Gay Rights In Canada
On December 10th, 1948 the Universal Declaration of human rights was adopted by the UN with unanimous support, though eight countries refused to vote (Normand and Zaidi 2008, 178-180). This document formed the basis of the human rights regime for years to come and guaranteed freedoms and equalities. Or rather, that was the intended effect, and while it is impossible to ignore the effect the law has had the world, there are several aspects missing. Notably missing from the doctrine, was the inclusion of freedom of sexuality. This trend continues within Canada’s own declaration of rights: The Charter of Rights and Freedoms. This was not without debate, as LGBT rights activists have been throwing themselves into the conversations about rights
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The outpouring of gay activism following the riots in America did not stay in its borders, and like so much else America shared their counter-culture with Canada leading to a growth of protests and activism for LGBT individuals struggling for their rights in the early 1970s (Smith 1999, 3). Like many new social movements, they did not have a single structure or goal and was more like a loose collection of groups with similar or overlapping membership (Smith 1999, 26-27). This disconnect between the various groups can be seen in the existence of lesbians within the gay rights agenda, as there was a significant controversy in feminist, and gay activists circles around the inclusion of lesbians (Smith 1999, …show more content…
Though LGBT groups had around a decade of organization behind them to try and fight, they were marred by the lack of a central organization, and by steady attacks from the right. Between high profile raids, and media attention, the focus of some LGBT groups put on consent laws essentially made them a target for further harassment, which made mobilizing during this time very difficult (Smith 1999, 68). Still, the open-ended nature of the Charter, specifically Section 15 that states “Every individual is equal before and under the law and has the right to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination (Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, 1982)” did allow for some future recourse for protection, similar to how the broadly defined rights in the UDHR allowed for Gay and Lesbian rights to be retroactively interpreted into
The outpouring of gay activism following the riots in America did not stay in its borders, and like so much else America shared their counter-culture with Canada leading to a growth of protests and activism for LGBT individuals struggling for their rights in the early 1970s (Smith 1999, 3). Like many new social movements, they did not have a single structure or goal and was more like a loose collection of groups with similar or overlapping membership (Smith 1999, 26-27). This disconnect between the various groups can be seen in the existence of lesbians within the gay rights agenda, as there was a significant controversy in feminist, and gay activists circles around the inclusion of lesbians (Smith 1999, …show more content…
Though LGBT groups had around a decade of organization behind them to try and fight, they were marred by the lack of a central organization, and by steady attacks from the right. Between high profile raids, and media attention, the focus of some LGBT groups put on consent laws essentially made them a target for further harassment, which made mobilizing during this time very difficult (Smith 1999, 68). Still, the open-ended nature of the Charter, specifically Section 15 that states “Every individual is equal before and under the law and has the right to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination (Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, 1982)” did allow for some future recourse for protection, similar to how the broadly defined rights in the UDHR allowed for Gay and Lesbian rights to be retroactively interpreted into