'It's time we start telling the stories': New exhibit showcases how queer community was targetted by Canadian government
CTV
A new exhibit at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights is highlighting how the queer community was targetted by the Canadian government, as Pride Month gets underway in June.
A new exhibit at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights (CMHR) is highlighting how the queer community was targetted by the Canadian government, as Pride Month gets underway in June.
For more than four decades, some members of the armed forces, RCMP, and civil service were discriminated against, harassed and fired from their jobs because of their sexual orientation. It has become known as the LGBT Purge.
Michelle Douglas served the country, and she said she was proud of it. But it was also a time in her life marred by injustice.
After falling in love with another officer, the military came down hard on her.
"Ultimately, when I was attached to a lie detector test, I admitted to being a lesbian and was subsequently fired by the Canadian Armed Forces," said Douglas.
Douglas was one of around 9,000 members who were discriminated against between the 1950s and 1990s because of their sexual orientation or gender expression.
"People were not only fired like I was, they were institutionalized, arrested, beaten up, and in some cases even murdered just because of why they are. It's time we start telling the stories," said Douglas, who is now the executive director of the LGBT Purge Fund.
