This is a good book to turn to for an overall inventory of LGBTQ equality-seeking actions across the country over the years. It will likely prove to be an important resource for anyone interested in social change, social movements, and LGBTQ studies in Canada. - Barry Adam, University of Windsor (Labour/Le Travail, Vol. 78)
Ever since certain homosexual acts were decriminalized in 1969, queer activists have fought for – and won – a series of public policy battles in governments across Canada. As Queer Mobilizations shows, anti-discrimination legislation, the extension of benefits to same-sex couples, the right to marry, adoption rights, and the protection of gay-straight alliances in schools did not result from a single act nor from the work of a single organization but rather from the concerted efforts of many people, in many places, over many years.
This volume examines the relationships between LGBTQ activists and local, provincial, and federal governments. The contributors explore how various governments have tried to regulate and repress LGBTQ movements, and how, in turn, queer activists have successfully shaped public policy, across the political spectrum, from city halls to the House of Commons.
Foreword / Elise Chenier
Introduction / Manon Tremblay
Part 1: The National Level
1 LGBTQ Activism: The Pan-Canadian Political Space / Miriam Smith
2 LGBTQ Issues as Indigenous Politics: Two-Spirit Mobilization in Canada / Julie Depelteau and Dalie Giroux
Part 2: The Regional Level
3 Queer Advocacy in Ontario / David Rayside
4 Quebec and Sexual Diversity: From Repression to Citizenship? / Manon Tremblay
5 Mobilization on the Periphery: LGBT Activism and Success in Atlantic Canada / Joanna Everitt
6 LGBT Movements in Western Canada: British Columbia / Brian Burtch, Aynsley Pescitelli, and Rebecca Haskell
7 "Severely Queer" in Western Canada: LGBT2Q Activism in Alberta / Alexa DeGagne
Part 3: The Municipal Level
8 From Contestation to Incorporation: LGBT Activism and Urban Politics in Montreal / Julie Podmore
9 Gay and Lesbian Political Mobilization in Urban Spaces: Toronto / Catherine J. Nash
10 Building Queer Infrastructure: Trajectories of Activism and Organizational Development in Decolonizing Vancouver / Gordon Brent Brochu-Ingram
11 "Punch[ing] More Than Its Weight": LGBT organizing in Halifax, Nova Scotia / Nathaniel M. Lewis
Conclusion / Manon Tremblay
Index