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Gay Pride Flag Saskatchewan Resources for Sexual Diversity
Saskatchewan Resources for Sexual Diversity

Celebrating a History of Diversity:

Lesbian and Gay Life in Saskatchewan, 1971 - 2006
A Selected Annotated Chronology

The 1960s and 1970

1960s Saskatoon
Groups of gay men met at downtown bars including the Cove at the King George Hotel and the second-floor lounge of the Bessborough Hotel. The “Park” (Kinsmen Park) behind the Bessborough Hotel was the principal site of outside cruising. In the late 1960s there were small gay social circles that met at private house parties.
[Valerie Korinek, “‘The Most openly gay person for at least a thousand miles’: Doug Wilson and the politicization of a province, 1975-83,” Canadian Historical Review, v. 84 no. 4 (December 2003) p. 8-9.]
December 22, 1967 Ottawa
Federal Justice Minister Pierre Trudeau proposed amendments to the Criminal Code which would relax laws against homosexuality, declaring that “there’s no place for the state in the bedrooms of the nation. I think that what’s done in private between adults doesn’t concern the Criminal Code.”
August, 1969 Ottawa
Parliament passed amendments to the Criminal Code decriminalizing ‘gross indecency’ and ‘buggery’ when performed in private by two consenting adults aged twenty-one or older.
1970
Little Big Man directed by Arthur Penn was one of the year’s top grossing films. Of particular interest was actor Robert Little Star’s portrayal of Little Horse, a transgendered Native American who was well accepted by his peers. This was one of the first popular recognitions of a tradition of sexual diversity among Plains Indian nations.
November, 1970 Toronto
The first issue of The Body Politic, was published. The Body Politic was one of North America’s most influential gay periodicals.

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