January 12 Vancouver A British […]

Graph

When

1976-01-12

Description

January 12 Vancouver A British Columbia Board of Inquiry chaired by Vancouver lawyer Joseph Wood ruled that the B.C. Human Rights Code provided protection for homosexuals. It found that the Vancouver Sun had discriminated against the Gay Alliance toward Equality (GATE) (Vancouver) by refusing to publish a three-line ad for Gay Tide. GATE (Vancouver) had launched a complaint in November 1974 under the new B.C. Human Rights Code. The Sun was ordered to pay GATE (Vancouver) $500 in costs and "to refrain from committing the same or similar contraventions of the Code in future." This was the first time that sexual orientation was ruled a protected area under the B.C. Human Rights Code. GATE (Vancouver) organized a victory picket of the Sun on January 19, and about fifty women and men marched outside the Pacific Press Building at lunch hour. The Vancouver Sun appealed the ruling to the Supreme Court of British Columbia. (See also July 16, 1976.)