SENATORS’ STATEMENTS — Decriminalization of Homosexuality

Honourable senators, 50 years ago today, Parliament passed Bill C-150, which included a provision partially decriminalizing homosexuality in Canada. The bill altered the offence of gross indecency to decriminalize private, consensual homosexual acts between people aged 21 or more.

Many Canadians will remember the declaration given by then Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau, in which he said that there is no room for the state in the bedrooms of the nation. However, how many remember that the argument behind this idea was that homosexuality was more closely related to a mental disorder and so had to be treated with sympathy, not criminalized? Who remembers the emphasis that was made between crime and sin and an individual’s conscience in coming to grips with their behaviour?

For some, this amendment may seem rather timid today, given that part of the LGBTQ2+ population continues to experience discrimination to this day. Considered within the social context of the era, however, this decision unquestionably represented a first step towards ensuring respect for the rights of this sexual minority.

Colleagues, we must not think of the 1969 amendment as the end of a quest, but rather as the beginning of a process that is still going on today, a process to secure respect for the fundamental rights of these citizens.

As it is essential to celebrate what was a first significant step in 1969 in recognizing the rights of this community, we must also remember the pitfalls that have strewed and strew the road to integration, acceptance and respect for all LGBTQ2+ community members.

Just think of conversion therapy, which still exists in Canada, or the discrimination experienced by transgender and intersex people, leading some of them to take their own lives. That should be enough to convince us of the importance of continuing to break down the prejudices and taboos surrounding these realities.

Initiatives like the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia, which was created by the Fondation Émergence and is observed on May 17 each year, help raise public awareness of the obstacles that members of the LGBTQ2+ community still face. This year’s theme is online violence, including cyberhomophobia and cybertransphobia, which particularly affects youth.

Honourable colleagues, working to ensure the rights of minorities such as the LGBTQ2+ community is in fact working towards the respect of rights for all Canadians. The Senate of Canada has a fundamental role to play in this regard.

I encourage you to recognize the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia this Friday, May 17.

Thank you.