The Canadian government has a long history of regulation, exploitation, and violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, and two-spirit (LGBTQ2) people. One of the most painful chapters in this history is the “LGBT Purge,” a term that refers to the expulsion of LGBTQ2 service members and employees from the Canadian Armed Forces, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and federal public service between 1955 and 1992. The LGBT Purge was the subject of a class action lawsuit filed in 2017 that resulted in a settlement agreement in 2018. On a parallel track to the settlement, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau issued a formal apology for the government’s history of state-sponsored discrimination against LGBTQ2 people in 2017.
Daniel Del Gobbo is an Assistant Professor and Chair in Law, Gender & Sexual Justice at the University of Windsor Faculty of Law. His research explores how legal processes and institutions can be redesigned to promote access to justice and social justice for historically marginalized groups, with a focus on the rights of women and queer and trans people in Canada. He earned his J.D. from Osgoode Hall Law School in 2011, LL.M. from Harvard Law School in 2015, and S.J.D. from the University of Toronto Faculty of Law in 2021.
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