A report om Human Rights Watch lls on the ernment of St. Vcent to overturn lonial-era anti-gay laws that have led to a recent wave of vlence and genr discrimatn on the small Caribbean island.
Contents:
- RIGHTS OF LGBTI PERSONS
- ADVOCY GROUPS: ETHPIAN ERNMENT’S ANTI-GAY RHETORIC SPURS ONLE ATTACKS
- HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: ANTI-GAY LAWS PROMOTE VLENCE, DISCRIMATN ST. VCENT
- WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT A SEEMGLY FAKE DOCUMENT A GAY RIGHTS CASE
- WARRRS FOR GAY RIGHTS: THE CONSERVATIV HAVE BEE UNLIKELY LGBT SUPPORTERS
RIGHTS OF LGBTI PERSONS
* canadian politics gay rights *
Evangelil Prottants, most often the vanguard of antigay protts, have been a visible prence Canadian polil life, but they are much ls fluential than their Amerin s, nstutg ls than 10% of the overall populatn (Malloy, 2011). At tim this has led Canadians to believe that their society is more acceptg than is, though this turn has helped legimize explicly homophobic polil disurse.
ADVOCY GROUPS: ETHPIAN ERNMENT’S ANTI-GAY RHETORIC SPURS ONLE ATTACKS
A supposed requt for a webse for a same-sex weddg played a mor role a major clash between ee speech and gay rights at the Supreme Court. * canadian politics gay rights *
Individual unns, mostly the public sector, began supportg lbian and gay claims the 1980s, and the next a good part of the overall labor movement was assertively backg the LGBT e and soon takg on issu of genr inty as well as sexual orientatn.
This effectively postponed engagement wh the polilly and religly load qutn of marriage—an issue that also had much potential for broang anti-gay mobilizatn and dividg the LGBT movement. The were equently subject to police harassment, and Canada experienced a versn of the McCarthye attack on homosexualy as damagg to societal morals and a threat to natnal secury (Ksman & Gentile, 2011).
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: ANTI-GAY LAWS PROMOTE VLENCE, DISCRIMATN ST. VCENT
Relig reformism llg for change theologil rponse to sexual diversy was spreadg durg this time, exemplified the 1965 formatn of the Canadian Council on Relign and the Homosexual.
One reason was the passage of feral legislatn partially crimalizg homosexualy and abortn, moled on Brish legislatn already enacted (Adam, 1987; Ksman, 1996).
The character of gay liberatn was not much different om that of the Uned Stat and those parts of Europe where had emerged, though wh a smaller-sle surge of activist energy than major ci elsewhere. But as Tim McCaskell puts , there were, om the outset, “down-to-earth” activists who foced on buildg the polil strength and cultural valy of distguishable gay and lbian nstuenci (McCaskell, 2016, p. Femism was an important analytil amework for most lbians the movement, but also for many men, while others argued that femist advocy was entirely distct om and at tim anthetil to gay liberatn.
WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT A SEEMGLY FAKE DOCUMENT A GAY RIGHTS CASE
One illtratn of heterogeney, even among those fully rmed by radil approach, was the first prott march on Parliament Hill Ottawa 1971, an early tone of the newly energized movement, anized largely by self-intified adherents to gay liberatn.
In 1975, the Coaln for Gay Rights Ontar was tablished by activists proudly wearg the liberatnist label, but foced, through much of the group’s mandate, on securg formal rights protectns provcial human rights law (Warner, 2002). Among the groups that bed radil ias and a foc on the rights of a fable gay and lbian mory was Vanuver’s Gay Alliance Toward Equaly, which lnched a formal challenge to the Vanuver Sun’s refal to prt one of s ads soon after s formatn 1971, eventually securg a victory the Supreme Court of Canada (Gay Alliance Toward Equaly v.
WARRRS FOR GAY RIGHTS: THE CONSERVATIV HAVE BEE UNLIKELY LGBT SUPPORTERS
The Natnal Gay Rights Coaln (later the Canadian Lbian and Gay Rights Coaln) was tablished 1975, though s half of existence was marked by the srcy of rourc and the recurrence of nflict across genr l, strategy, and polil iology. Canada’s first gay pri events were held Toronto and Vanuver 1972, though those ci and elsewhere several years would pass before they were firmly tablished as annual events.
In addn, Canadian branch of the Amerin-born Metropolan Communy Church, based largely on lbian and gay ngregatns, were tablished Toronto and Montreal 1973, and soon after Vanuver, Edmonton, Calgary, Wnipeg, and Ottawa. Most of the groups formed the first wave of liberatnist activism had only a short life, and those that endured, like Gays of Ottawa, Gays for Equaly Wnipeg, and Gay Alliance for Equaly Halifax, me to rely on only small handfuls of volunteers (Warner, 2002, pp. In Montreal, lol thori’ termatn to “clean up” the cy produced major police attacks on gay stutns, startg 1975 and culmatg a massive 1977 arrt of almost 150 men at the Txx bar (Tremblay, 2015a).