LGBTQ History Timeline

The Struggle for LGBTQ Rights in Canada1965

Everett Klippert is arrested. He tells police he is gay and will not change. Two years later, Klippert is sentenced an indefinitely long prison term.

1969The Stonewall riots in Greenwich Village, NYC launch the modern LGBTQ movement.

Canada decriminalizes homosexual acts for consenting adults over 21.

1971 Everett Klippert is released from prison.

1977 Quebec becomes the first major jurisdiction in the world to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Canada lifts immigration ban on homosexual men.

1981 Approximately 3,000 people march to protest the arrest of more than 300 men at four bath houses in Toronto.

1982 The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees the “right to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination.” It does not explicitly protect sexual orientation, but, in 1995, the Supreme Court of Canada rules that sexual orientation should be “read in.”

1986 Ontario becomes the second province to include sexual orientation as a protected class under the Human Rights Code.

1987Manitoba becomes the third province to include sexual orientation as a protected class under the Human Rights Code.

1988Canada’s Svend Robinson becomes the country’s first openly gay Member of Parliament.

The United Church of Canada becomes the first church in Canada to allow the ordination of gay and lesbian ministers.

1991The City of Toronto officially proclaims Pride Day for the first time.

1992 Canada lifts ban on homosexuals in the Canadian Forces.

2001 Libby Davies becomes Canada’s first openly lesbian Member of Parliament.

2003 British Columbia and Ontario begin marrying same-sex couples.

2005Canada becomes the fourth country to officially sanction same-sex marriage.

SOURCES: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance