©Michael F. Paré, Toronto, Ontario
George Hislop 1927-2005
Sunday October 10, 2005. George Hislop died peacefully Saturday in Toronto Grace Pallative Care Hospital, at 6 pm, surrounded by friends. From complications of diabetes, Parkinson's disease and esophageal cancer.
Hislop (born 1927, on Windemere Avenue, in Swansea, a former borough in Toronto) was one of Canada's most influential gay activists. He was the first openly gay candidate to run for political office in Canada, and was a key figure in the early development of Toronto's gay community.
Hislop studied speech and drama at the University of Toronto, graduating in 1949. He subsequently worked as an actor, and ran an interior design company with his partner, Ron Shearer.
In 1971, Hislop cofounded the Community Homophile Association of Toronto, one of Canada's first organizations for gays and lesbians. On August 28, 1971, he also organized the first Canadian gay rights demonstration on Parliament Hill.
In running for alderman in the City of Toronto election in 1980 and 1981, he became the first openly gay person to run for public office in Canada. Though unsuccessful, Hislop's candidacy was in part to protest human rights abuses, particularly the 1981 bath-house raids, in which Toronto police raided four saunas and charged over 300 men in one of the largest mass arrests in Canadian history.
Hislop spent much of the 1980s and 1990s engaged in business pursuits, running a restaurant and a series of bars in Toronto.
In 2003, Hislop was nominated for the Order of Ontario by George Smitherman, Ontario Mnister of Health. Also that year, Hislop was one of several gay activists who launched a class action lawsuit against the federal government. The government had extended Canada Pension Plan benefits to the surviving same-sex partners of deceased pensioners as of 1998, but the change was not retroactive to earlier deaths. Shearer had died in 1986, making Hislop ineligible for survivor benefits.
The suit aimed to have retroactive benefits extended back to the 1985 inclusion of gay and lesbian equality rights in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. On November 26, 2004, the lawsuit ended in victory for Hislop and his coplaintiffs, although the federal government subsequently filed a controversial appeal of the decision which is still before the courts.
Also in 2004, Hislop was the grand marshal of Toronto's Pride parade.
In 2005, Hislop was the first-ever recipient of the International Lesbian and Gay Law Association's Karl Heinrich Ulrichs Award in honour of his contributions to the advancement of LGBT equality in Canada, and was cited by federal New Democratic Party leader Jack Layton as an important influence on Layton's support of LGBT issues.
In June of 2005, Toronto's gay community was briefly but seriously shaken by an erroneous rumour that Hislop had died. In August of that year, Hislop received his first pension cheque under the 2004 court decision.
A park in the city's Church and Wellesley neighbourhood is also named in Hislop's honour. A celebration of his life will be held at Woody's Bar (465 Church St. Toronto Ontario) on Sunday November 6, 2005 from 5 to 8 pm. Anybody caught crying, will be thrown out. George's orders :-)
George Hislop 1927-2005
Sunday October 10, 2005. George Hislop died peacefully Saturday in Toronto Grace Pallative Care Hospital, at 6 pm, surrounded by friends. From complications of diabetes, Parkinson's disease and esophageal cancer.
Hislop (born 1927, on Windemere Avenue, in Swansea, a former borough in Toronto) was one of Canada's most influential gay activists. He was the first openly gay candidate to run for political office in Canada, and was a key figure in the early development of Toronto's gay community.
Hislop studied speech and drama at the University of Toronto, graduating in 1949. He subsequently worked as an actor, and ran an interior design company with his partner, Ron Shearer.
In 1971, Hislop cofounded the Community Homophile Association of Toronto, one of Canada's first organizations for gays and lesbians. On August 28, 1971, he also organized the first Canadian gay rights demonstration on Parliament Hill.
In running for alderman in the City of Toronto election in 1980 and 1981, he became the first openly gay person to run for public office in Canada. Though unsuccessful, Hislop's candidacy was in part to protest human rights abuses, particularly the 1981 bath-house raids, in which Toronto police raided four saunas and charged over 300 men in one of the largest mass arrests in Canadian history.
Hislop spent much of the 1980s and 1990s engaged in business pursuits, running a restaurant and a series of bars in Toronto.
In 2003, Hislop was nominated for the Order of Ontario by George Smitherman, Ontario Mnister of Health. Also that year, Hislop was one of several gay activists who launched a class action lawsuit against the federal government. The government had extended Canada Pension Plan benefits to the surviving same-sex partners of deceased pensioners as of 1998, but the change was not retroactive to earlier deaths. Shearer had died in 1986, making Hislop ineligible for survivor benefits.
The suit aimed to have retroactive benefits extended back to the 1985 inclusion of gay and lesbian equality rights in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. On November 26, 2004, the lawsuit ended in victory for Hislop and his coplaintiffs, although the federal government subsequently filed a controversial appeal of the decision which is still before the courts.
Also in 2004, Hislop was the grand marshal of Toronto's Pride parade.
In 2005, Hislop was the first-ever recipient of the International Lesbian and Gay Law Association's Karl Heinrich Ulrichs Award in honour of his contributions to the advancement of LGBT equality in Canada, and was cited by federal New Democratic Party leader Jack Layton as an important influence on Layton's support of LGBT issues.
In June of 2005, Toronto's gay community was briefly but seriously shaken by an erroneous rumour that Hislop had died. In August of that year, Hislop received his first pension cheque under the 2004 court decision.
A park in the city's Church and Wellesley neighbourhood is also named in Hislop's honour. A celebration of his life will be held at Woody's Bar (465 Church St. Toronto Ontario) on Sunday November 6, 2005 from 5 to 8 pm. Anybody caught crying, will be thrown out. George's orders :-)
And sadly missed he will be.
ReplyDeleteNow that is a life well-lived.