1971: The Body Politic is Published for the First Time.

Selected Covers from Body Politic: The public voice of Canada's burgeoning Gay Liberation Movement

[excerpt from the diary of a young Toronto gay rights activist**]

November 1971,

Today I pick up a copy of a new journal called The Body Politic. It was formed by activists like me right here in Toronto and it is the self-proclaimed voice of Canada’s national gay liberation movement. I have been waiting for something like this to come around for years as I have sat idly by while the the American gay rights movement has become increasingly organized and the Canadian voice has been incredibly muddled. Finally we have an outlet to to build up our own  movement that is better organized and better publicized.

After reading the first few pages of the journal I felt like this magazine would act as a call to action for my brothers and sisters in the closet – sending a message that you are not alone. Gay is good and gay is proud!

One article in this issue of The Body Politic written by a woman named Nancy Walker really stood out to me. She wrote:

No one is going to hand us the gift of freedom on a plate. We have to work for it. When progress is made, it is because a large number of us have done what is necessary to achieve our ends. If you want to live a freer, more natural, more socially mobile life, you have to participate, you have to be politically aware and politically active. It must be the concern of every gay person to attain civil rights for all (Warner 69).

Wow. To me this kind of talk really demonstrates how important it really is for gays and lesbians to have a public voice and a public presence. I think that over the years this paper will become one of the most significant achievements in the gay rights movement, not only to raise awareness about issues that affect our community but to provide us an outlet for creating this public voice. Today feels like an important day as the seeds of the movement are finally coming to fruition...

[end of excerpt]

References 


Photos collected from the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives

http://clga.ca/

Warner, Tom. Never Going Back: A History of Queer Activism in Canada. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2002.

**Fictionalized