HISTORY
Celebrate Queer History By Reading One of Canada’s First Gay Magazines Those who don’t know their history are doomed to repeat it (plus, hey, it’s an illuminating – and sometimes fun – read) By Rowan O’Brien
I can still picture the queer studies class where I first heard about The Body Politic, a Canadian monthly LGBTQ magazine that was published from 1971 to 1987. The queer and bespectacled professor stood at the front of an elegant room in a manor owned by the university, reading from an article in the magazine. Although this course was cut short by one of York University’s many infamous strikes, the name of the publication anchored itself in my brain. As a queer “zillennial,” I was aware of The Body Politic’s legacy through my forays into queer Canadian history, but was worried I might never get to read the magazine for myself.
MAY / JUNE 2021
The pandemic was in full swing when I graduated in September, granting me the opportunity to finally read for pleasure and dive into queer history. This desire to connect with queerness was exacerbated by the loss of in-person queer space and the amount of ahistorical information being weaponized in online queer spaces on sites like Twitter and TikTok. Underneath these surface feelings of frustration was a more tangible sense of duty to and admiration of my queer elders. After all, The Body Politic forged a symbiotic relationship with queer Canadian history, where the magazine would report on queer events, thereby influencing the community and resulting in more queer action to report on. You might wonder what caught my interest about a magazine that ceased publication more than 30 years ago. But it was more than just historical interest: it is important for young queer people to read these magazines because, as they say, those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it, and it appears we get trapped in that cycle far too often. The Body Politic is an incredible piece of queer history, and a huge contributor to the progress we’ve made so far – and haven’t made – in Canada. I began my research with a detailed timeline of The Body Politic’s life as compiled by Thom Bryce McQuinn for Body Politic, a play 20
IN MAGAZINE
produced by Buddies in Bad Times Theatre in 2016. I learned that the journey began when another publication, Guerilla, made changes to an article written by Jearld Moldenhauer about the We Demand rally at Parliament Hill. This displeased Moldenhauer, so he went to a Toronto Gay Action meeting and pitched the idea of creating a publication made by and for gay people that could report on queer issues without censorship or dilution. A few weeks later, on October 28, 1971, the first issue of The Body Politic was published, with the contributors working for free and even splitting the $255 necessary to print 5,000 copies, which would then be sold for 25 cents each. This collective ran The Body Politic together, with the members voting on the content of each issue. The paper steadily grew and became one of the greatest dispensaries of queer information in the country, but it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows. In 1977, an article titled “Men Loving Boys Loving Men” by Gerald Hannon landed The Body Politic in hot water, which was already boiling given the sexual assault and murder of 12-year-old Emanuel Jaques by a group of men four months earlier. This led to a police raid at The Body Politic office and the seizure of 12 boxes of material, including subscription lists. This action by the police was widely protested by many, including by Harvey Milk, who held a solidarity rally in San Francisco, according to Donald W. McLeod’s annotated chronology of gay liberation in Canada. Because of this article, The Body Politic and three of its members were charged for “possession of obscene material for distribution” and “use of the mails for the purpose of transmitting ‘indecent, immoral, or scurrilous material.” The trial started on January 2, 1979, the beginning of a three-year legal battle, including one appeal and two acquittals, until they were finally found not guilty in April 1982. Unfortunately, the seized materials were not returned until April 1985, eight years after the initial raid. During this time, The
