1. Which province was the first to legally prohibit discrimination against gay people?
Quebec!
One of the things that is challenging about making a short introductory history presentation is that history happens at so many different levels. When we talk about big equity changes, I think we have a tendency to look at national and international movements as the standard, and we sometimes miss things at a lower societal level. To cover some aspects of regional history, and remind folks to think about different aspects of historical changes, I decided to include this question and interesting fact.
Quebec’s National Assembly adopted their provincial Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms in 1975. At the time, the Parti québécois (PQ) proposed an amendment to include sexual orientation as a prohibited ground for discrimination, but this was defeated by the Liberal government in power. The PQ won the election the next year, and in 1977 the Charter was successfully amended to include sexual orientation as an “illegal motive for discrimination.” This was the first jurisdiction of any kind in North America to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation.¹
For a full blow-by-blow of how discrimination against homosexual people became illegal in Quebec, there’s a fantastic report by Alexandre Duval entitled ‘Les députés homosexuels de l’Assemblée nationale de 1977 à 2002: un facteur dans l’atteinte de l’égalité juridique des gais et des lesbiennes du Québec? ». In brief : the context of police brutality in Quebec, especially against queer people at the time, did much to move the public opinion on the treatment of queer people at the hands of the state. In particular, the October 22, 1977 raids on Truxx and Le Mystique gay bars, where approximately 145 people were arrested by police officers carrying machine guns, and then forcibly given STI testing that required the insertion of a Q-tip into the urethra, galvanized the community and caused massive protests.
Image: the cover of Le Journal de Montréal showing a police officer holding a protester down over the hood of a car. The title reads: "Les homos et la police : C'est la guerre!" meaning, Homos and police – it’s war! October 24, 1977.
There were also at least three members of the Parti québécois caucus who were known, with varying levels of secrecy, to be gay men themselves. These three ministers were not responsible for work on the Charter file, possibly because the government was intentionally protecting the men by keeping them away from files where people might draw conclusions about their sexuality.² Despite this, their presence seemed to be enough of an influence that the government may have reflected more seriously on the state of civil affairs for gay Quebeckers, and dispelled some of the stereotypes held by the general public about queer people at that time.
The Quebec Charter of Humans Rights and Freedoms changed by just two words, adding “orientation sexuelle” to Article 10. The bill passed in December of 1977 with just two members out of a possible 122 seats voting against it.³
Critics will note that the language of the Charter did have limitations to the rights set forth within it, but a review by law professor Philip Girard found that justices in Quebec held that people wishing to utilize the section 20 “exceptions” clause had “a heavy burden of proof to discharge.”⁴ Girard went on to review a few of the cases brought forward to the Quebec Commission des droit de la personne, noting that the number of files opened related to alleged discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation never exceeded 4% of the Commissions’ total caseload in the first six years after the law was changed. The number of cases related to sexual orientation in which a complainant actually obtained relief was estimated to be no more than a dozen⁵—but I have to imagine that, for those dozen people, and all the legal precedents they set, the rewards felt substantial.
Further Learning:
Harry Sutherland. TRUXX. A 1978 documentary released within a year of the Truxx and Le Mystique raids. https://www.mediaqueer.ca/film/truxx
Alexandre Duval, “Les députés homosexuels de l’Assemblée nationale de 1977 à 2002: un facteur dans l’atteinte de l’égalité juridique des gais et des lesbiennes du Québec? ». Bibliotheque assemblée nationale du Québec : no 1154558. June 2014.
Philip Girard. “Sexual Orientation as a Human Rights Issue in Canada, 1969-1985.” Dalhousie Law Journal Volume 10, Issue 2. 1986.
Sources/End Notes:
Alexandre Duval, “Les députés homosexuels de l’Assemblée nationale de 1977 à 2002: un facteur dans l’atteinte de l’égalité juridique des gais et des lesbiennes du Québec? ». Bibliotheque assemblée nationale du Québec : no 1154558. June 2014.
Ibid., p. 23.
Ibid., p. 25.
Philip Girard. “Sexual Orientation as a Human Rights Issue in Canada, 1969-1985.” Dalhousie Law Journal Volume 10, Issue 2. 1986. Page 270.
Ibid., p. 271-2.
Image of Le Journal sourced from Matthew Hays, “Montreal’s oldest gay bar to close its doors.” Xtra. September 7, 2009.
