Photo credit:  iStock – Montreal, Canada – 20 August 2017: Canadian gay rainbow flag at Montreal gay pride parade

 

June is Pride Month; a celebration of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, two-spirit, and more (LGBTQ2S+) communities. Pride month is a reminder that life is about bringing people together of all walks of life under a shared rainbow of diversity and inclusion. Treat people equally, regardless of sexuality, race, gender identity, religion or any other label that might be used as an excuse to compromise people’s basic human rights.

 

Canada has a history for Pride, which you may or may not know. Here is a timeline of some of the events in history that lead us to where we are today:

1969: Canada decriminalizes homosexuality acts with the Criminal Law Amendment Act

1971: A protest on gay rights was formed for the first time

1973: The concept of “pride” was first created and was know as the first Pride week back in  August 1973

1981: A mass arrest in Toronto of under 300 gay men was the biggest in Canada and is known as ‘Operation Soap Police’

1988: Canada’s first openly gay member of Parliament was announced in an interview

1990: The World Health Organization (WHO) no longer classifying homosexuality as a mental disorder

1992: Canada lifted the ban on homosexuals within the Canadian Armed Forces

1995: Sexual orientation was included in Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms

1996: Sexual orientation was included in the Canadian Human Rights Act

2000: Police raid a lesbian nightclub which followed protests and eventually a legal lawsuit

2001: Canada’s first openly lesbian member of Parliament

2003: The first same-sex couple were married in Ontario

2005: Canada becomes the 4th country worldwide to legalize same-sex marriage

2013: Parliament extends human rights to transgender people in Canada

2016: The Pride flag raises on Parliament Hill

2017: Canadian Human Rights Act expanded to Gender Identity & Expression and also makes it illegal to discriminate on the basis of gender identity or expression

2017: The first transgender mayor was elected in the municipality in the Montérégie region of Quebec

2017: Canada introduces gender-neutral “X” marking on passports

2019: WHO declares transgender is not a mental disorder

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