August 28 Ottawa; Vancouver Lesbians […]

Graph

When

1971-08-28

Description

August 28 Ottawa; Vancouver Lesbians and gay men and their supporters assembled on Parliament Hill in support of the brief "We Demand." About one hundred people demonstrated for forty minutes in pouring rain. The crowd was addressed by Charles Hill of TGA, which organized the march, George Hislop and Pat Murphy of CHAT, Pierre Masson of FLH, and John Williams of Cleveland, Ohio. In Vancouver, GATE sponsored a demonstration at the courthouse to show solidarity with the Ottawa marchers. The twenty demonstrators attracted a sympathetic crowd of 150 to 200. Roedy Green, chairperson of GATE, spoke, as did representatives from Vancouver Gay Sisters and the GLF. These were the first large-scale public gay demonstrations held in Canada. They were held on this day to commemorate the second anniversary of the implementation of the amendments to the Canadian Criminal Code (Bill C-150). (see also August 30,1971.)