On January 15, students, members of the university elite, and even some of Ontario’s top politicians gathered in the ROM’s Glass Room to celebrate a significant event not only in the history of the university, but the country as well. Thirty-five years ago, the University of Toronto Homophile Association, the first on-campus gay rights group in Canada, was founded by a handful of pioneering activists.
The event was commemorated in style by U of T Provost Vivek Goel, Ontario Minister of Health George Smitherman, NDP Deputy Leader Marilyn Churley, and about 200 students and alumni. The UTHA, now known as Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, and Transgendered of the University of Toronto (LGBTOUT), was founded in 1969, amidst an environment that was incredibly hostile to anyone who wasn’t straight.
Ian Young, one of the founding members of UTHA, recalled in an email interview what it was like to be gay in Canada in the 1960s.
“Until Trudeau amended the law in 1969, gay sex was illegal in Canada, and for the most part everything was still very hush-hush,” he said. “There were a few bars and clubs of course. They were subject to periodic police raids. Back then, [gay] people were even arrested for dancing together.”
Pro-gay activism was low on the student movement agenda of the 1960s, but by the end of the decade, it was gaining momentum. On June 27, 1969, Greenwich Village erupted into riots after police raided the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar. Fed up with years of being intimidated and harassed by police, over 2,000 people took to the streets and did battle with about 400 policemen. It was the first gay riot in history, and it marked the beginning of a more militant, unapologetic gay rights movement that found a safe haven in university campuses across North America.
The UTHA spearheaded this movement in Canada and was highly active at both the campus and national level.
“We served as a coming-out vehicle for a lot of gay people on campus,” said Young. “We had regular meetings…We lobbied the provincial and federal governments…We sent out speakers to talk to any university classes that would have us.”
The UTHA was immediately recognized by the university, but not always welcomed by students.
“We found that our posters were being torn down as soon as they were put up, so we had flying squads make the rounds of the cafeterias at lunch time, handing out flyers to every table. Sometimes these were crumpled and thrown in our faces.”
Despite such opposition, the UTHA managed to stage successful events and went on to make the university and the city a more queer-friendly place.
Although pro-queer groups have proliferated and Canadians’ attitudes towards homosexuality have become increasingly positive, William Jackson, current financial executive of LGBTOUT, says it’s important to realize that the queer community is still facing adversity.
“Because it’s much easier to be queer these days than it was ten years ago, people think the problems are over with,” Jackson said. He cites the needs of queer women and ethnic minorities as most pressing.
Paul Bowser, a member of LGBTOUT’s 35th anniversary committee, says such ambivalence towards gay rights may be at the root of the failure of LGBTOUT to obtain secure funding from U of T. In the past few years, the group has repeatedly tried to get SAC to implement a student levy, only to be voted down, once by a whopping 600 votes.
“There are people out there who are not willing to support an organization like ours,” said Bowser. “We’re not apologetic for what we want to see. I think that turns people off. Some people wish the group would be less activist.”
Even without stable funding, LGBTOUT is continuing the gay liberation work that was started 35 years ago. Now focused mainly on campus, the group holds regular events geared towards queer students, has campaigned to get sex reassignment surgery back onto the Ontario health plan, and had an unprecedented turn ut for 2004’s Queer Frosh Week. Their latest initiative is a student scholarship which starting in 2006 would give $1000 to two students every year in reward for “outstanding community work and anti-oppression activism.”
