Canada moves to right historic wrongs against LGBTQ people

A large rainbow flag is carried down Robson Street during the Vancouver Pride Parade in Vancouver, B.C., on Sunday, August 2, 2015. Last week's announcement of a reform to the Criminal Code is another step forward on the long road to full equality for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer people — one that is long overdue. DARRYL DYCK / THE CANADIAN PRESS

Montreal Gazette Editorial Board

November 21, 2016

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‘There’s no place for the state in the bedrooms of the nation,” then-justice minister Pierre Trudeau famously declared in 1967 when he introduced legislation to decriminalize homosexuality in Canada.

Yet nearly 50 years after this historic move, the state hasn’t fully exited the bedrooms of sexual minorities.

Anal sex remains an offence under Section 159 of the Criminal Code, punishable by up to 10 years in prison. There is an exception if practised by no more than two consenting adults over age 18 in the privacy of their own homes. But it remains illegal for teenagers younger than 18, groups, or those engaging in sexual activity in less discreet settings. There were 69 prosecutions nationwide in 2014 and 2015, even in the five provinces where the appeals courts have struck down the prohibition as unconstitutional.

But last week, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced measures to continue the reform his father began. His government introduced legislation to make 16 the age of consent for all types of sexual intercourse. And it will spend the next three years reaching out to people who lost their jobs in the civil service and military — or were sent to prison — because of their sexual orientation, a process that is expected to result in an official apology.

This effort is another step forward on the long road to full equality for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer people — one that is long overdue. Sexual minorities have been calling for this change since the elder Trudeau introduced his groundbreaking bill almost half a century ago. 
The rights group EGALE recently pleaded the case for these measures to the younger Trudeau.

Equalizing the age of sexual consent is especially important to LGBTQ youth, who not only face heightened stigma, but a real risk of arrest simply for exploring their natural sexual impulses. Back in 1995, Justice Rosalie Abella, now on the Supreme Court of Canada, called it”bizarre” that the Criminal Code was at odds with the teachings of most schools’ sex ed classes. That remark is no less valid today.

Since then, Canada has made huge progress in recognizing the rights of sexual minorities. The courts and lawmakers have paved the way for same-sex couples to marry, become parents and share benefits. Social acceptance has lagged behind legal rights, but there, too, progress has been enormous. And the tide is slowly turning on attitudes toward gender identity.

There is still work to be done to put an end to discrimination. But the latest legal reforms, and the effort to apologize for past wrongs, will signal another stride forward in making Canada a more inclusive, tolerant and just society.

Read more articles from the Montreal Gazette, here.