George Hislop

George Hislop (born 1927 in Swansea, Ontario) is one of Canada's most influential gay activists. He was the first openly gay candidate ever 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 1980, Hislop became Canada's first openly gay political candidate, running for Toronto City Council. The following year, he ran in the 1981 provincial election as an independent candidate in protest against the 1981 Toronto bathhouse raids.

In 2003, Hislop was nominated for the Order of Ontario by George Smitherman. 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; 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.

A park in the city's Church and Wellesley neighbourhood is also named in Hislop's honour.

External links

• George Hislop profile