LGBT Loonie: No Equality in 1969, Still No Equality in 2019
For Immediate Release – April 18, 2019
Media Event:
Tuesday April 23, 2019, 9:15am sharp
Glad Day Book Shop, 499 Church Street, Toronto, Ontario M4Y 2C6
On Tuesday April 23rd at the 519 Church Street Community Centre the Canadian Mint and the Canadian government will launch their commemorative loonie regarding the 1969 criminal code reform. The loonie has two faces on it and the words 1969, “equality” in French and English; and 2019. The clear implication is that the move towards equality was started by the federal government in 1969 and is now basically completed in 2019. The Anti-69 Network is hosting a media conference just prior to the official launch of the loonie. We will challenge the official mythology that the 1969 criminal code reform decriminalized homosexuality and we will explain that it had nothing to do with establishing social equality for LGBTQ2S+ people. Despite the important gains won by our movements and organizing. equality has still not been established in 2019. The continuing struggles are against the blood donation bans, HIV and sex worker criminalization, anti-Black racism which impacts many in our communities, racist and heterosexist and anti-trans policing, the continuing criminalization of consensual homosexual activities, the treatment of LGBTQ2S+ refugees and much more.
Speakers will include:
Gary Kinsman, gay historian, co-author of The Canadian War on Queers and member of the Anti-69 Network
Tom Hooper, historian of the resistance to the bath raids in Toronto and a member of the Anti-69 Network.
Rinaldo Walcott, Professor and Director of Women and Gender Studies Institute University of Toronto.
Valerie Scott is a founding member and legal co-ordinator for Sex Professionals of Canada. She was one of the three plaintiffs in Canada v Bedford, Lebovitch and Scott, the landmark constitutional challenge to several of Canada’s laws against sex work. She continues to fight for the decriminalization of sex work and will outline some of the many connections and similarities the sex work and LGBT+ communities share.
Christopher Karas, Human Rights Advocate, Karas Legal Services P.C., and the federal litigant in the case of Christopher Karas v. Canadian Blood Services and Health Canada challenging the MSM blood deferral policy.
Beverly Bain, teaches in Woman and Gender Studies at University of Toronto Mississauga and is a member of the No Pride in Policing Coalition.
Ron Rosenes, Chair of the Board, Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network
For more information see Frequently Asked Questions at: www.anti-69.ca/faq