openly gay Toronto municipal politician.
multi-award-winning activist, involved in Saskatoon's lesbian and gay communities since the early 70's; recipient of the Doug Wilson Award in 1998.
outspoken lipstick lesbian, founding member of the Hamilton McMaster Homophile Association and the Coalition for Lesbian and Gay Rights in Ontario; worked with Waterloo Universities' Gay Liberation Movement, Gays of Ottawa, the Toronto Counselling Centre for Gays and Lesbians, the Lesbian Speakers' Bureau of Toronto and the AIDS Committee of Toronto.
openly gay federal politician; first MP to publicly declare that he was gay.
filmmaker, creator of many award-winning films including My Left Breast, a film that transforms her personal experience of breast cancer into the political
activist and author of 12 critically acclaimed books, including her pioneering first novel Desert of the Heart (1964) - written before the formation of a gay liberation movement.
Canadian female impersonator, stage actor and entertainer, writer, movie star, founder of the Mae West International Fan Club (at 13!).
Kyle Scanlon (1971 - )
First openly transsexual man to be executive director of a queer agency in Canada; consultant to health, social service, and legal organizations on the needs of transsexual people; received the 2001 Grassroots Trans Community Activist of the Year award from SOY.
writer, author of the brilliant, ground-breaking and internationally acclaimed novel Funny Boy, a story of growing up gay in Sri Lanka.
writer, editor, political activist; a visionary who has revolutionized Canadian literature; co-founder of Sister Vision Press.
activist, co-chair of the Campaign for Equal Families, Chief Commissioner of the British Columbia Human Rights Commission.
first openly gay person ordained by the United Church of Canada; first openly gay provincial Cabinet minister; MLA for Vancouver-Burrard (elected 1996); Vancouver city councillor since 2002; performed first legal gay marriage in B.C. in 2003
founding executive director of Black Coalition for AIDS Prevention.
activist, threatened with dismissal from the Canadian Armed Forces in 1977, went public with her case at a time prior to any human rights legislation protecting gays and lesbians
artist and activist, powerful voice for disabled lesbians.
labour and human rights lawyer, activist, co-founder of the Foundation for Equal Families.
their 1974 church ceremony to legally marry was disallowed by the Manitoba courts; Chris and Rich have been involved with GFE, Winnipeg's first gay march and pride week, Manitoba's Gay and Lesbian Archive, and gay radio and TV broadcasting; founded the Oscar Wilde Memorial Society, a restaurant and bar which has helped fund Manitoba's Gay/Lesbian Legal Defence Fund and several other groups and activities.
fired from his teaching job in Edmonton for being gay; when Alberta's Human Rights Commission refused to intervene, Delwyn appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada which ruled that the rights of homosexuals must be included in the province's Individual Rights Protection Act.
founding member of the Gay Alliance Toward Equality, the Coalition for Lesbian and Gay Rights in Ontario, first openly gay man in Canada to be appointed to a statutory human rights commission, author of Never Going Back, a history of queer activism in Canada.
Saskatchewan human rights activist, publisher, co-founder of AIDS Action Now, first openly gay candidate nominated by a major political party.