The community's infrastructure gradually diversified to match Toronto's multicultural nature. For example, in 1977, the Toronto Rainbow Alliance of the Deaf began, followed in 1980 by Gay Asians of Toronto (GAT). Zami, the first Canadian group for Black and West Indian gays and lesbians, was founded in 1984.

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In 1981, George Hislop became the first openly gay candidate for city council, although he was defeated. The area in which he ran for office included the intersection of Church and Wellesley streets, which was now the center of Toronto's gay life with bars, baths, restaurants, shops, and numerous high-rise apartment buildings.

Resistance to Gay Activism

Gay activism was met by resistance from the government through police raids. The growing bathhouse culture experienced increasingly more frequent raids, culminating in a simultaneous raid on four bathhouses on February 5, 1981. Over 300 men were arrested as found-ins and twenty more as keepers under the provision of the bawdy house law. It was the largest mass arrest in Canada since the Quebec separatist crisis.

The rage set off by these raids resulted in the first mass demonstration by the gay community on the evening of February 6. In the subsequent trials, most accused were judged to be not guilty. As a result of the unexpected reaction, the municipal government commissioned a report that recognized Toronto's gays and lesbians as a community.

Other community institutions also came under fire: Canada Customs seized shipments of books and periodicals from Glad Day Bookstore, even though many of the titles were sold openly in other book shops. Glad Day survived, but the harassment continues to this day.

Despite these attempts at repression, Toronto's gay community came out of this struggle with a powerful sense of itself, a stronger infrastructure, and recognition by the municipal government.

Toronto's city government has included sexual orientation in its anti-discrimination policies since 1973. The Toronto Public Library Board granted benefits to same-sex spouses in 1989, and the municipal government followed in 1992; the Toronto Board of Education released a gay-positive curriculum guide in 1992. Toronto's mayors have proclaimed Pride Day since 1992. The City of Toronto even gave Buddies in Bad Times Theatre its own building.

The AIDS Crisis

However, a new challenge arose in 1982 with the appearance of the first cases of AIDS in Toronto. Building on the activist infrastructure already in place, a new set of institutions developed to address the needs of people with AIDS.

These institutions were dominated and controlled by the gay community. The AIDS Committee of Toronto was established in June 1983, and it gave a liberationist bent to the struggle for AIDS prevention and research in Toronto.

Again, Toronto's multicultural nature influenced the community's response. The city's Native community was served by Two-Spirited People of the First Nations while the Black Coalition for AIDS Prevention was established to meet the special needs of its community. Toronto took its own distinct road in combating AIDS: The baths were not closed, sex was accepted as a given, emphasis was placed on safer sex.

The Struggle for Equal Rights

Having achieved recognition from government, Toronto gays and lesbians went on to fight for equal rights. The Coalition for Lesbian and Gay Rights in Ontario (CLGRO), established in 1975, fought to include sexuality under the protective clauses of the Ontario Human Rights Code.

However, the 1990s "We are Family" campaign implicitly contradicted the liberationist vision that earlier dominated Toronto's gay life. This direction culminated with the first gay marriages at Metropolitan Community Church in 2001 and their sanction by the Ontario Court of Appeals in 2003.

Toronto Today

Toronto's gay and lesbian community is now recognized as an integral part of the city's fabric. An openly gay city councillor represents a heavily gay ward in City Council, and an out member of Ontario's Legislative Assembly represents the provincial riding.

The 519 Community Centre provides a venue for social and political activities for the community, and the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archive provides the focus for the city's gay and lesbian history. The newspapers Xtra! and fab serve gay males, Siren the lesbian community. Toronto's Pride parade is one of the largest in the world.

Toronto's glbtq community has gone from being a hidden subculture to a power base in politics, the economy, and the arts.

In 2005 Canada became the fourth country to recognize same-sex marriages; the milestone victory solidified Canada's position as a leader in the struggle for glbtq equality.

In the last two decades, Montreal has become friendly to and supportive of its glbtq citizens and visitors.

Both parades and marches have served to render the glbtq community visible; whereas marches typically attempt to effect political change, parades and pride events affirm identity and community.

Lesbian and gay couples have been fighting for the freedom to marry since the dawn of the modern glbtq struggle for equality; despite some success abroad, progress toward same-sex marriage in the United States has been slow.

With a constant influx of immigrants and a vigorous and adaptable economy, Vancouver is a progressive city with a large and active glbtq community.

One of Canada's first gay activists, Jim Egan began demanding respect and equal rights in the late 1940s; in his later years he mounted a challenge to Canada's law on spousal retirement benefits.

The network of independent gay and lesbian bookstores that arose in the 1970s served as incubators for the literary and cultural development of the modern gay rights movement in the United States and abroad.

Senior Pastor of the Metropolitan Community Church of Toronto, the Reverend Doctor Brent Hawkes has worked with fervor and dedication to secure equal rights for glbtq Canadians.

An early leader of the Canadian gay rights movement, George Hislop was an indefatigable fighter for equality.

Olympic medalist Mark Tewksbury was closeted throughout his competitive swimming career, but since coming out has become an advocate for glbtq rights.

Canadian human rights activist Douglas Wilson is also remembered as the life partner of American-Canadian writer/performer Peter McGehee; together they married activism with art and entertainment.