuals within the protections provided by the hate-speech and hate-crime provisions of the Criminal Code.

Some 100 Pride organizations from across Canada take part in the inaugural Canada Pride celebrations in Montréal. Over 2.7 million visitors attend the 11-day festival organized by Fierté Montréal.

On the occasion of Fierté Canada Pride, on August 18, 2017 at a press conference at Montréal City Hall, Mayor Denis Coderre and Police Chief Philippe Pichet officially apologize for historical anti-2SLGBTQIA+* Montréal police raids. Pichet said he regretted “the events that happened during police raids on gay bars during the 1960s to the 1990s. The actions were an attack on the dignity of the persons concerned.”

British Columbia begins to supply PrEP for free beginning on January 1, and also becomes the first province in Western Canada to provide lower transgender surgery.

Vancouver trans actress Cassandra James is cast as the first transgender character, Dr. Terry Randolph, in the ABC daytime soap opera General Hospital.

A record number of 2SLGBTQIA+* political candidates run in the Québec provincial election, including Manon Massé, Louis Charron, Jennifer Drouin, Michelle Blanc, Youri Chassin, Julien Provencher-Proulx, Benoît Racette, Carol-Ann Kack, Élisabeth Germain, Florent Tanlet, Jason Mossa, Hélène Dubé, Marie-Joseph Pigeon, Nicolas Chatel-Launay, Philippe Jetten-Vigeant, Céline Pereira, Simon Charron, Simon Tremblay-Pepin, William Lepage, Mona Belleau, Vincent J.Carbonneau, Élisabeth Grégoire, Caroline Bergevin, Valérie Delage, Annabelle Desrochers, Juan Vazquez, Yan-Dominic Couture, Émilie Paiement, Sylvain Dodier, Jonathan Fraser Gagnon, Chantal Rouleau, Olivier Gignac, Sylvain Gaudreault and Roger Duguay.

2SLGBTQIA+* armed services veterans are honored in the Montréal Remembrance Day Ceremony for the very first time. Martine Roy, dishonorably discharged in 1985 because of her sexual orientation, lays the first-ever wreath for 2SLGBTQIA+* military members.

Canada financially compensates 718 victims of Canada’s “Gay Purge” dating from the 1950s to the early 1990s when federal agencies investigated, sanctioned and sometimes fired members of the Canadian Armed Forces, RCMP and of the public service because they were gay or lesbian. The 718 claimants include 628 people who served in the Armed Forces, 78 public servants and 12 RCMP officers.

Canada issues a special one dollar coin commemorating the 50th anniversary of the decriminalization gay sex in Canada.

On May 16, Québec’s National Assembly recognizes Montréal’s Gay Village as the largest 2SLGBTQIA+* district in North America after the Castro in San Francisco, and as an official place of refuge and emancipation.

Law 73 is adopted in Québec, modifying various provisions regarding assisted procreation, particularly concerning artificial insemination and in vitro fertilization, which are now guaranteed for women aged 18 and over and those under 41.

After its unanimous adoption in the House of Commons and the Senate, the law banning conversion therapy in Canada received royal assent on December 8. The law criminalizes, among other things, the provision, promotion, or advertising of conversion therapy. It also becomes illegal to benefit from the provision of conversion therapy.

On June 17, 2022, the National Assembly of Québec adopted Bill 2, which recognizes, among other things, the non-binary “X” as a gender identification on official documents of the Québec state.

More than 30 years later, Montreal once again hosts the International AIDS Conference, from July 29 to August 2. The conference brings together 13,000 participants and highlights the concept "undetectable = untransmittable (I=U)," the fact that people living with HIV with effective treatment cannot transmit it. HIV. By focusing access to treatment for all those
living with HIV, it is possible to stop the news
transmissions.