06
MAY 26 - JUNE 4, 2017
Out of the closet and into the street
It took courage to participate in Winnipeg’s first Pride march, on Sunday, Aug. 2, 1987. While the provincial government had just passed an amendment to the Manitoba Human Rights Code to include sexual orientation as protected from discrimination, the vote was by no means unanimous. Some 250 people awaiting the results of the vote at the Manitoba Legislative Building celebrated with the city’s first Lesbian and Gay Pride Day march, chanting, “Out of the closet and into the street,” as they walked along Portage Avenue — a route the 30th anniversary parade will reclaim on Sunday, June 4.
Two of the original marchers, lifelong activists Albert McLeod (a director of Two-Spirited People of Manitoba) and Joel Sarbit (owner of Club 200), will serve as parade marshals this year. They, and many other activists and allies, have a lot to be proud of in 2017, as a condensed history of Canadian Pride and human rights shows:
1967 Then Justice Minister Pierre Trudeau proposes Criminal Code amendments that would decriminalize homosexuality, saying, “There’s no place for the state in the bedrooms of the nation.” 1969 The Stonewall riots in New York’s Greenwich Village galvanize North America’s gay rights activists — and Canada decriminalizes homosexual acts for adults over 21. 1973 A University of Manitoba student group offering an information line and other resources changes its name from Campus Gay Club to Gays for Equality. It evolved over the years to become the Rainbow Resource Centre, Canada’s longest continuously running LGBT2SQ* resource centre. 1974 Winnipeg’s Chris Vogel and Richard North are married
2010 The Pride Winnipeg festival moves from Memorial Park to The Forks to accommodate increasingly large crowds. 2011 Half Pints Brewing Company and Pride Winnipeg introduce Queer Beer. A popular pilsner at Pride Week celebrations, it’s also sold in Manitoba Liquor Marts.
at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Winnipeg, and take the province to court in an unsuccessful effort to have the marriage registered. (Along with two other couples, they succeeded in winning same- sex marriage rights in 2004, and later served as parade marshals in Winnipeg's 25th anniversary Pride parade.) 1978 Canada’s Immigration Act removes homosexuals from the list of inadmissible classes. 1979 The Canadian Human Rights Commission recommends that sexual orientation be added to the Canadian Human Rights Act. A bill to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation fails to pass the following year. 1981 Police raid bath houses in Toronto, sparking a mass protest that becomes known as Canada’s Stonewall.
1985 The Parliamentary Committee on Equality
1998 City councillor Glen Murray is elected mayor of Winnipeg, becoming North America’s first
1998
Rights recommends that the Canadian Human Rights Act be changed to make it illegal to discriminate based on sexual orientation. 1987 The Manitoba Human Rights Code becomes one of the first in Canada to protect sexual orientation. Celebrants march through the streets of Winnipeg.
openly gay mayor of a major city. PHOTO BY BORIS MINKEVICH
2004 Following a lawsuit launched by three same- sex couples — Richard North and Chris Vogel, Michelle Ritchot and Stefphany Cholakis, and Laura Fouhse and Jordan Cantwell — Manitoba Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Douglas Yard rules that the definition of marriage is ”no longer constitutionally valid in view of the provisions of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.” PHOTO BY MIKE APORIUS
1994 Pride Winnipeg incorporates.
2012
2004
2012 The Manitoba
1997 The Imperial And Sovereign Court of Winnipeg and all of Manitoba — aka the Snowy Owl Monarchist Society — is established as a volunteer- run, non-profit fundraising organization for charities and organizations that support LGBTTQ* communities.
Legislative Building is lit up in rainbow lights in celebration of the Pride festival’s 25th anniversary. PHOTO BY TREVOR HAGAN
2013 Greg Selinger
becomes the first Manitoba premier to speak at the Pride Day Rally. 2014 Pride Winnipeg expands the Festival at The Forks to two days. 2015 Mayor Brian Bowman becomes the first ally mayor in Winnipeg to march in the Pride Parade, which includes representation from Winnipeg’s three major sports teams
SEVEN OAKS 27379
2005 Bill C-38
WE PROUDLY SUPPORT
becomes law, asserting the legal marriage rights of all Canadian same- sex couples.
for the first time. PHOTO BY RUTH BONNEVILLE
2015
rights and diversity in education.
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