The Canada And The Gay Rights Movement

In 1968 Pierre Trudeau liberalized laws on abortion, homosexuality and public lotteries. Trudeau’s most famous quote came from the legalization of homosexuality and that quote is “there's no place for the state in the bedrooms of the nation”#. Trudeau views people’s lives as personal and their decision to have sexual intercourse, be in a relationship or marry whatever sex they prefer is their own decision and that is why this law is particularly a good one for the gay and lesbian population of Canada. Instead of being punished for liking the same sex they are now able to be with who they want to be with. Pierre Trudeau also brought in the abortion law which allows women to have an abortion granted that they get permission from three doctors who say that the pregnancy will negatively affect them

In 1988 the “American Republican President Ronald Reagan...[Authorized] all four of the court’s major gay rights ruling” (Reuters,2015). This is when America noticed that everyone should be given equal rights regardless of their orientation. Shortly after this proposal gay marriage had become legalized in 12 American states, however, 36 states are still banning gay marriage (Weese,2013).In 2010 American action, President Obama “signed a law allowing gays to serve openly in the U.S military(Reuters,2015).This step occurred in Canada many years ago as well as equality for the all so many smaller actions have been taken to end hate crime. In Canada, Regina Saskatchewan Police Services have created a Report Homophobic Violence, Period (RHVP) training seminar, with hopes to eliminate hate crime towards the LGBTQ community (Hamelin, pg.A.4). This program not only aims to educate the authority system about hate crime towards LGBTQ communities but it also informs the police services of positive stigmas to refer to. Programs similar to the Saskatchewan training seminar should be created so that the severity of hate crime offences towards the LGBTQ are acknowledge. In Canada, “Vancouver reported the highest proportion of hate crimes motivated by sexual orientation (26%)” (Dowden, 2012).In 2009“74 per cent of hate crimes …were motivated by sexual orientation, with 63 per cent resulting in injury (Dowden, 2012). In recent hate crime studies a decrease in statistic shows that only “16% of motivated hate crimes…accounted for sexual orientation” (Dowden, 2012). But 65% of hate crimes motivated by sexual orientation were violent” (Dowden, 2012). This shows that Canada is in fact taking an initiative to end the discrimination against the LGBTQ community but not taking in counter of the severity in which these cases are causing. In addition to hate crime statistics for the

For Australian law to be effective it must be dynamic so it can reflect changing societal views, which law reform can help attain. A significant area of recent social change is the acceptance of same-sex relationships in Australian society. To mirror this, current law reforms have been somewhat effective in achieving just outcomes regarding the recognition of same-sex relationships in Commonwealth law. The combination of official recognition of same-sex relationships to an extent, attempts at removing discrimination in legislation, and the delay of justice denotes this. Considering the achievement of justice and the protection of individual’s rights, it is evident that law reform has significantly improved recognition of same-sex relationships, but there are more essential responses that need to be enacted.

The move towards an intersectional approach is evident in several Supreme Court rulings. “Some courts and tribunals have started to acknowledge the need to make special provision for discrimination based on multiple grounds and to recognize the social, economic and historical context in which it takes place” (Ontario Human Rights Commission). Although still in its infancy the court’s understanding of the intersectional approach has provided the Supreme Court of Canada to include comments on multiple grounds of discrimination and intersecting grounds. The Mossop case SCR 554 was the first decision of the Supreme Court of Canada to consider equality rights for gays. Madam Justice L’Heureux-Dubé remarked, “it is increasingly recognized that categories

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau apologized for decades of state-sponsored laws and policies that led to discrimination and violence that ruined the lives of many Canadians. Trudeau expressed sorrow, shame, and guilt to the civil servants, military members, and criminalized Canadians who were victimized and mistreated based on their sexual orientation. This heartfelt apology shed many tears, in the audience and for Trudeau himself. Trudeau recounted on how the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer Canadians were ruined, shamed, and silenced. “Our laws made private and consensual sex between same-sex partners a criminal offence, leading to the unjust arrest, conviction and imprisonment of Canadians”. These laws and policies enforced by the government legitimized and provoked hatred and violence towards the LGBTQ community, and impacted employment, volunteering and even travel. For many decades in the 1900’s, the Canadian government exercised its authority in a cruel and unjust manner, as those who admitted they were gay were fired, discharged or intimidated into resignation; they lost dignity, lost careers, and had their dreams and lives shattered. From this day forward, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau encourages Canadians to end discrimination against the LGBTQ community, and promotes equality amongst all.

The nation of Canada has strived to be recognized as a long-standing picture of equal democratic rights and freedoms for all. Although mistakes and occasional aberrations do occur, we must always endeavour to be a nation that promotes equality and shuns discrimination, even if it means changing our laws in the process. Equality for all is a constitutionally entrenched law and we as citizens, lawmakers, and judges must uphold the constitution and ensure our nation evolves to demonstrate, in practice, the intent of words outlined in the constitution. In Vriend v. Alberta, the appellant Delwin Vriend was working as a laboratory coordinator in Alberta when he was terminated after revealing his sexual orientation (Vriend v. Alberta, [1998] 1 S.C.R. 493 2). It was well known that Vriend received positive reviews on his work and throughout the course of his employment he enjoyed the benefits of his hard work (Vriend v. Alberta 11). However, this all changed when Vriend shared with his employers that he was homosexual. Due to the fact Vriend refused to comply with the request to leave his position because his homosexuality offended the views of his employer, he was unceremoniously terminated solely on these grounds (Vriend v. Alberta 2). Vriend was understandably upset with this decision and moved to file a complaint with the Alberta Human Rights Commission (Vriend v. Alberta 2). Vriend was informed due to the fact sexual orientation was not included as a prohibited grounds for

The year is 2015 and I can’t imagine not having the freedom I do today. Marriage equality is a very recent topic in history. It wasn’t very long ago that laws prohibited the marriage of same-sex couples. I have decided to investigate the history of marriage equality and the organizations that helped make the dream come true. In order to fully understand the changes that occurred, and to comprehend the level of discrimination that was felt in the homosexual culture, one must first understand the history of the LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer) community. The harsh history of the LGBTQ community, and discrimination that was imposed on them and the organizations that strived to advocate for the LGBTQ community on a local, regional and national level is what eventually lead to the Supreme Court ruling on June 26th, 2015, stating that states cannot ban same-sex marriage.

He explores the idea of adoption by same-sex couples and the adversity they face in becoming parents. He believes that recognition is the way to achieve equality in adoption. Ignatieff still believes that the rights revolution has done its duty, regardless of the severe lack of rights for all people (Ignatieff, 2007, 86). The idea of same-sex adoption was explored by Epstein, Goldfinger, Ross, and Yager, 2009. They found that despite the fact that adoption by same-sex couples has been legal in Canada since the early 2000s, there are still barriers preventing them from adopting. Same-sex couples often experience rampant homophobia or heterosexism (the belief that all people should be heterosexual). As adoption is handled on a ‘best-interest’ policy, it is very easy for decision-makers’ personal beliefs to cloud their judgement and to decide not to place a child with a family based on their sexual orientation. In spite of the laws and rights surrounding adoption, many same-sex couples are considered unfit parents (Epstein et al, 2009, 453-454). It is clear that the rights of all Canadians are not

When it comes to the gay rights movement, the structure and the history of how it got to where it is today is a huge factor in today’s society. There have been a lot of things that negatively influenced gay rights. In some ways, things have happened in a positive way as well. The gay rights movement today and legalizing gay marriage has struck some people the wrong way because of their beliefs. For the gay community, though, it has been a very positive thing. Some of the big key moments in history went the way they did because of important events and important people causing it to go that way. These include Jeremy Bentham, Magnus Hirschfield, Henry Gerber, the making of the Mattachine Society, Stonewall Riots, Clela Rorex, the Ryan White

While Pierre was Justice Minister under Pearson he had reformed the criminal codes of Canada -Abortion, Divorce laws, Homosexuality. Quoting Trudeau himself he said “The state had no business in the bedrooms of others.”

The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms embody the ideals of our nation and present a series of fundamental freedoms so that citizens are enabled to receive equality and can feel safe and included within their society. One of the main things that the Charter has promoted is that the enforcement of a law does not necessarily make it fair for everyone. Different people require different treatment in order for full equality to be attained. However, at one point the Charter failed to recognize the needs of a very prevalent group – homosexuals. The Charter was approved in 1982 and devised a list of protected cases such as gender, race, religion and etcetera, but it failed to acknowledge sexual orientation. However, in 1985 a report titled

Throughout the past twelve weeks of taking Women and Gender studies, I have learned extensive amounts of information and will be able to take all of the ideas and concepts learned into action outside of the classroom. Each class, we had various conversations about what was going on in the world around us and how that affects each and every one of us. With the knowledge that I now have, I feel as if I am a much better citizen in Canada since I acquire the knowledge of the history in Canada and the conditions of women’s lives, and also how factors such as race, class, and sexual orientation come into play in daily life. In class, we talked about oppression very often which is, unjust treatment of control. Oppression is a major issue in Canadian society and has many aspects to it. One of the most important pieces of information that I got from taking this course was how destructive power systems function to maintain their

In Journal of Human Rights published in 2014, after the Equalities Act of 2010 enacted, the United Kingdom sees sexuality and gender identities as “protected characteristics,” with legal imperatives to address discrimination, and in Canada in the early 1990s, there were an opposition against gays and lesbian rights, but after sexual orientation recognized in 1995, gradually by 2013, gays and lesbians have equality rights. (Browne, 2014)

Discrimination concerns have also become a problem regarding the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. In the past, homosexuals were discriminated and penalized for their sexual orientation. They were murdered in the early twentieth century and then later on imprisoned as time passed. Discrimination also arose if employers discovered of their employees homosexual orientation, which caused them to lose their employment. The equality rights have also been violated concerning marriage benefits and the definition as well – (1) 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 and, in particular, without discrimination based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability. Before the definition of marriage was changed, homosexuals were not included under the law stating marriage as the union between a man and a woman. The government found it unconstitutional and changed it so it would correspond to the changes in the twenty-first century and reflect Canadian society in the present stating that marriage is a civil act

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals, also known as LGBT population have experienced a great deal of oppression worldwide. These particular individuals undergo discrimination from society, whether for reasons of ignorance, fear or intolerance, this population faces challenges in multiple areas of social justice sexual. Although the LGBT culture has made some strides in the areas of state and federal legislation, there is still a wide range of criminalization that takes place within our culture. Understanding the LGBT community and the history of their oppression may be the first step in becoming culturally competent. For many years this culture was denied their basic constitutional rights that were afforded to their equal heterosexual peers. Basic rights such as, adoption and marriage were uncommon to this culture until the 20th century.