C1IALLENGING THE CONSPII{ACY OF SILENCE

Challenging the Conspiracy ofSilence: My life As a Canadian Gay Activist

JilTI Egan

COMPILED AND EDITED BY DONALD W. MCLEOD

Toronto:

The CanadiaI1 Lesbian and Gay Archi\Tes and Homewood Books cD Copyright Jim Egan and Donald W McLeod, 1998

CANADIAi'- CA'IALO('UI~(, 1:'.. J'LBI [CAliON DATA

b.gan, Jim Challenging the con,~-'iracy of ~ikn(e: my liie a~ a C,ll1adian ga y activist

(Canadian ]psbian and gay archive5; 1-1) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-9683829-0-8

I Egan, Jim. 2. Horno~exua[jty - Canada. 3. Cay activists­ Canada - Biography. 4. Cay mcn - Canada - Biography. I. McLeod, Donald \IV. (Donald Wiliredj, 19'17- [J. ClJ1ddi<1n Lesbian and Cay Archives. Ill. Title. [V. Serie~.

HQ758.E32A3 19l )8 306.76'62'092 C98-93170-l-1:>

This book has been published with the assistancE' of grants from thc L.e~bian ilnd C,ly Community Appeal FOlrndation, Toronto, dnd the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU), Local 512, Toronto.

Design, imaging, and printing bv COdch Hou,c Printing, Toronto.

f'ublished bv

The Canadian Lesbi,lI1 and Cay Archives P.O, Box 639, Station A Toronto, Ontario M5W lC2

(-116) 777-275;; e-mail: queeries@c!ga.ca

Correspondence d nd ordc·r;. to:

I-lomewood Books Attn. Don McLeod 60 Homewood AvenuE', Suite 502 Toronto, Ontario lvl-lY 2X-l This book celebrates t'NO anniversaries:

The fiftieth anniversary of Jim Egan and Jack Nesbit's relationship (23 August 1998)

and

F[he twenty-fifth anniversary of the founding of the Canadian L.esbia11 al"ld Gay Archives (September 1998) Contents

Ackno\!vledgclnents 7 l\ Note on the IIIustrations 8

-Preface, by {Jorl 1vlc Leod 9

Beginnings 15

2 vVartin1c dnd l\fter: (~aining (;ay Experience 25

3 Living the Gay Life in Post-War Toronto 33

4 ChallengIng the Conspiracy of Silence: Jirn Egan!s Emergence -,-t\s a (;ay i\ctivist during the 1950s 42

5 Gay Personalities of ()ld Toronto 70

6 Explorations of Gay l\!lale C,011111lunity in 10r011to in the Early 1960s 79

Afterword, by Don McLeod 95

Notes 105

l\ppendix A: A Chronology of the Life of Jin1 Egan 118

Appendix B: f\ Checklist of Publications by .Tinl Egan! 1950-1964 125

Appendix C: l\ Checklist of Publications C011cerniI1g or in [\.eply to Jim Egan, 1950-1964 132

Appendix 0: The Correspondence of ]iln Egan! 1950-1964 137

Index 153

A Note on the Author and the C0I11piler 159 Acknowledgements

This vvork could 110t have been completed \vithout the cooperation of Jim Egan and Jack Nesbit. I would also like to thank the follovving individuals for shovving an interest in this project and for providing informatiOl1 or advice: * David Ad.kin * Harold Averill * Rick Bebout * Jay Cassel * Rob Champagne * David Churchill * Jo1m Grube * George Hislop * Susan Houston * Sidney Katz * Gary Kinsman * Duncan McLaren * Philip McLeod (no relation) * Alan V. Miller * Chris Paulin The collections of severa] libraries and archives were consulted in researching this book. I would like to thank the staff at the following institutions in particular for their kind support in finding material and answering queries: * Archives of Ontario, Toronto * Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives, Toronto * Gerber/ Hart Library, Chicago * National Library of Canada, Ottawa * Robarts Library, University of Toronto * Toronto Reference Library * University of Toronto Archives Thanks to Edna Barker for help \Nith editing and proofreading. Finally, I am pleased to thank the Lesbian and Gay COlnmUllity Appeal Foundation, Toronto/ and the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU), Local 512, Toronto/ for providing funds tovvard tIle publication of this vvork.

Don McLeod Toronto July 1998

7 A Note on the Illustrations

All iJ11ages in this book are reproduced courtesy of Jim Egan or the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives, v\lith the follovving exceptions:

The Savarin l-Iotel, Toronto, ca. 1952 (t\VO images). Pl1otos by Willian1 E. Whittinghan1, Peake and Whittinghan1 l"Jd. Reproduced \",rith the pern1ission of Willian1 H.(~. WhittinghaJn. From the Records of Hle Liquor Licence Board of Ontario/ Series I<'G 36-8, Establis11ment

Files, Accession 17721, Temporary Box 349J File: Savarin Hotel, Toronto. .t\rchives of Ontario.

The Chez Paree I\estaura11t, Toronto, ca. 1956. P11oto by Jones and Morris. Reprodu.ced with the permission of Dan Morris. From the Records of the Liquor Licence Board of ()ntaric), Series RG 36-8/ Establishment Files, Accession 21514, Temporary Box 30/ File: Cl1ez Paree Restaurant, Toronto. Archives of Ontario.

The MUllicipal HoteL Toronto/ ca. 1952 (tvvo images). Photos by Jones and Morris. Reproduced vvith the permission of Dan l\ilorris. From the Records of the Liquor Licence Board of Ontario, Series RG 36-8, Establishment Files/ Accession 17721, Temporary Box 246, File: Municipal ,Hotel, Toro11to. Archives of Ontario.

Jinl and Jack as grand marshals of the Toronto Pride parade, 1995. Photo by Ali Kazimi l\.eproduced vvith t11e permission of I)avid Adkin Productions, Inc.

Back cover photo: Jack Nesbit a.nd Jim Egan! 1995. IJ11oto by Ali Kazin1i. Reproduced vvith the permission of IJavid Adkin f'rodllctions/ Inc.

8 Preface

I am standlng at the corner of Church ,1nd VVelksJey streets, ground zero for Toronto's gay cornmunity. It I~ a beautiful, sunny day and the streets are packed with people T'he dat is Sunday, 29 June 1997, and the annual pride celebration .. _- thiS year (aHed Lesblan, Gay, Bi exuaJ, Transsexual, and Transgendt:'r Pnde O,1y - 15 at Its height. Celebrations have been gOlllg un aU weck. The i\'ktropolitan Toronto Council officlaHy declared 23-29 June Lesbi,\n and Gay Pride Week, and was supported by aJl six city or borough councils Local bars are more crowded than usual, Business has been booming at the more than ] DO neIghbourhood shops and sen ice::. catering mostly to lesbians and gay men. The Dyke March yesterday attracted thousands of wornen, and the Pnde and Remembrance Run raised thousands of dollars lfl support of the CanadiJJl Lesbian and Gay Archives and 'Torontc)'s AIDS MentoriaL As I navigate through the Church Street vendors' fair [ can't help noticing all the familiar groups, and ,] few ne\\ ones, too, with their displays and flyers. Enthusia:-.tlC volunteers hdt up the crowd. I arrive at the Toronto Centre for Lesbian and Gay Studies booth, where 1 help hand out flyers and ansvver questJons. Waves of humanity glide by the booth. Queer people of all persuasions, in outlandish garb or buttoned-down. At least t\VO men wear nothing at aiL Straight couples, the curious. Cawkers. By 2:30 the crowd IS restless and beguls to thin. AntlClpation is in the air. r hurry OVer to the Metropolitan Toronto Reference Library where I meet my colleagues f1'Orl1 the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives. We collect our Slgns, whlCh read "Keepmg Our Stories Alive," and are ready to march. Soon vve are at the corner of Church and Bloor streets. A metallic roar announces the departure of the Dykes on Bikes, lesbian bikers who traditIOnally lead the parade 111 lieu of a pollCe motorcycle escort \Vith a wave of cheers the official 1997 Pride March is under way Michael McGaraughty, the chief marshal, barks commands through a megaphone, trying to prevent a pile up of floats, marching bands, dancers, and ordinary pedestrians right off the bat. We archlvlsts shp in early, behmd the hunk riding in the convertible vintage car sponsored by Pizza PiLLa. The sun beats dmvl1 as we turn the corner and he~d south on Yonge Street. My runnmg shoes stlCk to the hot asphalt. We get spritzed by a water gun. Someone III the crowd throws glitter. People cheer. Everyone is

') 10 CI-lALLENGING TJ-fE CONSPIRANCY OF SILENCE having a great time. After a fev\! blocks our signs grovv heavy. We get light-headed from the heat and car exhaust. By the time \ve get to Yonge and Wellesley, the cro\vds have taken over n10st of the street, too, and squeeze the parade as through a narro\v funnel. Hundreds of thollsands of people -- mostly gay people and their supporters ­ h,ave pressed into a fevv blocks to celebrate gay pride. I feel over\vhelmed. 1 ask myself, "Hovv the hell did I end up here?" and ponder the more important question, "How did gay people in Toronto end up here?"

If you vvere a llomosexua] standing at the corller of Yonge and Wellesley streets in 1949, there was a good chance you vvouldn't have felt comfortable with your sexual orientation. You certainly wouldn't broadcast your homoseXllality. lt \Jvas taboo. Back tilen homosexuality just wasn't talked about in polite society. It was usually vievved as a mental illness or perversion CKinsey notwithstanding)1. And it was most certainly a sin. HOlTIOSexuality equalled scandal. Jobs were lost, housing \vas denied, lives ruilled on the slightest evidence of queerness. TIle mere act of tvvo consenting adult males going to bed together vvas then a serious crim,ina] offence in Ca11ada, and would ren1aill so for the next twenty years. Police entrapment was comn1on. Prison "vas a rea] possibility; you Inight be h.anded an indeterminate sentence if you were declared a dangerous sexlla] offender. Barbaric "treatments/! such as electroshock therapy 2 were not uncomnlon for sexual nOllconformists . In the Toronto of 1949 there were no clubs or support groups for gays. Those souls vvho did pursue their orientation sometimes hid behind a facade of marriage and conventiollal heterosexual respectability, only to participate in a clandestille vvorld of quick pickups in steambaths, theatres, washrooms, or parks. Others frequented taverns or bars of mixed clientele/ or did the circuit of private parties. When one COllsiders the reahty of gay life in Toronto in 1949, the experience of Jim Egan seems fascinating. For it was in that year, and under these social and cultural circumstances, that Egan began his

career as a public gay activist. The terlTI Ji gay liberation" had not yet been coined. Formal "h,OD10phile" orgallizatio115 did not exist in North Alnerica until the Mattachine Society \vas formed in Los Angeles in 1950. There \-vere no organizations for gays in ~roronto until the Un.iversity of Toronto Homophile i\ssociatioll was foun,ded PREFACE 11

in October 1969 1 just months after amel1dments to Canada's Crin1inal Code partially decriminalized homosexual acts3. Jim Egan is perhaps best knovvn today for his fifty-year relationsh_ip with Jack Nesbit and for their Sllpren1e Court challenge, in which they used the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms to challenge the discrimil1atory exclusion of pension benefits to sanle­ sex couples llnder the Old Age Security -Lt\ct4. Jim and Jack's case received wide media coverage, and they were the grand marshals of the 1995 Pride parades in both Toronto and Vancouver. Their contribution 11ere is extrelnely important, of course, but I \-vas always lnore fascinated by Jim's early activism. Gay activists are common today. Today Jim and Jack Inight seem like s'Vveet harmless, grandfatherly figuresl fig11ting for a noble cause. But in 1949 Jim's ideas and his pllblic defence of homosexuality ran right against the grain. At that time, Jim Egan vvas a lone voice in the wilderness, and his actions were nothing less than revolutionary. One oddity about Egan's activism is that it went in waves, Witl1 periods of prolific activity follovved by relative quiet or a hiatus. A reconstruction of Egan's correspondence and a list of publicatiol1s shows how busy he was in 1950-51, followed by a slow period until the very active years 1953-54, followed by a lull that lasted until 1959. The earJy 1960s saw a rise in activity, cuhninating in a peak during the first five months of 1964. Then everything stopped. Jim abandoned public gay activism, and he and Jack moved froin Toronto to British Columbia. Jim's early career as a gay liberatio11ist was over. His activities were eventually forgotten by lnost gays in the Toronto area, and were unknown to the following generation of gay liberationists active dllring the 19705. Only in 1986, after more than twenty years out of the public eye, were Jim Egan and Jack Nesbit "rediscovered." Over the next decade they generated a great deal of public interest and support in their spousal benefits easel w11ich went all the vvay to the Supreme Court of Canada in 1995. The rediscovery of Jim Ega11 by Toronto gay activists is quite a story in itself. Son1etim,e in 1985, a vvell-k110\Vn Toronto libraria11 named Alan Suddon presented an album of clippings to retired librarian I)hilip McLeod. McLeod was a history buff and vvas fascinated by the iten1s from the old tabloid nevvspapers, including exan1ples from Hush Free Press, fustice Weekly, True Nezos Tinzes (TNT), and others. Alnongst the clippings \vere articles and letters by Jim Egan. McLeod vvondered if Egan vvas still alive, and began to try to 12 CHALLENGINC "fHE CONSPIRANCY OF SILENCE find his address. 1'"112 111entioned his interest in Egan to Gerald }{annon, a iourllalist and nlenlber of The Body Politic collecti\le. Hannon happened to look at a list of subscribers to l~he Body J]olitic and found Jinl Egan/s n,anle and address in Courtellay, B.C. McLeod follovved up, and began correspondillg vvith Egan in 1986, ]i11'1 Egan \A/as flattered that anyone vvould be interested in his old-time gay activitIes. l{e sent McLeod a series of tapes describing his early acti","'ism; as \vell as a scrapbook of clippings and correspoftder\ce he had saved from the 19505 and 19605 tllat detailed his activiSlTI. ~'lcLeod in turn deposited t}lenl at th,e C-::anadian, Lesbian and (~ay i\rchi\res in Toronto. 'This rediscovery of E:gan set off a scholarly gold rush in -roronto, as l1is forgotten activities d11d the contents of his scrapbook opened up a lost vvorld of 19405 thrO'llgb 1960s Canadian gay activism that had not been explored. Philip McLeod published a brief evaluation of Egan and the tabloids in the Septenlber 1986 issue of Canadian Lesbian and Gay History N-etluork NeTusletter5. This vvas fol1ovved by J{obert Chalnpagnefs intervievv vvith Egan in Rites (Decernber 1986 - January 1987),. \!vhich led to his cOlll,pilatioll /irn Egan: Canada"s l)ioneer Cay Act17)ist, published in 19876. Egan vvas interviewed by C-:;ary KinSlnan and was discllssed in his 'The R.egulotzon (~( Desire, published in 19877. In the follo\!viJ1g years/ Egal1 and Nesbit vvere intervievved by otl1ers as their court challenge gained nlore public attention. David Churchill undertook a video intervievv of JiIn ancl Jack in 1990 as part of his research for his Inaster's thesis entitled JJCoilling Out in a Cold Climate: ;-\ History of Gay ~len in Toronto duril1g the 19505," completed in 19938 , l)avid i\dkin \vas lIltroduced to the Egan papers at the Canadian Lesbian and C-;ay Archives arld decided to do a / dOCUll1entary film recounting both the early days of Jiln s activism in

Toronto and the court challengel then under way. T11e result vvas "Jim Loves Jack: -rhe James Egan Story/' released in 1996'). Most recently, Jim and Jack appeared as one of tIle couples featured in l\r1ichael I{lordon's book Out Our vVay: Cay and Lesbian Llfe in the C·ountry, published in 199610, .i\lthougll there are novv nUn"lerOUS vv'ritings on J1111 and Jack, as vvell as a fjlnl, none h,as pro\'ided sufficient detail to satisfy l11Y curiosity about Jiln 'Egan's early/ activlsl11. S0111e COlltradictions ha\!e also crept into published aCCOu11ts of Egan/s life. I have undertaken the present vvork in al1 attclnpt to provide a 1110re cietailed portrait of Jiln Egan!s early actJvist years. This vvork explores the qllestion of PREFA.CE 13

Egan's background and early sexual identity! his \iOraClOllS appetite for lear11i11g (mostly self-directedL and the influence of vvartime experiences on his sexual developlnent. It is concerned particularly \vith exanlinlng the social and personal circumstances that allovved Jin! Egan to becon1e Canada's earliest knovvn public gay activist.

A Note on Sources and Methodology

1 have taken an unusual approach in cOlnpiling this book. I decided that the best vvay to tell .lin! Egants story vvould be for him to tell it hinlself, in his ovv'n vvords. ()11e characteristic stands out in the Egan intervievvs I've seen in print and on screen and in our OW11 conversations, Jin1 Egan is a talker. He is eloque11t and opinionated. So, this work is in fact an oral history of Jim Egan, as told by Egan and con1piled and edited by Don McLeod. vVith Eganfs permission, and vvIth the pernlission of the intervievvers, 1 have cOlnpiled a narrative of EganJs life, using his ovvn \vords, from a series of taped intervie\vs COl1ducted over a period of ten years. I have incor}Jorated elelnents from the audiotapes Egan sent to Philip McLeod in 1986, froln the videotape of Egan and .Nesbit done by David Churchill in 1990, and fran1 three hours of audjotape .mellloirs sent to me by Egan in 1996. In addition, 1 taped telephone intervievvs ,vith Egan t\"'flce in 1996 and have corresponded with him by maiL I examined the Egan accessions at t11e Canadian L,esbian and (~ay Archives, a11d have undertaken extensive research at the Metropolitan Tor011to R.eference Librar~y. I have tried to verify every fact that Egan re\realed in the intervie\vs, and have made slight editorial ch.anges and corrections vvhere required. Finally! I sent a draft of the vvark to JiIn and Jack, so that tl1ey could read the text and n1ake COffilne11ts or corrections. A fevv' vvords of caution before v\'e proceed \\lith JilTI Egan's story. This menloir is \~rritten fr()In a gay male perspecti\re and iJ1cludes sonlC of Jim Egan's personal biases. It should be seen as the experience of one Inan only, and is best sumnled up in one of Egan's COffilnents to ITIe: T'he opinions that I l1ave about vvhat gay' life vvas like in Toronto in the]940s through the Inid-1960s are definitely iny o\vn. I don't pretend to speak on behalf of the gay commun.ity. I am sure there are other gay 111en \vho lived there at the same tilne \vho have an altogether different vievv of vvhat it \·vas like to be gay in Toronto dllring t11is period. At 14 C}IAlLENGING THE CONSPIRANCY OF SILENCE

that tin1e 1 vvas totally self-accepting as a gay m.an. Tthought that being gay vvas simply w011derful. I couldn't see anything \vrong \vith it, and at no tin1e in my life did I ever wonder vvhat it would be like to try to chan.ge and becolne heterosexual. The thought l1ever entered my Inind! An.d I vvas conviI1ced, as far as gay rights were concerned, that I V\,ras right and society \ivas wrong. l"here was never a doubt iI1 my ulind abo·ut that. So it \vas on that basis that I say\! the vvorld. ~1y world vievv vvas an unusual one for the time.

Don McLeod Toronto, AUgllst 1998 Chapter One: Beginnings

I \Jvas born at St. Michaers Hospital in Toronto on 14 Septen1ber 1921/ \vhich 111akes me a Virgo. My parents were living at 2811:2 George Street at the tilneo My fatl1er, Janles Egan, was a big, easy-going Irishman, and although he!d been born in Toronto he \lvas Irish to the core; the family vvas from County Tyrone. :He worked as a fine cabiIlet maker for the Gerhard Heintzlua11 pial10 company, lnaking piano cases - tile "vouden portion of the piano which in those days \vere all done by hand! including the staining and all the finish. My nOlother, Nellie (Josephine) Engle, had been raised mostly in MOllte Carlo. My parents married late in life, especially for those days. Father vvas fifty-six when 1 vvas born, and Mother vvas forty-one, I believe. ()ne year and tvvo months after I arrived, my brotl1er, Charles, was born. As things turned out Charles was gay also. Like many gay ill.en I have kno\lvn dO\ivn_ through the years, we were born of parents who married late in life. W11ether this had anything to do vvith our sexual orientation, I don't kno\lv. 1 strongly sLlspect it didn't, but it is rather interesting considering the nUlll.ber of gay lTIen I've known who came from a similar situation. 1 have nothing but tl1e happiest lllemories of my childhood. We moved to 39 Westlake Avenue, in east-elld Toronto, when I was about three years old. I have vague recollections of Westlake Avenue and they all tend to run together. But one of the things I do remember particularly is the nearby Danforth Creamery [at 1396 Danforth j\venue]. I remember my dad and I going up there and sitting at the counter in the dairy, and for a nickel you could have all the butterm.ilk you could drink. My first real nlemory of childhood that I can pinpoiI1t would be vvhen 1 vvas approximately eig11t years old and we moved from Westlake Avenlle to 245 Bain A\TellUe, betvveen CarlaV\T and Pape avenues. We had only recently moved, and I remember sitting on the front steps vvatching about seven or eight of the boys on the street playing \tvhat vve called kick the can. And I can renlember, even at that young age, thinking, IIWhat a bunch of louts. Why are tlley vvasting their time dlld energy kicki11g a can up alld do\'vn the street?" My dad \vas very fond of vvalking. Whel1 I \·vas young he and I \vould walk for nliles all a Saturday in Toronto. We'd very often \valk fronl Bain r\venue to the St. La\·vrence Market. J had a great

15 It> CHAL ENCINe fHE COl\;SPIRANCY OF SILE!\CE

Josephine Egan with Jim, ca. 1923.

Josephine Egan with Charles and Jim ,mel Charles Egan, ca. 1928. Jim Egan, ca 1928. BEGINNINGS 17 relationshIp \,vith hinl, aIthough he died "vhen I \AlaS fourteen, and because of th.at it vvas \t\!hat I suppose you'd call a hrnited reiationsl1!p, When I vvas about nine years old he took me up to the Don River to visit a famous svvinlming hole there. It vvas kno\lvn as the Clay Banks - although sonle referred to it as Bare Ass Beach - and it had been popular vvith the young il1en of Toronto for God only knows ho\'v ]011g. tvly dad had lear11ed to S\iVinl there \ivhen he vvas a boy, in the 1870s. We vvent up there one Saturday to teach Ine to s\ivim. There I found n1yself surrounded by about a hundred naked you.ng ITlen. I rea] ize, tl1inking back on it, that while I vvas not exactly sexually attracted to theIn, 1 felt an undefined excitement. it was at the Clay Banks that I first caught sight of pubic hair, vvhich fascinated me and \lvhich I \t\7 0ldd con1e to find highly erotic throughout my life. I vvas extremely fortunate compared with some young gay nlales.

1 Mind you 1m 110t saying 1had allY intinlations of being gay at the age of ni11€. 1 didn't. But I certainly had that feeling that many gays have that I \vas sOD1ehovv different than the other boys. I had only the faintest 11otion of that, but J did feel different. 1 felt somewhat alienated fron1 tllem, but I was fortunate in that I \vas never what could be described as a sissy. I got alol1g qllite well with the other boys on the street. We chummed around together. But they vvere interested, eventually, In playing baseball and I Ilever, ever, had the

faintest interest in that sort of thing. And so it developed l in a perfectly natural way, that 1 became very milch of a loner, vvhich didlY't bother me in the least. I didn't miss their company. I could have joined in, and if I'd been willing to play baseball l vvould have been \ivelcome. But I \!vas not \t\rilling, and I \vas never one to go along vvith the herd. ] didn/t require association \rvith them enough to inconvenience myself and \!vaste time, as I saw it. It "vas partly because of being on my OVVJl/ but at some pOil1t, by the tin1e .I \ivas eleven or twelve, I began to read. At the beginning I didn't read a great (leal, but I did read far Inore t11an any of tlle boys on the street, ,A/hom I don't t)1ink ever read anything. By the time I \,\las about fourteen I \rvas an absolutely oillnivorous reader. Everything \!vas grist to the mill! I couldn't get enough of it. No\v, illy father \vas not an intellectual man - I don't recall seeil1g hiln ever read a book. I\1y mot11er read a bit of Dickens alld the I\ubazyat of Onlar KIzayyarn, but other t11an that she was not a reader. [ vvas very luckyT in the sense that my lnother, who beCan1€ tile dominant force ]8 CHALLENGING THE CONSPIRANCY OF SILENCE in my life after DiY father died/ l1ever questioned my reading. Although/ if I ever \\ranted to talk about \'\That 1 vvas reading a11d express S011Le interest to her about it, she vvas al\vays a vvilling listener. \Vhe11 I vvas around tvvrelve to fourteen years old I used to buy copies of my tvvo favorite English boys! magazines. One vvas caIJed 'The Magnet, and the other \\7as called 'The Cern. A11d then there \!vas The BO,L/S Outn Annual. Although there was never a vvhisper of homosexuality in them, looking back IlOW it seems that th.€ stories ill these publications vvere charged Vv7ith hOlTIOerotic ilTIplications. I can remelnber so much of them, so clearly! all these n1any years later. Especially stories from The Magnet. Harry Wharton! \lvho vvas the head of the Remove! and his best friend Bob Cherry. Dr. Quelch, who ~vas the fonn master, and Dr. Locke, \vho vvas tIle dean of Greyfriars School. J read these stories religiollsly. l"he sc110olboys who were depicted in thenl \!vere probably sixteel1 or seventeen years old, and were shovvn in line drawings of idealized youthful beauty. I suppose I projected a degree of friendship that probably wasn!t there. But, of course, vve kno\!v now that English boarding schools always had been hotbeds of homosexuality. And although, as I said/ the Inatter was never mentioned in the stories, it seems to rne that it would be very easy to interpret the stories that \\Tay. And, believe me, my imagination went wild! I gradually became an omnivorous reader. A lot of my readi11g ,vas not necessarily intellectual. I read everything by H. Rider Haggard and Conan Doyle and Verne and Dickens and most of H.G. Wells. I read all the Saint storjes by I-Ieslie Charteris, the Charlie Chan books! Agatha Cllristie, the Ellery Queen books, ErIe Stanley Gardner, and everything that Edgar Rice Burroug.hs ever V\!rote. And many biographies and autobiographies. I used to buy the old Doc Saz)age and The Shadol.o magazines every mOl1tl1. I also became very interested in poetry! and 1 read a vvide range of poets - Kipling, A.E. Housman, W11itman (one of my £avorites), Poc! the sonnets of Shakespeare! and so on. I simply gobbled up books in the library, at the corner of Dal1forth and Pape avenues. As I became aware of my ovvn interest i11 males/ I found th.at in those days! of course, there vvere very fevv referel1ces to homo­ sexuality in any of these books. There was Whitman/ \lvhen I finally discovered him, and Houslnan! \!VhOln I discovered when I vvas sixteen or seventeen, but even then I still kne\\7 very! very little. I had BEGINNINGS 19 a vague idea that there vvas some sort of a gay \tvorld out t11ere, but I k11evv nothing vvhatever about it. I don't knovv hoy\, life "vas for other kids. yVe're talking here about 1oronto in the late 1930s, and in my experierlce boys were a lot more iJ1Ilocent in those days than they are today. But, for SOll1e reason or other, by tl1e time I came across Housman!s A Shropshzre Lad and lvlore PocrHS, reading through those poeIus I had the distinct impreSS]CH1 that he vvas talking about vvhat I felt. I found some of thenl. to be absolutely 11eartbreaking. The work that really triggered gay a\varelless for me was nlY quite accidelltal discovery of ~rhe Picture (~f Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde. And although I vvas probably fifteen vvhen I read that book 1 instantly recognized myself as Basil Hallward. I \vas puzzled by Lord Henry Wotton, vvhom I thought \vas the salue, but since he "vas married ] couldn't quite figure that out. It didn't take long to tlnderstand that most gay luerl in the 18905 did get married. They were obligated to by society. And, as in the case of Lord Henry, it vvas clearly a marriage of convenience. Then 1 vvas puzzled by tlle fact that Dorian allegedly fell in love \''lith Sibyl Vane, but it \Ivas sometime later when I realized that she was just another pretty ornalnent that he \tvould add to his string of possessions, like jevvels and incense and tapestries and such. Whell I figured that luuch out, 1 then decided that I would have to find out vvho this man Oscar Wilde was. In those days it was difficult to find very much. There were books \vritten about him, but they vvere all so carefully veiled. When I was about twelve or thirteen years old, living next door to us, at 247 8ain Avenue, vvas an older English couple, Mr. and Mrs. Ethelbert Wright. They had three or four children, all of vvhonl died young, The last one, Buster, died of leukelnia when he vvas seventeel1. I already ]lad the hots for Buster, although Buster hardly knevv I existed. But Mr. and Mrs. Wright nlore or less took me under their wing, for some reason. I guess I becanle a surrogate son to them a11d began to spel1d a lot of tilne next door. Mr. vVright v'larked as a paper cutter al1d, although he vvas relatively uneducated, he had educated himself in certain areas th.at interested him. One of his passions \vas lepidoptery. He had acquired a huge collection of moths al1d butterflies and beetles! and 1 becanle very much interested in this, also. I began to develop such a collection Inyselt eventually ending up vvith hundreds of specirnens. By the time I \vas tllirteen or fourteen I realized tllat I was

sexually attracted to m,ales. 1'd never heard the vvords Ii gay" or 2U C .H ALL E" N G J .\[ G r HE CON 5 P I RAN C Y 0 r 5 l LEN C £

"homosexual" I think It must be difficult for someone today to believe that young felJows then had never heard these words, but it was certainly true in my case and amongst t.he boys I knew in working--class, east-end Toronto. AJthough I dldn't know these words, 1sure knew what I liked. I became sexually actJ\'e with some of the boys on the street Contrary to \tvhat has been said about me, that "at the age of thirteen jim Egan was picking up boys on the streets of Toronto," nothing could be further from the truth. The fact is that there were six or eight boys on the street about my own age, give or take a fe,,,, months. And vvhen I was thirteen, somehow or other, I haven't the fogglest remembrance of how lt all got started, we started sexual experimentatlOn with each other. It was no more than what that arch-hypocrite Lord Alfred Douglas described as "the usual schoolboy nonsense," which he alleged was all that ever happened between he and Oscar Wilde. But certainly it was nothing more than tlle usual schoolboy nonsense for me at the age of thirteen. One of the t.hings I quickly discovered with these kids was that while they all liked to fool around, they certalnly didn't want to talk about 1t. And I realized early on that it was something that could not be discussed, but it was a fun thing and you could do it anytime the opportunity arose. One of the factors that contributed to this experimentation among schoolboys was the fact that girls were not sexually active. Tn those days the typical girl had been thoroughly brainwashed by her mother, and society in general, into believing that her only hope for any kind of a life was to trap a hu band, to become" wife and mother. The bait in the trap was her virginity. Now, these girls would giggle and squeal and shriek and flirt and allow a boy to squeeze their ass, perhaps, but that's as far as it went.

The whole social scene ,vas entirelv_ different from todav.J So, by the time the boys got to be about fifteen they uddenly dis­ covered girls and to my absolute incredulity it appeared that they would rather hang around with this gaggle of screeching, screaming, giggling, pimply virgins than fool around in the garage or in the nearby empty house. /\nd I just learned to accept that. I didn't understand it. r \-vasn't interested in the glrlS at all, and never would be. [n fact, I later began to think that 1must be a positively unique gay man because, having started off with an awareness of my homosexual orientation at thirteen years old, I cannot ever recall having a conscious romantic or sexual interest in any female in my entire life. That doesn't mean Thaven't enjoyed women's company- BEGINNINGS 21

I've always had many women friends, both lesbIan and straight. But many of the gay men I've known have passed through a phase where they were either married or engaged or divorced or whatever. Also, for whatever reason, and I have no explanation for It, 1never spent so much as ten seconds agonizing over the fact that I was attracted to other males. I spent a lot of tlm.e lookillg for other males, but I certainly wasn't worried about it. For some reason I just took the whole thing in my stride as though that's the way It was, and r came to the conclusion that since I felt that way about other males there obviously must be other guys III the world who felt the same way as I did. As events subsequently demonstrated, r was quite correct. I found perhaps not more than I needed but a reasonable number so that I had lots of contacts, even when J was a kid. I suspect now, looking back Oil it, that Ilinet·y percent of those contacts were with boys who were simply horny kids. They \vere not gay. And, indeed, I went back to the old street, Bain Avenue, 'where I grew up, when J was about twenty-five years old. r just took part of a day and wandered down there and walked around and looked the old place all over. It hadn't changed a scrap. One of the boys that I had fooled around with on more than one occasion was sitting on his front doorstep, and I walked over and saId, "Hi, how are you? You must be Jack." And he said, "Yes, i am." I was 'Nearing a beard by that time and so 1 said, 'Tm Jim Egan. Do you remember me?" And he said, "Oh, yea, sure." So we sat dovvn and talked. I just casually asked, you know, where's Bill, and whcre's Allan, and where are the rest, and named them all. They were all married and were all parents by this time. So, fooling around, which was fairly extensive, certainly didn't hurt any of them as far as thei.r heterosexual development \-vas concerned. As for myself, by the time J got to be thirteen, as I say, I realized that J was more or less 111 a category by myself and I gradually developed into very much of a Joner. I had nothing in common with the kids on the street, beyond a little fooling arow1d, and they all began to acquire a great interest in sports, which never interested me at all. Except, I migllt say that Withrow Park had a large playmg field and every Saturday there were lacrosse games. And in those days the changing rooms were open. Many of the spectators used to wander in and. talk to the players. The players were all around eighteen or nineteen years old and r tell you [ \vas there like iron filings to a magnet, watching aJJ these drooly boys take off their clothes and put on their jockstraps, and so on. There were 22 CHALLENGING TI-IE CONSPIRANCY OF SILENCE absolutely no illhibitions anl0ngst thenl at alL They \vandered around stark naked, and l found it a 11105t attractive place and vvellt back after the game \lvas over. So I vvould sit through this dreary lacrosse gan1,e in order to elljoy the visions in the changing roolll! rnl not sure hovv old I vv'as \vhen I started school. .My motller vvas a convert to Catholicism, and like all COll\"erts V\fas a far tunre zealous

Catholic th.an nlanv,,' Catholics born to the faith. So I vvas enrolled in the separate school Holy Nanle, 'vv11ich. vvas at 690 Carla\v Avenue, just south of Dal1forth Avenue. There 1 acquired a life-long aversion to formal education. ] vvas taught by a gaggle of desiccated virgins knovvn as the Sisters of 51. Joseph, the lTIOSt 111iserable, vicious/ venomous collection of fenlales I think I ever Inet. I vvas a rotten, poor student and hovv I ever got through any of the grades during illy years at school I vvi11 ne\"er knc)\v. [ loathed and despised every m.inute of it. But, nevertheless, I lnanaged to graduate fronl that school vvhen I vvas fourteen. J "vas never a devout Catholic. My father vvas anything but devoutt but \vould obediently tag along to church Ofl Sunday vV1th Mother and Iny broth,er and myself. Mother djdn/t vvorry too nluch, I think/ about the nitty gritty details of Catholicism. In broad terms, she \vas a devout Catholic. She vvent to confesslon t she vvent to Holy COlnmunion, and she savv to it that vve vvere baptised and confirmed and the rest of it. But by the time I was fifteen/ and after my experience wit!1 the Sisters of St. Joseph/ 111ad decided t11at the entire theology \vas absolute hog\vash and I V\'anted nothing to do \vith it \tvhatever. For a short vvhile after I obediently went to ChllfCh/ to please Mother, but not for long. This does not Dlean that 1 did 110t develop strong spiritual beliefs later on. It was novv 1936 and time to go to high school. By then I h.ad an over\!vhelming urge to be a doctor. I ""vent througll Gray's Anatolny alld read a good portion of it/ and I read anotller book dealing vvitll physiology. The problem vvas/ although 1 didll't kno\lv it at the time, I realize that my mother lTIUst have applied for \veLfare/ because money vvas in short supply. Ob\-rio Llsly! \vith Illy fath.er dead, and \vith the Depression at its height, I had to make a decision about going to school. vYell, \lvhat I vva11ted to do, of course, \lvas go to h,igh 5c11001 and obtain grade thirteen (called senior nlatriculation in those days), vvhich \vould have e.nabled file to go on to nledical school. But 1 soon realized that Iny dream of becoming a doctor \vas an absolute llupossibiJity. l'here vvere no bursaries or grallts or scholarships or BEGINNTi'\G5 23

10a115 in those days. T'he only vvay I could have gone to medical school \vould have been to go to school and get Inyself a job at the san1e tilne. -LJ\11d 1 didn!t have sufficient confidence in nlyself tllat I \Ivould be able to do my studies and at the saIne tilne hold do\vn a job. So! ever the pragn1atist, I decided to go to the Eastern High SchooJ of Con11nerce and take a course in typing, bookkeeping! relatively simple mathelnatics! and so on. A general commercial course. I was never so bored in my life with the vvhole first year that I vvas there. It \vas just excruciating. We had 0111y two teachers of ability. One was a lvir. VVard, Wil0 taught a class that vvas a nlixture of physics! biologYI and chemistry. It \-vas a very superficial science course and I did very \veIl in it because I \lvas keenly interested in vvhat we vvere doing. And 11ly favorite class \,yras English literature, taught by ~lr. Chelsea I~ovve. If you can imagine parents inflicting a nan1e such as Chelsea on a son, especially in those days! I didn't think about it at tile till1e, but looking back l realize that Cl1elsea Rovve \vas a dear old queen \vho lived in a state of perpetual frustration because 1110St of the young clods in the class had no more interest in English literature than I had in learning to speak Svvahili. If on the other 11and, vvas his absolute favorite, because I l1ad a suppleluentary reading list that "vas pages long. But the consequence of that suppleluentary reading list was that I failed my first year dislnally, except in English literature and in the science class. So I decided! all right, I'll repeat, and this time I will put my mind to it and really try to get through this thing. However! I went back and at the end of tvvo months I just realized that this was not for me. That takes care of my so-called education. Whatever education I may have I acquired entirely on my own through extensive reading. Most of my reading was quite randonl. But then one day, \rvhile 1 vvas walking dovvn Bain Aven.uel this ]j ttle Scotsvvoman l1amed Mrs. Burns scuttled off the verarlda vvhe11 she savv nle carrying these books and she inquired what I vvas reading. She ga\re me tIle best advice that anybody ever gave me in 111y life, alld for \vhicl1 I vvill be eternally grateful. She said, flRead e\rerything you can get your hands on. While you're reading, ha\'e a pad and a pencil beside you and a dictionary, and every time you (()Ine to a v'lord and you don't kno\'v the 111eaning, look it up in the dictionary and \tyrite it dovvn. If you go to the library and you search for son1ething to il1terest you! alld you can't find anything that you're really interested in! just take a book off 24 CHALLENGING THE CONSPTRANCY OF SILENCE the shelf. It doesn't matter what the book is, just take it home and read it, and learn new words and learn hoyv to sp ak." During this time 1 had an uncle by marriage, Wilbur .lewison, who'd married my father's sister Maggie. His roots were in Marmora, Ontario, which is in the Peterborough district. After Maggie died and he retired from Bell Telephone in Toronto, Wilbur purchased a home in a small village called Bailieboro, and remarried. And as there was little work in Toronto in 1937, he suggested that 1 come out there, and that with his connections - he knew everyone for miles around - he would get me a job worklllg on a family farm. And sOIl did. At the age of sixteen I left Toronto and vvent out to BaiJieboro, and I stayed there working on family farms until I was almost eighteen. r was wiry and strong in those days. My experience on tbe farm was one I will always cherish. 1always loved working on the farm, doing genera] work sucb as ploughing, bringing in the hay, the silage, milking cowSI feeding the pigs - all those things.

Jim Egan, ca. 1936. Charles and Jim Egan. 1937. Chapter Two: Wartime and After: Gaining Gay Experience

A few months before.1 turned eighteen I was lllvolved in a relatively l111110r automobile accident. j'd ledfned to call square dances and was lJ1 great demand in the Peterborough area. This yOlmg fellow and I were comulg back from a dance one night tn his father's car and we ran into a great Clydesdale horse that had broken out of the pasture. In those days, water was put mto the radiator of the car through the cap ornan\l'nt at the front of hood. When '''le hit the horse the orn­ ament was smashed, broke loose, and came through the windshield. As a result I got a sliver of glass in my left eye that resulted in a corneal scar. Canada declared war on Germany on 10 September 1939, less than two weeks before my eighteenth birthday. [ came down to Toronto shortly after I turned eighteen and wanted to Join the Army. By this time I was developing itchy feet like you wouldn't believe. I had no idea that I would e\'er want to settle down anywhere. .1 had read all of Richard Halliburton's books and books on soldiers of fortune and travel and beatl.ng your way around the world. When I went to enlist I was acceptable to them except for the corneal scar. In those days, with the war just nicely under way, they were taking only those men who were in A-] condition. They agreed that 1 could join the Army If j had an operatlon to remove the corneal scar. Well, I didn't even know this scar was there and I had no intention of allowing anyone to fool arow1d and try to remove it, since it really wasn't a problem. I refused, and \-vas given a discharge, which meant I was absolutely free from call-up to the Army. During this time I had been reading a great deal about medicine. j also became quite interested in natural history and read voluminously on that subject. I realized that I was going to have to get a job of some kind. Of course, most of the able-bodied men were heading off to war and plenty of Job opportunities were coming available. So, with my interest in medicine and natural history, I applied for a job as departmental technician with the University of Toronto Department of Zoology Although Tcertainly dIdn't have the qualificatlOns and experience, they were so desperate for someone that they hued me. In my new position I tc1Ught myself all 1 needed to know as [went along. I embalmed rabbits and preserved frogs. I learned a technique in whIch the blood systems of these animals are iJljected with red

25 26 C HAL LEN G[ NeT HEC O~"\J S P! RAN C Y 0 F S I LEN CE latex in the arteries, and bl ue in the vems. Wlwn the latex sets (like a rubber band) it enables the student, when dissecting the animal, to distinguish arteries from veins. I also had a large lab at my disposal and learned to make microscope slides. Eventually, I churned out hundreds of slides of nerve, muscle, and brain tissue. After spending about a year at the University of Toronto 1 went to the Connaught Laboratories, which was virtually next door. [ worked in the insulin production department, which was little more than a factory job. There was nothing very scientific about it. I found it to be a mechanical busmess and rapidly became fed up. Then, one day, a tall, distinguished gentleman showed up. Nobody knew who he was, but he was wandering around all over the labs. He engaged me in conversation and asked me some general questions, and then away he went. The next thing I knew, he asked that 1be posted to him as an assistant. At this time there was a dreadful shortage of typhus vaccine, which was required for the war effort. As far as J remember, there was none being produced in Canada. So it was decided that Dr. Raymond Parkel~ the tall, distinguished gentleman, would come up to Toronto and open a laboratory within the Connaught Labs to develop a method for producing typhus vaccine. This involved an awful lot. [ didn't realize what J ,·vas getting myself into. Dr. Parker was a brilliant man in his field!. He had worked for years in virology at the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, in New York, and had studied under the great Alexis Carrel 2 But Dr. Parker wasn't a very practical person. So much of the practical end of the work fell on me. I'm not c0111plaining about it, because I enjoyed it. Ultimately, over a period of time, we developed a method of producing the vaccine, and perfected the method. Once that was done we moved on to other research. Dr. Parker was interested in pursuing his tissue culture experiments. He'd written the book Methods of Tissue Culture and wanted to pursue cancer research using tissue culture methods:>. I got to work with him on that for awhile. Soon another man, Dr. J.W. Fisher, came into the lab, because it was far too big a space for the amount of work we were doing. At that time the poliomyelitis epidemic was rampant in Toronto, and one of the things they wanted to determine 'vvas if it was possible for hOLlseflies to transmit the polio virus. We went through quite a few experiments and determined that indeed the housefly could transmit polio. Eventually I had a disagreement with Dr. Parker, and I decided vVARTIlVIE AND AFTER 27 tl1at I vvould lea\'e-+. And I did! and that is vvhen I joined the Inerc11ant navy. This tilne they weren't so concerned abCHJt In)" eye" I joined up in 19431 for approxiJnately the last t'\;VO years of the \rvax. The first ship 1 vI/as on ,",vas a Nor\/I/egian ship under British registry, the Konge S[)crre. I vvorked as an ordinary scanlan and nlade somethiI1g like a hundred 311d forty dollars a Dlonth, ]"}1ere \vas no overtirrte pay, and I alnlost died frorn the an10unt of fish 1 had to eat. I \vas on the Konge Sverre for a year and t\VO mOIlths! and for the lE\st three or fOUT lnonths I practically lived on bread and peanut l)uttel~ because 1 couldl1't face al1c)ther piece of fish On TI1Y maiden voyage \!ve left NcV\.! York C=jty vVltb a load of wheat, destiIled for Baril ItaJy. The vvar had just barely ended illltaJy. We threaded our vvay throllgh tlle harbour at Baril t11rough aU the half-submerged Sllip\vrecks; only' to find thclt the unloading equipn1ent had been damaged. Ordinarily the vvIl.eat \A/ould be llnloaded th.rough great suction vaCUUlns, but they 11ad all been smashed to pieces fronl the bon1bing. So the wlleat had to be unloaded by hand, which vvas a tretnendous job artd took several weeks. .it\s a result I had a great opportu11ity to visit Bari and other tOvvns in the vicil1ity. Most of tlle guys I knevv in tile merchant flavy \'vere nice people, but sometimes a bit rough around the edges. Generally at nigllt everyone \!vould go ashore, and someone \vould ask, IfAre you going to go ashore tonight, Jinl?!! And r'd say,. JJNo! I don't think so." And I didn't. I didn't vvant to go ashore V\Tith those fellovvs at all because, even though] enjoy dri:nking, I don!t drink the \lvay they drank. I / cOll1dn t keep up vvith them in tl1e bars, and there vvould be no pleasure for me. So r d say J vvas going to read l and I'd stay on board ship until all t11e guys had gone \,\...110 \ivere going ashore! and then II d go ashore by myself. And after lId said no n1aybe tvvice f they did_n't ask me an)/ more. I'hey just picked up that 1 vvasn!t lnterested in going ashore vvith then!. ~1embers of the ere\-v ",vere quite often hard·-drinking heterosexuals vvith limited interests. It didn't lnatter vvhere vve vvere, an_d it didn't matter vvhat there V\.Ias to see, alllTIOst of Thein e\,'er did was hit the first barl load up! get blind drunk! alld then head to the nearest vvhorehouse. And that vvas it! T'hey did tllis every night they \vent ashore. It came to be quite a joke. ()n the rnorning \'ve \vere to set saiL the erevv vvould shovv up on the ship and the)/d all have terrible ha11govers as they!d really put on a load of booze the nigllt 28 CHALLENGING THE CONSPIRANCY OF SILENCE

Jim peeling potatoes in the merchant navy, ca 1943. \IV ART I 1\1 E AND A F' TE R 29 before. By the next day everyone had sobered up again, and they'd all sit around and say; //\rVhat a lousy hole th,at vvas. Shit, f'd never \vant to go back there again." r\nd all they'd ever seen. of the place vvas the first bar, and the nearest whorehouse! On my o\lvn trips ashore 1 alvvays dreaded running into them. I had a very awk\vard situation Oll.Ce in Bari. 1. vvalked into a trattoria t11ere and sat dovvn and \vas having a few drinks and suddenly realized there vvere a lot of female hookers around the place. Th.ey were drifting in and out. I suppose at that tinle there vvere thousal1ds of Italian girls who had turned to prostitution because of conditions, I \vas just sitting there paying 110 attention and one or two of them wandered over to the table and I just shook my head, a11d they went away again. Suddenly five or six of the guys from the ship came in! and they savv me sitting t11ere by ll1yself. So they all came over and joined the table. Well, no sooner l'1ad tlley joiI1ed me than the place vvas surrounded by these hookers, \\/110 recognized fhat these guys were probably interested, even if I \lvasn't. J felt trapped. Under those circumstarlces, it's difficult to say flO to a very attractive young Italian WOluan. Tllere \vas a young woman who sat beside me, and when things started to break up and everyone left together I ""vent with her. We got outside and I said; "Look, w11ere do you Ilve?!! And she said, "Not too far from here." I asked her how much she charged! and 1 think I remember it was five thousand lire. So I said that I \t\Tould go with her, and pay I1er the Inoney, but I didll't want anything. She looked at me and said, "You are queer?" I asked how she knew. And she said, iiI anl just an ign.orant girl, and about most thillgS I know

110thing. But about men, I kno\v everything,I! I agreed to go vvith her, and she said, "Do not worry, 1 \vUl say nothing." I followed her, and vve walked into this big apartment block. Her n10ther and father and grandmother vvere there, and tvvo or three brothers and sisters. They were all sitting arolu1d talki11g, and we ''\Talked straight through the room an,d into her bedroom. Everybody knew abollt it, but nobody said a vvord. I felt very embarrassed about the whole thing. So we slept together in the same bed, and 11ad a good night's sleep. It probably did illy reputation a world of good vvith the crew! That \tvas my sole experience with a fenlale, and that vvouldn't have happened if I'd had my own vvay. From Bari vve \vent to Beirut, then to a place in Turkey called Iskenderun, and finally dc)\vn through the Suez Canal. The Konge 30 C HAL LEN GIN G THE CON S P 1 RAN C Y 0 F 5 I LEN CE

Sverre vvas a tralnp steaJner! and vve vvent froin port to port to port. Eventually v\/e ended up In Sydney, Australia, and because I vvas a British subject I \vas allo'rved to payoff th.e ship. I then fulfilled the anlbition of every rnerchant searnan in th.ose days. Everybody V\Tanted to get on a,n Anlerjcan ship because the \r\/ages d11d C011ditions vvere infinitely superior to those of other shipping lilles. As opposed to a hundred and forty dollars a m011th! the lowest pay on the Alnerican ships \vas fOllf hundred a month. In those days that was good money. f\S my II-ext of kin, Iny lYtother received a free ten thousand dollar life i11sural1ce policy on me. l"here was full ll1edical coverage for sickness or injury. Corlditians on board ,/vere excellel1t ­ it was a1n105t like travelling ecollonlY class today. A11d anyone w110 signed up on an An1E'rican ship \vas eligible to join the American Seaman's lJnion upon returning to the States. I served on A.lnerican ships for tIle balance of the \ivar! and also after\vard. ~rhe one [ relnember best is the Juan N. Seguinc, a Liberty Ship freighter. "r11ere \vere roughly thirty-five men in the crew, and six or eight officers. l'he war \'vas exciting and thrilling for me. r got to see a lot of the vvorld .- Lon.doll! the Mediterranean, North Africa, Australia, the Philippines" Nevv Guinea. I vvas very fortunate in that I was never sunk. We vvere dive bombed and chased by submarines. 1 spent a lot of time in Ne\'v GUInea, when the Japanese were still at war with tile Americans! and tJ1€ Japanese \\rould con1e over and drop bombs on or at the ship. 1'his happened especially at Port -Moresby, where the docking facilities vvere non-existent an.d vve \'vere anc}lored out in the bay. As a young gay n1an, and one \;\'ho \vas still very naive, it took me avv11ile to figure out that there vvas a real gay vvorld out there. I eventually realized, of course, by going to places like London and Sydney, and Halnburg after the \var, that there \vas an incredible gay under\vorld in all these places. And while I donft kno\'v what t11e legal situation \'vas in ma11Y of them! the autllorities closed a blind eye to it.

Duril1g the \lvar the bars that "vere thought of as II gay!! in these various ports vvere cran1n1ed every night of the vveek vvith i\llied forces people. You'd see un,iforrns froil1 every Olle of t11e Allied forces - M,arines aIld sailors and Air Force - and ranks up to majors a11d colo11els. E\reryolle \'vas in uniform" an.d there vvas never any question of hassLing those bars. They!d have decinlated the Allied ranks if they \\7 r'\ Rf I l'vl E AND A FT E R 31 had! 'The authorities sinlply closed an eye to it aJld allovved these places to operate. It \vas a U very exciting. There/s a vvonderfuJ book by i\l1an Berube called (~otlljng Out Under F'ire: TIlt! l-fistory of Gay lvIen and Wonlfn in VVorld vVar Tzoo 5. It tells about }lo\\r so many young rnen vvho had been livillg in small tovvns or s111all cities \rvere svvept up in the draft. During the time they \\'ere living at 11cnne they knevv of their feelings for ()ther men, but they hadn't a clue as to vvhat vvas going on. ~r11e vvar changed that, allo\/vir\g thenl to see the 'vvorld and nleet otllers like theIn.selves, sonl(::~times in these bars. I also renlember a book caJled The Gallery, by John Horne Burns6, ()ne of the stories in it! "Momnla," is set in a Neapolitan gay bar and gives a very good idea of the type of activities that \vent on in such places dllring or just after the war.

Tremenlber \vhen I \vas in London l sOlnetilne in 1944 or 1945. I \,vent to Piccadilly Circus! \tvhjch vvas one of the favorite cruising grou11ds, and Jllet this young guy_ We got into a conversation. He was obviously cruising, and so vvas 1. vVe ended up in bed later on. He told me that when he \'vas drafted into the ATlny he \vas so Lltterly frustrated because he knevv lle \vas gay and, being around all these guys in the barracks and t]1e shovvers, he didn't knovv what to do about it. f1e didn/t kno,,\, \vhere to go to ll1eet other guys \lvho had the same feelings. At that time there \'vas an organization called t11e U.S.O., run by

the Americansl which h,ad a huge centre in London called the Rainbo\'v Corners. It was a place vvhere servicemen could go for relaxation i11 tIle evenillg. They had pool tables/ and desks WitJl envelopes, and papers, and \'arious gan1es like cards, and so on. One of the things they did \'vas give out tickets to all the big theatrical performances in LJoIldon. So this boy was there one night and one of the vvonlen gave him a ticket to go to a variety 5110 \IV. At tl1e s110w there vvas a staJld-up comedian \vho made a comment about hovv thick the London fog was that night. He said, Jiles alnlost as thick as the fairies in Piccadilly Circus,lI This boy's ears pricked up, and he thought, JiHnlmm. TJiccadilly/ Circus. Nlaybe that's \v}lere people like fI D1e meeL lIe \-vent dOvvn there later and \\las only there for ten lnlnutes before he lllet his first gay man and had his first gay experience. In its o\vn \vaYI this sort of remark served as all indirect liaison service for gay InCH. ()f cou,rse, the COll1ic didn/t realize the service he "vas providing. But Piccadilly Circus vvas, at tIle 11eight of the vvar; just fantastic! 32 C HAL LEN CI N G r HE CO.\; 5 J' 1R A 1\ C Y 0 F 5 I L E 1\ CE

I can't say, though, that 1 WJtnessed much gay activity on board ship. Idid meet two guys on one American ship I suspected were gay. One of them didn't interest me In the least. The other one interested me greatly, but it was not a good idea to be known. I personally never experienced any hanky panky aboard ship. There was a Jamaican cook on one of my ships. He was gay and made no bones about it. But I don't thi.nk he had anything to do with any of the crew members. r remem.ber that when we were m Italy there was an endless stream of cute young Italians in and out of the ship. They w'ere aU getting SOl1"le sort of pay. You know, they weren't doing it because they were gay. In many of the places that we visited, espeCIally shortly after the war, a very substantial percentage of young men ,",v ere available. This was especiany true in North Africa. You had to be careful, actuaJly, in the outdoor cafes about looking at anybody too steadily for more than a split second, because they'd come right over to the table, and they'd be expecting a packet of cigarettes, and a cake of soap, and so on. Right after the war I left the rnerchant navy, but only for a few months. I had two friends in Toronto, young guys about my own age who were both as straight as they come. They were interested in biology, too, and I suggested that the three of us get together and form a small biological supply company. And we did form the Ontario Biological Supply Company, but it didn't work. The company only survived about six months because the two of them were too carefree and irresponsible. They believed that self­ employment meant only having to vvork when you felt like it. I found I was doing most of the work, and decided to jOlll the merchant navy again. Late in 1947 1 decided to give up the merchant navy for good, and return to Toronto. I really loved life in the navy, but also realized that everyone I had met who'd been in it for many years was little more than a drunk. Some of them were really great guys - diamonds in the rough but r was afraid of getting sucked into that way of life. I decided it was time to do something else. Chapter Three: Living the Gay Life in Post-War Toronto

While I vvas in the n1erchant navy I didn't spend a great deal, so \'Vhel1 I came back to Toronto in 1947 1 had n10ney in the bank. I lounged around for avvhile before taking a job at a little restaurant called the Tea Pot Dome Tea Roon1s [located belo\,\l street level at 1 Adelaide Street East]. It was one of the popular gay spots for lunch. ] heard about it, so I went dovvn an.d applied for a job as kitchen helper. I was curious about \vhat is known as plastic fabrication. There were plants in Toronto that made, say, plastic ballpoint pens, and large plastic bUtt011S for 'woDlen's fur coats. At the time I vvas staying in a rooming house at 28-30 Grosvenor Street. There vvere a couple of other gay boys staying in the house! vvhich vvas run by Mrs. Jane Gynn! a delightfully eccentric \VOnlan. One of th,e boys vvorked at this fabrication plant and said that 1 could get a job there easily. So I went down a11d applied for a job al1d got work inl1Tlediately. T found it really very interesting for tvvo or three n1.onths, but soon grevv bored. J took these little jobs just for sOlnething to Lio. 1 certainly had 110 ambitions about being in the plastics or the restaurant business. It was a fill-in. At that tilne I didn't have any .particular ambition to do anything. After I returned to Toronto 1 thought for the first tinle about investigating the local gay world. Apart from my experiences overseas in gay bars, I had not actively participated in the gay life. ()f course, in the 19405 there were fe\'\! places for gay men to meet in Toronto: a few parks! washrooms, several bathhouses, theatres! a fevv beverage roon1S and restaurant hangouts, and private parties. I had heard about the Savarin Hotel and a couple of other places. The local tabloid scandal sheets like Flash/ Hush Free 1)res5, and Justice 1;Veekly sometimes mentioned the gay spots around to\Vl1. But after I started going to the Savarin, to the Ford .Hotet and to the King Cole Room at the Park Plaza Hotel, I realized that \vhile I still fully accepted that I "vas gay, and had no intention of even thinki11g of changing! I did not \vant to continue living \\That T vvould call a promiscuous life. I \vas never \rvildly promiscuous. r 11e\'er \vent to tl1e steam baths/ not because 1thou,ght that there \vas anything \A/fong vvith it! but sin1ply because that vvasn't my idea of hovv to l1ave sex. I decided that I \;\!anted to 111eet another guy and settle dOvvn vvith hinl for the rest of my life. The Savarin I-lotel [located at 336-44 Bay Street] had the first gay

33 3.+ Cf-IALLENGING T.HE CONSPIRANCY OF SILENCE

The Savarin Hotel, Toronto, ca. 1952. Photo by William E. vvl1ittingham, Peake and Whittingham Ltd LIVING THE GAY LIFE IN POST-WAR TORONTO 35

The beverage room, Savarin Hotel, Toronto, ca. 1952. Photo by William E. Whittingham, Peake and Whittingham Ltd. L E CINe THF ONSPIRANCY OF SILENCE

';"\'P";)"" mum I weill to tn Toronto. At that time It was one of the most popular gay spots in town It wa" by no means exclusively gay but a great many of the customers there were gay men. The bars were strictly segregated m those days - there were no women in the men's side were confined to the Ladies and Escorts side of the bar. And I notlCed that the men would come in and so many of them would know each other. I hadn't observed that in the past. My previous experience in gay bars was to go in to pick someone up. I had reasonJble success in that, but that was really the extent of my interest l!l them. to know other gay men who frequented the S,warin. And one night I walked in and my brother, Charles, was there, sitting with a table of shrieking faggots. This was the first time I knew he was gay Charlie and Cwhen we were young, did not get at all. 1couldn't stand him, and I think he looked upon me as an inteUectual snob. He was always scatterbrained and giddy. 1 don't think we ever discussed our gayness, it just graduaHy came to be accepted between us. Charlie was absolutely not interested ill gay liberation; he'd say let's do it, not talk about it. Later on, I came to appreclate him, We used to go out and drink beer. Charlie had a tremendous sense of humour, and a capacity for beer like you wouldn't believe l Early on, when J was coming into the gay world in Toronto, I shrank from overtly effeminate, queenly gay men, [n my earlier experiences in gay places in Europe and the United States, though, I didn't mind them at all. It's funny 'when I stop and look back on it. Lcater on, 1had many street queens as friends, and J loved them all. In mv to find a steady partner J met probably three men that J was madly in lust with. But I never actually fell in love with any of them. [don't believE' in this expression "love at first sight." It lTlay be true for some people, but it certainly isn't true for me. I don't see how I could ever fal1 in lovE' with somebody with whom I did not have a lot in common. I might meet an attractive young man at a bar one night and after a little conversation we might end up in bed and have an apocalyptic night of it. But lf m the mornmg he told me he was the Crand Imperial Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, any thought of falling In love with him would have gone straight out the window. Mind you, this would not havE' interfered with the fact I was in lust ,vithhim, and I'd be perfectly wi11mg to go back to bed. But there would be no thought in my mind of having a continuing relationship with him. LIVING THE GAY UFE IN POST-WAR TORONrO 37

Well, one young man I met, who ended up commlttmg sUICIde, was so good looking. J'd lwver seen anyone ilS good lookmg He made a pass at me one mght and we ended up in bed dnd had a vvonderful time oj it. But I knew perfectly well that any attempt to form a permanent relationship with him VVdS doomed to failure He was pursued constantly by older men and he could not reslst flirtation. He simply wasn't Inade of the stuff that makes for being in a permanent relationship. The other young man wIth whom I fell madly In lust would never, ever, admit that he was gay, although in my optnJOn he was as gay as I was. I knew it wouldn't work between us. And I had enough control over my emotions that J would never put myself mto a position that would lead to a broken heart. That's what it would have amounted to. rt was 111 the Savarin that 1 first met Jack Nesbit. When J went there quite often J'd see a man called Dick Nelson. He was at least fifteen years older than me. Dick was a nice guy, but we had no physical interest in each other. Sometimes he'd be sitting alone and I'd go over and join hml. He was quite a reader, too, and we'd sip beer and talk about books. Dick gave me the first explicitly gay novel that I ever read, Core Vidal's Tile City alld the Pillar2. We'd also sit there and eyeball the young stuff coming into the Savarino We were both interested in the guys twenty to tvventy-two years old. Dick knew some of them, and I gradually got to know a few of them, too. One night we were sitting there admiring the young men and Jack Nesbit and Larry Rowdoll came in. Jack and Larry were what you would call "sisters," as the saying was in those days. They went out together in the evening for beers. Jack had met Dick, thIS fri.end of mine, so \vhen they passed the table Dick said, "Hi, Jack. How are you?" Jack came over, and Dick introduced m.e to Jack and I fell instantly in lust. I was smitten with Jack! About two weeks later I decided to go out to have a beer and I went to the King Cole Room at the Park Plaza Hotel. It was about evenly split gay and straight, with a lot of students from the University of Toronto. On that nIght Jack was sitting in the King Cole Roorn with three or four other gay m.en. He'd been drinking glllte a bit and was feeling no pam, ilS the saying goes. Jack savv Ine sittmg further dovvn in the bar and sort of beckoned to me. j picked up my glass and went to join them at the table. Then Jack said something !.ike, "I've been asking all these guys If they want to go steady with 38 C HAL LEN GIN G THE CON 5 P ] RAJ C Y 0 F 5 r LEN CE me, and none of them will. How about you? Would you like to go steady with me?" Ever the pragmatist.l replied, "Now just a minute. This is rather sudden. Maybe we ought to get to know each other better fi rs t." Well, we made a date to meet the next night, and 1 don't remember what we did. We started to go out together for long walks, and [ think we went to a couple of the Promenade concerts. We found that we had interests in common, and on 23 August 1948 we made a commitment to each other. Although we didn't know it at the time, as things turned out we had more in common than ,ve realized, which helped us to be a successful gay couple. For one thing, at that time neither of us had much money. [ was down to a few dollars in my bank account, and Jack had about thirty dollars in his. Neither of us, we discc)\'ered, was the slightest bit interested in style or fashion or fancy clothes, as many gay men were. ThIS meant nothing to us at all. We also recognized fairly early on in the relationship that we both dreamed of owning our own horne outright, without a mortgage on it. In order to accomplish that, we were prepared to work hard and economize. Finally, we were lucky in that we had no family problems. My mother had spent time as a young woman in Monte Carlo, and had known gay people. Shortly after 1 met Jack I decided I should tell her r was gay. Mother never turned a hair. Her only comment was, "As long as you're happy, dear, that's the only thing that's important." When 1 brought Jack home for the first time, she took to him like another son and they had a wonderful relationship for as long as she lived. Within a few weeks of meeting Jack 1 moved in with him. Jack's parents managed the Cotswold Court Apartments [at 164 Cumberland Street, near the University of Toronto]. Jack and 1 lived there in a tvvo-room suite downstairs. Jack's parents were, in the kindliest sense of the word, simple people. They treated me like another son. I think they may have had some vague understanding of the nature of my relationship with Jack, but 1 don't know for sure that they exactly lmderstood what was going on. I do remember one night, though, driving them out for dinner. Jack and r had been together for three or four years. At some point, right out of the clear blue sky, Mrs. Nesbit spoke up from the back seat and said, "You know, now 1 can die happy because Jack's found someone who can look after him." And that was all that was said about it, but it seemed to me to indicate that she had some idea about what was going on. LIVING THE GAY LIFE IN POST-vVAR TORONTO ]CJ

When I 11let Jack he vvas tvventy-one and "vas vYorking at the Provincial Audit Office at Queen's Park as a Clerk Group T11ree office boy. Jack )"vas ahJ\rays interested in hairstyling/ and \A/hile \:ve \vere still living on Cumberland Street he quit this job and took a course in professional hajrstylil1g. For a nun1ber of years after/ Jack would run his o\:vn hairstyling business an.d would on occasion nlallage other people's Sl10pS. During nlY bOle at the University of 1'or011to in the early 19405/ preparing biological specinlens/ I had come i11tO contact vvith a man by t11e nanle of Troyer. He operated a one-man biological supply business, collecting and preserving biological specin1ens for schools and universities. One l1ight in the sumnler of 1949 Mr. Troyer shovved up at our apartment on Cumberlal1d Street. His business vvas expanding and he couldn't hand]E~ the work alone. He offered me a job at his place/ vvhich vvas at Oak I{idges, about fifteen lniles north

i of T'oronto. With the job \lvent a small houset irnmediately adjacent. J talked it o\rer vvith Jack and V\re decided vve'd leave l-oronto. By this tinle vve vvere getting pretty vvell fed up vvith the gay \\rorld there. Betvveen us vve had dozens of gay friends, and in those days there vvere parties every vveekend. I don't knovv }10\J\T \ve sur\..rived as a couple in that atmosp11ere, but \lve did:i. I~ate in 1949 \lve moved up to Oak Ridges. We COl1tinued to see a fair few friends/ as it "vas on.ly a fevv miles north of Toronto and it made for a nice Sunday afternoon drive. But vve gradually stopped seeing many of then1 because most of the gay people we kne\lv di.d not vvant to live as Jack and I did. l'he iliea of living in the country was anathenta to them. But it vvas great for us, and it gave us an opl-Jortunity to 11ave the first home of our ovvn. 40 CHALLENGING THE CONSPIRANCY OF SILE TCE

Jack Nesbit and Jim Egan, ca. 1949.

The house at Oak Ridges, Ontario. LeVING THE GAY LIFE IN POST-WAR TORONTO -1-]

Christmas dinner at Oa k Ridges, 1949

Jim and Jack at Oak Ridges, 1954. Chapter Four: Challenging th,e Conspiracy of Silence: Jim Egan's Emergence As a Gay Activist during the 19508

Toronto could be a dangero-us place for gay men during the late 19405 and 19505. Police entrapnlellt vvas alvvays a serious threat for tl1e nlany fi1en \vho went cruisi11g. Every once in a \vhile tilere vvould be a crackdo\tvn on Iisexual perversion,l! and all tlle activities at the tIleatres and parks and other gay cruising areas would come under scrutiny. The \t\!ashrooms at High Park became a reg'ular police target. The police might concentrate on one area, say r{igh Park; and then svvoop do\vn on other places, such as I)hilosopher's VValk at tIle University of Toronto! the HOlley Devv Coffee Sh_op [at 321 Yortge Streett or the Rio Theatre [at 373 Yonge Streetp. S0111etilnes the police used their youl1ger recruits as bait. The police cadets were of legal age but looked about eig11teen years old, and they'd dress jn skintight blue jea_ns and drop around to the lTIOst popular cruising spots of the day. They vvould sprawl out on a park bench, and callout a friendly iiHi/ hovv are you tonight/' to any tnan \vho passed. 1 need scarcely say that this vvas an open invitation to a gay lllan to stop and chat. If tl1ings didn't move quickly erlough, the young man might then stretch out and rub his crotch and say, "Oh, man, aln I ever feeliJ1g horny tonight." We]], that's all it took. As soon as tIle gay ll1an laid a hal1d on him, bang, he was arrested and charged vvith con1mitting an act of gross indecency. I talked with several gay TI1en vV110 were trapped in thjs manner. In some cases the cadet \tvas feeling horny and allowed the gay nlan to give hin1 a blovv job, only to arrest hini later. Once the gay man \vas charged and hauled into court there vvas absolutely nothing l1e could say in 11is o\'vn defence. For him to tell the court that this young U1an had agreed to a sexual encounter \t\7ould have seemed unbelievable. And so they vv'ere always convicted. The pe11alty \tvas uSllally a fine of about a hundred dollars. The real danger in conviction \vas having your narne, age, and sometimes even occupation and address pri11ted in the local scandal slleets; vvrhich vvere always interested in publishing ne\J\'s of local 11 sex crimes." Papers like Hush Free Press and

Justice Vv!eekly delighted in covering the II disgusting sex orgies" of members of the "limp-\'vrist set," or t11e l'knothole club." Publication of one's name in such an article vvas an l111mitigated disaster, especially for those 111en \vho \vere closeted or married2. 1 think the majority of gay In€n that I knevv in Toronto dllTing the

42 A GAY ACT1VIST DURING Tl-IE 19505 43 late 19405 and 19505 vvere reasollabl)! C()l'lte.nt \..vith their lot. \Vhile there \vas no such thlllg as a gay rights or gay liberation lTIOVelnent at the tilne/ this really didn!t l11atter to n10st of theIn, 1~oronto just vvrasn't the sort of placE:' tllen "vhere many gays vvould 11a ve supported an organized gay rights group. I\1ost gay lTlen at the tln1e did ha\re to keep their sexuality hidden frenn fanlily; friends; and the boss! but as loflg as that 'vvas done there v\/ere places to l11eet places to cruise; cl11d so on. i\nd if you vvere unable to accept the fact you \vere gay! and you vval1ted ic) stay i.n the cl()set it \vas relatively silnple to do so. in those days, ITlernbers of straight sOclet)/ generally didn't ha\le a clue about gay people. 'Tvvo Inen gOlng to rent an apartrnent alinost ne\/cr ran into problern.s because i.t vvould never occur to the lalldiord that they rnight be a gay- couple. So, although there was a honl0ph.obic social clirrlate during t11is period that cried out for charlge, I think itls irnportant to 110te that the situation vvas not entirely bad After the vvar there \Alas increasing n1ention of hOlYlOSexuality in the mainstrealTI press. T11is vvas no doubt influenced by the pllblication in '1948 of Dr. Alfred Kinsey's Sexual Behavior in the J-Iurnan IV1ale3; as vvell as popular novels vvith gay content such as Gore Vidal's The C'ity and the Pillar i1948]. 1 used to brovvse through the D1ainstrearn Dlagazlnes and vvouJd often see articles on homosexuality. Argosy's publication 111 August 1949 of Allen Church.ilrs "What Is a HC)l110Sexual?,f! \!vith its sensation,a] subheadil1g if Here are the fran.k and startling facts of a plague \vhich, accordillg to [)r. KinseYI has touched 37°/~) of i"\luerica's men/I vvas a typical example4. Even thougll hODl0sexuality \vas coming under the spotlight, it vvas alnlost al\vays vie\rved as an ab110rmality or sickness. There v\rere never any articles published fron1 the gay point of vievl, \I\rhich in Illy mind equalled a conspiracy of silence all. the true nature of homosexuality. SOfie of these articles vvere 1110re outrageous than others. Take the example of I{alph H. Ivlajor Junior's ilNe\\/ Moral rvlenace to OUf Youth/' published in Coronet in September 1950. The preface to this article states that "Qualified editors and researchers spellt six 1110nths collectil1g 111.aterial; inter\rievving authorities, and evatuating inforluation. The result is a significant survey of the entire subject as it endarlgers the youth of America .... " The article proceeds to discuss the supposed dangers posed by hoo10sexuals preying 011 children, and supports its claints by' quotIng incredible COlnn1ents made by 44 CT--fAlLENGING THE CONSPII\ANCY OF SILENCE public officials. F'-or example, Eugene D. VVUhanls, Special j\ssistant

Attorney (~eneral of the State of (~ali.forniat is quoted as follc)\!\/s: Iii /\1.1 too often" \t\re lose sight of the fact t11at the hOlnosex-ual is art inveterate sedllcer of tIle young of both sexes, and that he presents a social problelTI because he is not content \vith being degenerate hinlself; he tnust haDe degenerate cOlnpal1/C.l/'lS f and IS ever seekIng younger 5 uzctirns [emphasis hisJ ,'ff 'This is the sort of thing that used to absolutely infuriate me. 1 would read something like that and r d get so goddan111ed furious J vvouJd be l.narticulate. ]-his fury is vvhat really prolTIpted .me to start vvriting letters to these publications in 1949, \vhile vve vvere at ()ak l\.idges, and \VhlCh launched n1e on the road to public gay activisn1, Today we may look back at Major's article and chuckle all the way through it. It's utterly hilarious, and J don't think an.y Inagazine would publish an article such as this today, except maybe the publications of the Ku Klux Klan or religious fringe groups. The mind boggles to think that such drivel could ha\'c e\rer been published! But in ] 949, vV}1en I started vvriting letters to cOlnbat this sort of th.ingl they were accepted as the norn1 and \vcre published in influential l1lainstream D1agazines vvith \vide distribution. Every hrrle r sa"", one of t11ese ridiculous articles, or a negative COlnn1ent on }10nlosexuality, I sat do\vn at 111Y old U~lldervvood typevvriter and did up a letter of cODlplaint to the editor. Between 1949 and 1951 I sent letters to COrOIU!t, Esquire, Ladies' Honlc Journal, Parents' J\tlagazlne, Redbook/ 7~inzcl and other il1agazines6. None of the letters \ivas published/ but I think it \vas important that I sent then1. For exanlple, I sent a letter to Tinze in March 1951 in \vhich I protested their use of the \:vord IJper\.'erf' as a syno11ynl for "homosexual. 1f I simply let thelTI kIl0\V that there vvas at least one person out there \vho vv'as not going to sit by and let them get a"vay \\lith vvhat I cOJ1sidered to be gross inaccuracies all_d libels. At that tinl€ I had no knovvledge of a11yone else \Jvriting these sorts of letters or articles in Canada" certainly 110t in a sustained vva.y. 1 thought it \,vas iInportant that someone do this, even if th_e letters had lilnited effect. I "vas first published in a 111alnstrealTI pubhcation on 16 tvlay 1950/ \\lhen one of n1Y letters appeared in tlle Globe and !viall7, The Kinsey Report \\ras causing controversy in the press and I vvrote to defend Kinsey in helping to bring sex into the 1110dern age. _/\5 J mentioned, at this tilne in Toronto there existed a nun1ber of tabloid nevv'spapers that \vere popular scandal s.heet.s. They vvere l\ CAY ACTIVIST DUllING TJIE 19505 45 typicaU.y' sixteen-page Ile\Vsprint tabloids/ published vveekly, and vvere filled vvith gossip! reports of local crirrtes or scandals, local ads, and so on. T'he~y had nanles like Flash, flush Free Press, Justice Weekly! and True l\lcIU5 Tillzcs, and Vv!ere really! the predecessors of the trashy tabloids of today such as the National EnqulnJrK. i\nyvVc1)", they quite often included a vituperati\re story about SOD1e unfortUJlate gay man vvho had been arrested or \vas charged vvith (as tlley used to delicately phrase it) 'Jinterfering \vith a Boy Scout/' or something like that. I used to ~ee these papers on the newsstand. 1 \vould pick t11enl up and glance through thenl and vvould thInk hovv absolutely outrageous and unjust they vvere. So, I also started vvriting letters to the editors of these publications, and it was in the spring of 1950 that st.-nne of these began to be published in Flash. For \vhatever reason; in May 1950 Flash publis11ed a 101'lg letter that I had vvritten responding to a prepostercYl.1s article entitled "Un­ paralleled ()rgies of Perversion Exposed by Intrepid Flash H,eporter," in \tvhich the reporter risked the dangers of one of Toronto's most 9 notorious stean1 baths to report 011 all th.e sex he had seen there . Ob, the article \,vas heart-rending! My lengthy" reply, "vhieh was entitled "r~eader Defends !"{onlos, Says l-hey're Inverts,l! in turn caused sc\'cral readers tovvr-ite to attack m.Y position10 . "rhis first publication. of one of my letters opened the floodgates, and I tl1revv myself into the cause. I 11lUst say t11at vvhen my letters started to be published I certainly didn't think it \vas because of any sylupathy that the editors had for hC)lTIosexuals or gay rights, 1 think it vvas t}1e novelty of my point of \rievv' n10re than anything else that surprised and interested the.1TI. 'They \tvanted to stir up controversy. And I didn't mind the letters attacking me that came in fr0111 other readers. Most of th_em displayed an abysmal ignorance of homosexuality. They really didn't kno\l\T \A/hat they vvere talking about. For example, \tv-hen I c0111plaiJled about the injustice of the legislation of the day, 110 one ever actually replied "What injustice? The legislatio11 is }Jerfectly legitirnate. It sh.ould be enforced.!/ No; the replies \tvere uSllally something siLly' like /1 H()vv' much longer are \,ve goin_g to be subjected to this filth from t11e pel1 of ]an1es Egan?," which I found more c1111using than anything else, Tn September 1950 I decided to tr}.' to \t\rrite a book detailing the social and legal situ,ation of hon1osexuals in various countries of the v~7orld. in order to do this I had to find copies of the pe11al codes of 46 C HAL LEN GIN G THE CON 5 f' I RAN C Y 0 F 5 I LEN CE

p. O. Oak k1~.s, Onteri-t>. }~, 6, 195C •

..e E.ditor, Globe and Hail, 140 Y.ine St., W., Toronto.

Dear }Iff. 1!:di tor- I would like to be p6rBl.1ti..ed sufficient space in yOU!' paper to reply to the lettel' of Wm. Gray r8Re.rd1ng the revie'W of the new K.i.ns6:' report. lJhen Co book such as the Kinsey Rep-ort 1s published, it is only nat.ural that all intelligent and proeresaive people will want to know about it. ThuB it. is part of the f'lmct.ioD. of e. ne'ris}".nper to inform it IS readers of the appearance of such books. Tb.6 mOTe i.J!rpot'tll.nt the bC'lok, the more pr-o:minellt should the book ravieY be. In the case of a book of Gucb lllb.{,rnJ tude as the Report, the front page is the obvious choice for t.he location of t.he rev'"ie"W. One does not bury such reviews in the inside pagea--these are reserved for l.ett.ers of the caliber of that of ~..r. Gray's. So you think the article was written to please a certain type of moron, do you, 1-1r~ Gray? I think Lhey ...ould have to be tr.ore tJll,...I'1 moronic if, at'ter read­ ing such a review they could thinJ;: of nothing more intelligent to say than Itso what It ~ I~ e.m Bte'e the:~ the f;i8 Ih. It1:Its"eJ' .. auld tlke l~~ ..._;I'_"",,~one·;-""'-"""""ha_.....,athu-.!""'ul!&1"-OI1nd. ~I~tbat-be-woul.\UlQ -d~cU;y .lui." .• ot,~"" !,"-h~ --- The K.i.nsey Raporte, &pe.r.!.-f~value to the psychologist end psychiatrist (~int:t$t.imableY"'l'OI·",110m, of cmtrse they are chiefly intended, are indicativEi of the prog:re9~1ve and i.n\e~~p~CIDJbiclu:~~~..J... .~, 1s aoopting to\"l\.l"d the su.bject of sex. Inns~~~~~~ 1). ~;:x cut of the Victorian ';Tappings which' e sti~led it. for ar too long. No suJ:'j ect 15 in ~ater need of better unaerstanding; but ourroUllosd as ~t has been for years, mth taboos of k1.rta.-, both social and religious, ox ha.s been looked upon as Somethine- unclean Hhi "nice" people sturdily :l..gnored. t it is a.t last being accepted a8 a p o£ tll6 lif of e~lAryone and i~. being sanely and seriously discussed is oue irl no 3n:ell;?"'l to the effo'ts of such men as Kjnsey, Landau en. TIlornton.T~ t--r- ~ ;I 1'1.,.. Gray r presents the c:aB.ll t±oo:f1ty l-:ho ..,;ould c tm s to 1 IS pos!tj,on of 50 years ago. \-loll 1 • Gr~ Art' .. 0 • (lfs here to s y so yov y as \

A draft of one of Egan's early letters to the Globe (Illd Mail, 1950. A GAY ACTIVIST DURING THE 19505 -47

TRUE NEWS T·IMES

10e NATIONAL EDITION

Vol. 13. No.5 Monday. feb. 4, 1952 -- GYPSY STEALS FROM WINNIPEGGER Story OW Pace 5 QUEERS FLUSHED FROM 'LOVE' NEST See Page 12 48 CllALLENCJNC THE CONSP1R;\NCY OF SiLENCE

"PANSIES" BLOOM IN COCKTAIL BAR

At one tinle they made the Chez Paree their hOlne-;;nvay-fro111-home but due to SOine diligent \vork on the part ofthe 111anagenlent they were \veeded out and sent scurrytng back to their nests. Maloney's Art Cralleries and the Tin1es Square Room of the KIng Ed\vard Hotel played host at one tln1e to a fair share of these illasculine maidens. However they have now apparently taken over the Nile RODIn of the Letros Tavern and on any Friday or Saturday night you could fire otfa load of buckshot and very probably not hit a normal person, The hs,\\reet things" sit around like aninlated manneqluns. flutter their eyelashes, roll their eyes and slap each other playfully as they engage in a bit of gigglish repartee. In general they behave very much like the Branksome flaB girls at a pink tea and they nlake no attelTIpt to disguise their effeminate leanings. The ordinary citizen, by s\vallo\ving hard once in a \vhile, can tolerate these obvious ones, but also mingled In the cro\vd are the sneaky perverts. This is the type \vho looks and acts masculine and usually prey on the young fellows. These "Letros Ladies" are usually very well dressed and among thenl one finds "'men" \vho are quite prominent in various professional circles in Toronto. i\ visit there is quite an eye-opener for the average citizen and don't think these "babes" don't kick and scratch 'Vvhen the chips are down. Recently S0111e normal guy took objection to having one of these queers engage his girl-friend in conversation and planted a fistful of fingers in his f~tce. The high-pitched screams and shrieks that arose reminded one of the time the Inouse ran rampant at the ladies' sc\ving circle. In all probability the pansy had not insulted the girl. but \vas merely enquiring as to her brand of perfume or \vhethel' she preferred the paste to the liquid deodorant. Then again he could have been objecting to the con1petition she afforded for a Vv'on1an has no place an10ng ·~its."

FrOlTI II/Pansies' Bloom in Cocktail Bar,!! [-h1::;/[ Frcc Press; 17 Iv1arch 1951, p. 6. A GAY AC TI V [5T 0 URI NGT Ii E 1 95 a 5 49

GIRL OF NINE ACCUSES MARRIED MAN OF' ·29 IMPRISON AND FINE MOLESTER OF YOUNG 110~ r===BE=ST=W=O=O~DB=IN-=jIE ~t~sl~o~~~~ '

. cents RACE SELECTIONS On Spaaklng Down UDder I

VOl. 11. No. 44 NATIONAL EDITION Nov.-;"bet' ,3, '19561 - ...-.-".--,-.... - ....-.----.--.------r---.------'~ ···HOMOSEXUAL 'OR~-IES BRING MANY .' . \I CONVICTIONS

--(S .. Pago 2) SEXHIBITIONIST OF

;c. 18 BEING TREATED, 50 C II ALL ENG 1 NeT II E CON S P r RAN C Y 0 f S I LEN CE the countries. During Septelnber and ()ctober I vvrote a letter of inquiry to e\Ter)l foreign en1bass)/ in ()tta\\Ta, and recei\red a considerable response. 1·he TTlore I thought about D1Y proposed v\"ork, ho\tvever, tb.c lTIOre hesitant i becan1.e. I felt it J11ight be a dull h)rne, sonievvl1at on the scholarly side! and vvould not be of ll1uch interest to the d\/crage reader. £~nd! vvith the appearance of Don.ald Webster COl')!!s The f-Jonlosexllal in Anzerica in 1951! \vhich vvas in some \vays sirnilar to what I hoped Tny ovvn vvork V\lould be, r decided to abal1don the project11 , In. ()ctober 1950 a letter of luine \r\ias publislled for the first tinle 1n True l'Jczps Tinzcs 12. TNT" published a ridiculous gay gossip or tid-bit colurnn vv'ritten by someone \\7ho called hin1self l\1asque. My letter cOlnplained about some of the stupid! nasty renlarks that appeared there, These gay colurnns vvere filled \\lith innuendo! such as JiWhat \vell-kno\vn bartender had been out vvith \I\lhat 'vveU-knovvn queen?!! I never appro\red of this kind of gay trivia. In Iny rnind it does not contribute to the gay consciousness dnd is, frankly! delneaning and idiotic. But these colulnns \\lere popular! and ran in alnlost all of the tabloids. Masque \lvas succeeded at rrNT by? a gossip colunln entitled II;'\. Study in Lavender," vvhich began in January 19510 11u: column \vas vvritten by se\'eral hands before being taken over by Mother

(~oose bv ] 952. J\1other Goose also vvrote II Fairv Tales /\re Retold" for ~ J The R"ocket as \vell as "Fairy 'Tales from Mother Goose" for The Conlct. Betbn.a held forth in Irrorol1to Fairy-(~o-l.zound/' published in '1ilb, and vvas succeeded by Lady Bessboroug11's lIThe Gay Set/' and so on l3 . Sir.', a popular Ncv\' York men's I11agazine of the day, had published an article by Sara H. Carleton in its June 1950 issue entitled liThe Truth About HC)lllOSexuals." It began: "Homosexuals can be cured - if they \vant to be. Hovve\rer/ nlany prefer not to c11ange their \vay of living." It vvent dov\:'nhill fronl there. I \vas appalled, aI1d \vas especially' upset by the quoted renla.rks of l\lfred i\. C;ross, executive secretary for the C~eorge W. f--Ienry Foundation, v\/ho said, 1111 have yet to meet a happy' hOl1l0SexuaL "The}r have a \'\/a)/ of describing l~hose themselyes as I gay/ but the ternl is a rnlsnOiller. vvho are habitues of the bars frequented by others of their kind, are about the saddest people I\re c?ver seen14.!f1 'This \:vas a typical ren1ark for the tilnc, but I felt it could not go unchallenged. I sent a letter to the editor of Szr.! expressing 111)/ outrage over the half truths and erroneous stateJnents in the article. 1 said .It \\ras high tlnle to publish A GAY ACTIVIST DURING THE 1950S 51 an article detailing the case for honlosexuality'/ vvritten frOITI a purely scientific vievvpoint (using Hjrschfeld/ EJlis/ Kinsey! et al.) and concludin,g \J\ljth a consideration of the rights of the honlosexl1aL Welt they \Nere interested! and in the I)ecember 1950 issue of Sir.' they published my article "I AlTI a I-Iomosexual,!I urtder the pseudonym Leo Engle (the naln€ of n1Y maternal grandfather)15. It vvas about tvvellty-five hundred vvords and \vas publislled vvithout Inany alteratiol1s. T vvas thrilled! and vvas even paid seventy-five dollars for it. It attract~~d quite a bit of attention! and several private letters writte11 to Leo Engle were forvvarded to me. I responded to these men, and corresponded vvith t"vo of theln for some tinie. In early 1951 I 11ad a fatefuJ experiellce in t]le lobby of the Park Plaza lfotel. I met Theo L.J. Greenslade! who vvas at the time tIle editor of True NCIUS Tirnes. We got into a conversation and I later \vrote to him reminding him of our meeting! and \vent on to express my concern about the biased and prejlldiced portrayal of hOD10sexuals in 'rNT16. On 12 November 1951 I vvrote a letter to TNcf! suggesting that they might be interested in a series concerning homosexllality. T'hey were! and they published my u11siglled series i! Aspects of Homosexuality!! starting on 19 November 1951. This consisted of a full-page article each week and ran for seven \-veeks! through 3] December 195117. I tried to \vrite a balanced overvie\v of particular aspects of homosexllality, with emphasis on hOlnosexuality throughout history! the scientific, legat a11d social aspects! and gay relationships. As far as I kno\/\/! this was the first substantial series of articles published in Canada fronl a gay point of vievv. I \Jvas hoping that it would create a stir and that readers \vould \\Trite in to comment! or even to criticize. But the series barely caused a ripple a11d got very little in the vvay of publicity. Jack and I vvere living at Oak Ridges during this tin1e/ and both of llS vvere worki11g full tim.e. VVhen I was doing the series for I"NT I foun.d it onerous meeting the damned deadline every vveek. I spent an avvful lot of time at the typewriter and doillg research in illy library. I \J\lanted to be careful not to make luistakes, as I didn't \vant anyone to check up on me. By the end of the series I "vas tired, and dllring 1952 I took a hiatus. I still typed a fevv letters that year! but not nearly as n1any as before. Jack and I spent lTIucl1 of our spare time th,at year building an addition onto our house. From Nlay 1951 the tabloid Justice Weekly published a nunlber of my letters under the initials J.L.E.! and some responses to the letters 52 CHALLENGING THE CONSPIRANCY OF SILEI"CE

TRUE NEWS TIMES 1Oc NATIONAL EDITION

'lor. 12, No. 45 Mondo'f, No".mter 19. 1951 Beginning New Series On Homosexuality Sed P~ge 5 --_._--_•._------

In a news story. daled Montreal, Nov. 9. 1951, in the Globe (//1(1 Mail. Mr. S! Laurent was reporled as having addressed McGill University and Macdonald College in a speech entitled "The Kind of NalJon Canada [5." In It, he Sind, ". true unity does no1 n1Volve the subjectIOn of indiVidual citizens to a common pattern or a common mould prescribed by an omnipotent statc." Yct d' this docs not accurately describe the position of the homosexuals of Canada. I don't know what does. Further on, the Prime IVI mister says that every CanaclJan should emphasize to the various mll10rities that their nght;, would be safeguarded, and he adds. "I repeat tny conviction that that IS alreaely true. but we all know it IS not yet the conviction of many of our fellow citizens," One could assure the Prime Minister that he would have a hard time providing the validity of his conviction to the homosexuals of Canada. Here is one minority group whose rights are not only unprotected. but who have no nghts to protect under present conditlOns,

From "Morc Toler

Philip 1'1., DanIels \,vas the proprietort dnd edjtor of Justice VVeek(t/. He vI/as quite a characterlK • In ]953 the offices of JustIce vVcekly \vere located at Suite 206? rV1anning Charnbers: 72 (2ueen Street West, vvhich \iVelS above a block of ancient buddlngs filled \vith seedy pavvn shops and second hand stCH"CS. "[he IvI UJ11Clpal and lJnlon House hote.ls vvere located at 67 dl1d 71-73 Queen Street \\/est, respechve]y. We used to refer to these hotels as lithe Corners/' as they vvere alrnost at the corner of Queen and streets. ~Il\e be\rerage rooms there were both equally grungy, and although of Inixed 111ale clientele vvere popular \!\lith vvorkulg class gays! }'oung hustlers? and the occasional drag queen. And, 1 Inust admit, I spent many' a fascinating evening in t11ern during 111 y/ "salad days/! as the Queen vvould sayl9. When I visited ]ustzce VVeekly one da).' in Nov'ember 1953 J took vVlth nit? a copy of vvhat r S3\!\1 as the first installment of a seri.es e11titled "Homosexllal Concepts. n 1 111et l)anieis an.d \lve had a talk. I-Ie vvas a genuine Cockney vvith a thick accent, and he in11nediately struck me as the embodinlent of the stereotype of a sleazy editor of a Victorian, Grub Street scandal sheet. 1 introduced 11lyself as the IiJ .L.E." of tl1e letters that had been published 1n Justu:e ~A/cekly. At that time I had a beard, vvhich I have llad for rnost of in)! adult Life. Daniels looked up at rne as ] \-vas explaiI1ing my idea for the "1-Iomosexual Concepts" series. He thought about it for a n1inute and said, in his best Cockney, "Here, \!vhafs all thIs \'vith you aping t11e nlale?" And I asked, fJWhat do you rnean?t! ilVVell,!1 he said? "you kll0W/ the beard. I didn/t think fello\\/s like you gre\v beards." vVelt \,\re got into quite a discussion. I pointed out to hirn there vvere truck drivers and loggers and construction vvorkers and all kinds of people \vho \vere gay, and not all of thenl looked like bleached blonde hairdressers or interic)f decorators. Welt he "vas fascinated. This \lv'as the only tinle 1 e\"er 111et Phi1.ip [)aniels- J tllink he vvas I1.either friendly nor unfriendl:r to\\rards 111E', and 1 certainly don1t think he \-vas necessarily liberal in his viev\"s of homosexuality. But he vvas il1terested ifl the idea of the series. r·le rnay have seen Illy 54 C !-f ALL ENG ING THE CON 5 P I RAN C Y 0 F S 1 LEN CE

'I Aspects of Homosexuality" series that had rlin in True l\1eI05 Thnes in 1951. 1 think Daniels agreed to publish "Homosexual Concepts" not because he necessarily supported the rights or aspirations of homosexuals but because 111y pro-gay vvritings vvere seen as a controversial 110\/elty that might sell more copies of Justice Weekly. TIle idea that somebod,Y vvould actllally conle out alld defe.nd the rights of gay people to live their o\lvn lives as they savv fit was unconventional. And/ I must adnlit, I Blade a pitch to Daniels about hOV\l th,ere \vere thousands of gay n1en an.d VV0111en in Toronto, and hoyv they yvould probably be interested in these articles, and hO\lv this vvould likely increase his sa]es2U . 011 28 Novenlber 1953 Justice Weekly publislled an unsigned notice by me announcing that "J-Iomosexual Concepts/' a series of articles designed to "brillg about a better understanding betvveen hetero and llomo," would comnlence the follovving V\,reek. The series 2 ran in t\velve parts, thTough 27 February 1954 ]. Its tone was similar to fJ Aspects of Homosexuality," but more ambitious. rrhe 5 December article vvas an overvievv of tlle historical persecution of gays in England/ in light of recent scand_als involving well known figures such as Sir John Gielgud and Lord Montagu of Beaulieu22 . Subsequent articles discllssed The Mattachine Society, ONE Magazine, gay stereotypes, the Kinsey _Report, gays anli tIle llledia/ gay bars, and other topics. The series generated a fevv letters, but in tern1S of sales it was a failure. AccordiI1g to Da.niels/ tIle articles had no effect vvl1atever on the paper's circulation. But Daniels treated Ine \lvell. At the end of 1953, right after fustice Weekly published the first three articles in the series, I vv'as surprised to receive a cheque in the mail for ten dollars for each of the three articles. r had no expectation of getting paid for the articles at all, and as r was then making thirty dollars a ,Neek this 'vvas a substantiaJ amount of money to me. Daniels and I vvere both disappointed \'\T]th the reception of "Homosexual COllcepts." I vvas anlloyed that the so-called gay comn1unity djdn't support the I--1 aper. 1 suppose some people bought the paper regularly just to keep track of gossip, arrests, police crackdo\,vns, and so on. But many people thought of fustice Weekly as being just too lovvbrc}vv, and vvould never consider lookiJlg at it, even if it had good articles. I \A/asn't paid for any more articles in t11e series/ but Daniels allowed Ine to COlltinue \vritillg. I finished off "Honlosexual Concepts" in February 1954/ and A GAY ACTIVIST DUHING TJ-i.E 19505

IHOMOSEXUAL (ON(EPT~ L __ ,, ~_ By HJ. L. E." J

Several \veeks ago H1 one of these COlUnll1s. [ outhned a nunlber of \\'"idely­ held, but entirely erroneous nllsconceptions held by the average lTlan-in­ the-street regarding hOlJH1SeXuals and h0111oscxuality. In succeedi ng COlU111l1S I have tried to sho\v the h01110sexual pOInt of vic\:v; to try and correct these nllsconceptlons, and In all these colu111ns, fl'onl first to last, have endeav'oured to hnng about a better understanding bet\veen the norn1aI and h01110sexual \vorJds. i do not for one 1110111ent think that any large nUlTlber of n1Y norn1a1 readers \vi11 agree \v'jth 111uch that I have ·written. If. ho\\-'evcr. t.hey have lost Just a bIt of prejudice and condenlnation~ If they are able to adInit, no\\/, that there is another side to the question and that a hornosexuaJ docs have rights: tfthey have gained an insight int.o sOlne aspect of hOll1osexuality t.hat n1igbt rnake it possible for thenl to have a better understanding ofa son or brother~ In short, if they are even prepared to adrnit no\\, that the h0l11osexual is not ahvays the sex-111ad degenerate they! have been led to bel ieve, the deep-dyed \'i Uain of the ne\vspapers. then these colunuls have been \vorth-\\rhile. The acceptance and IntegratIon that every thInking. responsible honl0sexual desires vvr il1 come S0t11e day, "rhcre can be no possible doubt about that it vvill conle. But not overnight or in a \veek or a tTIonth. Undoubtedly, It. IS gOIng to take years of patient effort to overcorne the preJudice, biased thinking and apath.y that have surrounded the \vhole situation for so long. No trcrnendous change In public op111ion has cver bcen effected in less than years. but bef()re such change 1S renlolely possible" of prill1e necessity is an enlIghtened public Heretofore. little or no opportunjty exist.ed to present the "'defence"" the public had heard only the ·'prosecution.'" If this coluHln has brought understanding t.o even one reader. then the hOlllosexuals are that 111uch further along t.he road to enlancipation.

OtlCept~! Frorn ., }-'1ontosexual C '! J.L.E'F Ju:::.ficc 27 '1954,p.13. 56 C HAL LEN GIN G THE CON 5 P I RAN C Y 0 F 5 rLEN CE

SUITE 206, 72 QUEEN ST. W. TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA • • • EN. S - Telephone WIwet

li.l~. JanGs Ega.n, P.O. Ook Hidgos, ant.

Lear j ir. ... on,

E1nclosed cheqi.lc for ton dolloTs, will be the last one for ma.terial submitted. Lack of rea.der re:::ronse does not justi.f~r any furthar expB.nlture for this tYf.tJ of material. Circulation has 3hm'lll :no not Lcable increaa6 and lotters have bean recoivod frOII1 only ti-JO reader:], one of \-thom I feel you knovJ pre tty Holl.

IIm.,'0ver, I l)rG~>w'ed to continue ,li'tl1 the series but Can cOlltinue to Sa onl:,: on a non-cost ba3is. at ne t:210W ho~" you .reel about the matter b;V :nail. I ./

p.n.D./A.".

Correspondence from Philip Daniels concerning "HomosexuaJ Concepts," 1953. r\ GAY ACTIV1ST DUR1NG THE 195°5 57 followed It \.vlth another. untitled ~eries that contInued for fifteen columns through 12 June 195-f23 The themes of these columns were even more wide-ranging, from recent dismissab uf humosexuals by the United States State Department, to additional examination of the Kinsey Report, to nature vs. nurture III the "cause" of homosexuality, and so on. These also generated letters from readers, but no U1.crease in sales. This was the end of the bulk of my contribuhons to Justice \!\Ieekly. in March 1955 Daniels cltd publish a brief I had sent to the Parliamentary Legislative Committee of the House of Commons concerrung proposed amendments to Section 206 of the Canadlan Criminal Code, regarding gro::.::. indecency24 Later he published another letter from me, as well as reprints of two articles originally published in ONE Magl/zlJle i an1. glad that 1 publ1shed these artICles HI Justice \!\Ieekli/. The tabloid provided an outlet tor my ideas, and at least some opportunity to introduce a gay-posltive point of view into the Canadian press. 1only wish there had been m.ore response, but it was probably too early for that. And I think that Philip Daniels profited from the situation as well. Not In a monetary way, necessarily, hut from new content for Justice \!\Iet'kly. My columns filled pages of text, and were just the beginning of a flood of gay material that would be published in justice Weekly. I suggested to Daniel:, that he write to some of the gay papers and offer them an exchange subscription. Apparently he did, ,11Id the papers agreed. 13eg.mning WIth the issue of 6 February 1954, Justice Weekly regularly featured reprints of articles from ONE Magaw1I.', and evenlually other gay publications, including The Laddt'r [San FranciscoL The Mattaclul'le Rel'ieW [San Francisco!, Arendle [Paris], Del' KreIS [ZurichL Vt'Ill'lel'l ICopenhagenL and Vnelldschap [Amsterdam]. Some of these articles were of high quality, and were written by leadmg gay writers and activists of the day such as James Barr, Donald Webster Cory, and Jjm Kepner [writing as Lyn Pedersenp 1 must say that when I was writmg and researchmg mv articles and letters J did feel sometimes that 1 was workmg in a vacuum. But J wasn't completely alone. My ornruvorous reading habits continued unabated throughout this penod, and I read all the gay classics r could find. I was particularly mlerested in the historical and philosophlGll aspects of homosexuality, and read works by Magnus Hirschfeld, Havelock Ellis, John Addmgton Symonds, Edward 58 CHALLENGING THE CONSPIRANCY OF SILENCE

Carpenter, and others. 1 read the c1asslC works of Wilde, Proust, and Gide, and kept up with all the latest gay literature, from Vidill to James Barr's QltrltrejlJif [1950J to Fritz Peters's Fi11lstere 11SiSl], and others. And, I was able to contact gay activists clsewh re and in some cases engage in correspondence with them. For example, I was in contact ,vith the Mattachuw SOCIety in Los Angeles from at least August 1953. My contact with them was limited, but I do remember corresponding with Hal CaJ]26. I was more in contact with ONE, Incorporated, especially W. Don Legg la.k.a. William Lambertl27, from about the same tinw. I subscribed to the publications of these orgamzations, and eventually was able to contribute artIcles to ONE Magawle. During 1951 I conducted an extensive correspondence with Henry Cerber, who helped to organize the Society for Human Rights in Chicago in 1924, the first gay orgamzation in the United States2t<. Between 16 January and 9 May I received at least eleven letters from him, but I regret that no carbon copies of my letters to him have survived. Gerber and I got along quite well on paper. When I was in contact with him he was living at the Soldier's Home lJ1 Washington, D.C. In May 19S1 Gerber went on a trip to Europe for three months and that's the last I heard from him. I asked him to send me a copy of his early magazine, Fnendshlp {[nd Freedom, but he replied that he had destroyed all remaining copies long before. He did send me books and pamphlets, though, including Andre Cide's Corydon and {f It Ole. In our correspondence Gerber and 1 disagreed on some things. For instance, Cerber was a social constructionist. He believed that all men are bisexual and that childhood experiences and societal influence determine whether a man becomes heterosexual or homosexual. I have always beheved that homosexuality is a matter of genetics, that one is born absolutely destined to be a homosexual. I don't give a damn what kind of environment you grov.' up in, although I would readily admit that youthful environment may very well have a great deal to do with what kllld of a homosexual you turn out to be. Environment may well playa role in whether a gay man IS self-accepting, or a closet case. The way that gay men live may be a result of social constructionism, but the fact that they are gay in my opinion has nothing to do it. And what society would foster and encourage feelings of emotional, romantic, and sexual attraction between men, leading them to develop mto homosexuals? No such A GAY i\CTIV15T DURING THE 19505 59

January 16, 1951

Dear Mr. Egan: Saw your short notice in the Writers Digest and thought I would write you as we both seem to be admirers of lmdr~ Giue.

I recel,ved Corydon on' Elebl'uary 13, 1950, right after I saw it advertised in either The Nation, ~he Saturday Review of Litera­ ture or Harpers. One of these publications had a review of the book about this time. other books of Gide in my library are The Journals, 3 volumes The Immoralist. Oscar lI'ilde On account of his outspoken homoseXUality Gide received a scant l1ress here fram the hypocritical, stupid, llilCivilized editors. As you perhaps know, homosexuals are haunted about and persecuted. I am a retired army man living here at the U.S. Soldiers home. Would like to hear from you as I have of leisure to write aua receive Sincerely yours ~"" t-" ..£·v Henry Gerber

A letter from early Alnerican gay activist Henry Gerber, with a photograph of Gerber attached, 1951 60 ellA L LEN GIN G THE C 0 j', SP j RAN CY 0 F 5 1lEN CE

mattechine ~ociCQ! OFFICE OF THE COORDINATING COUNCIL OAKLAND lOS ANG£tES POST OFFICE BOX 851 POS1 OFFICE BOX 1925 OAKLAND 4, CALIFORNIA /'AAiN POST OFFICE Los Angeles ~os ANGELES 53, (AUFORNIA AUt;ust 20, 1<;53

James ~an Oak Ridges, Ontario, Canada

Dear t'lr • .egan:

we have rec..d with in't-erest your letter of August 5, 1953 For your further informacion, we are enclo5i~ some literature published by the ~~tt~chine Society. Your efforts in correctly laying before the general pub­ lic the whys and wherefores of tho homosexual is needless to say appreciated by the Society. Homosexuals need the constant efforts on their behalf. I't is of utmost. im­ portance that the Society n~ke efforts toward the publi­ cation of material wlich accurately informs the general pUblic l'egarding homosexualit.y ~ We would be interest.ed in having you submit any paper wh.ich you think would be of value along these lines. We have referred your letter also to ONE ¥mgazine, Inc. , P.O. Box 5716} Los Angeles 50 , California for their in­ formation. The Unitarian outlook on pre5en~ day social problems is indeed gratifying and the Society has been) since its inception, in contact with various religious organizations such as the Universalists and the Henry Foundation of the Quakers. The Society believes "hat a sense of religious values is a necessity for everyone in meeting his problems of life, and even more so does this apply to the homosexual.

~ve hope 'Co hear from you ae:&in very soon.

t,)ir\cereLy) HATT,ICH1N£ 6OCli>TY

K6N BlHlNS Chairman KB:mpr J::ncl.

Correspondence from the Mattachine Society, Los Angeles, 1953. A GAY ACTIVIST DURING THE 1950S 61 society exists. [ven m the golden age of Greece there were lots of men, I'm sure, who never, ever, engaged in homosexual behaviour, as opposed to expressing a homosexual orientation. Beginning in mid-1954 I took another hJalus from gay activism. [ sent few letters between then and early 1959, and my career as a gay activist was pretty much on hold. By 1954 1 began to be affected by the fumes of the formaldehyde that was used in the preservation of the animal specimens 1 prepared. Thinking back to my days all. the farm, 1'01 afraid I talked Jack illto selling our property at Oak Ridges, whIch we did at a reasonable profit, and purchasing a farm in northvvestern Ontario near a small town called Chesley. The farm was two hundred acres, including ninety-eight acres of workable land, seventy-five acres of hardwood bush, a twenty-five acre lake, and two acres of rough pasture. ft had a nine-room solid brick house, an all-steel driving shed, and an all-steel barn. We paid nine thousand dollars for it, which seems hard to believe today. We had enough money to put a downpayrnent on the place and to purchase the necessary farm equipment to operate it. And \'\'e set about growing malting barley and raising pigs and turkeys. Eventually we made very good money on the pigs, and reasonable money on the malting bariey, but we lost our shIrts on the turkeys. After about two years, we realized that the harder we worked, the poorer we became. In order to make ends meet, I set up a crude embalming apparatus and started buying and embalming cats. We sold them to a company in the United States that was always looking for specimens. We sold as many as we could, and this helped to tide us over. Jack also took a job mimagi.ng a hairstyling salon in the town of Chesley. By rnid-1956 Jack was ver.y unhappy on the farm. He didn't care for it at all, and was particularly bothered by the financial tmcertainty of farming. He was always saying, "Maybe we ought to sell. Maybe we ought to sell," but 1 was reluctant to do so. My mother was living with us at the time, and we had just about finished with the last batch of our turkeys. We finally decided that we should get out of farming. I left Jack on the farm to look after the turkeys and [ went down to the Niagara peninsula to a place called BeamsviUe. There I rented a store that had formerly been a pet shop, and that had a huge storage area behind. Jack and I had decided that we should get back into the biology business as a full-time occupation. Once people in BeamsvilJe saw me moving things into the store, they came around and asked if we were 62 C HAL LEN G JN G THE CON 5 P 1 R !\ N C Y 0 F 5 I LEN CE

The farm, near Chesley, Ontario, 1956. A GAY ACTIVIST DURING THE 19505 63

With Josephme Egan, at the farm, ca. 1955.

Jim in a field of barley, 1956. b4 CHALLE:\CI'\C THE CONSPIRANCY OF SILENCE going to re-open the pet shop, dnd we decided that eventually we would. ln the meantime, I made arrangements with the Hamilton 5.P.CA. to buy the dead cats that they put down every day. 1built a much more efficient embalming apparatus in the back storage area and began to embalm cats at high speed. This was quite a profitable pursuit in those days; at the time I didn't know of anyone else in Ontario who was doing this When the turkeys were ready for market I went back up to the farm. Some of our neighbours came over, and we loaded the turkeys into the big trucks and away they went. After we'd paid for the propane gas, for brooding the babIes, and t.he starter and the grower and the finisher feed, we were six hundred dollars in the hole! That put the kibosh on the farm, as far as we were concerned. So we decided to both go down to Beamsvil1e and to activate this biological supply business. 1 taught Jack the business, and from then on we worked as a team in preparing a variety of specimens - cats, especially, but also rabbits, frogs, and worms. We moved into the rickety littJe apartment above the sture in Beamsville, and kept the farm as a weekpnd retreat We drove to the farm every Friday night, stayed Saturday, and drove home on 5wlday mght. One weekend we went up to the farm with the intention of figuring out how to renovate the huge old farmhouse, whicll had not been modernized. While Jack and 1 were standing outside talking, someone drove up. This man jumped out of the car and said, "I was wondering if you guys would be interested in selling the farm." Jack immediately said, "Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes," but I really didn't want to do it. So J thought I'd pull a fast one on this guy. J said, "Let me talk to my friend about this. Hang on here, and he and J wi11 take a little walk." So I said to Jack, "AU right, I knmv you want to sell the farm. Let's make him an offer. We'll offer to sell it for fourteen thousand dollars." At that time this was an absolutely ridiculous price to pay for a farm up there. But 1 realize nm,v it was the lake and the woods and all the rest of it that attracted this man. He didn't want to farm the land at all. So, to our amazentent, when we said fourteen thousand dollars he stuck out his hand and said, ''It's a deal. I'll buy it!" I was a bit disappointed, but soon came to see that it was for the best. We sold the farm, and all the eqUlpment, and settled into Beamsville to work very hard on developing our biology business. In response to a number of requests from people in Beamsville, we decided to re-open the pet shop We invested a couple thousand ,,; Ci\Y ACTiVIST DUJ

no furnace f no running \vater, no bathroom. 'The floors vvere all slanted. In addition to the 110use there \vas an old garage and ten acres of land on the Hamilton escarpnlent. Jack took one look at it and \\fas absolutely ecstatic! rIc \,\o'as con\-'inced that this \Jvas the place vve should buy, vVelt the ov\rners \vanted ten thousand dollars, vvhicl1 vvas ludicrous. f'm sure Jack v\louJd have said, "().K., \ve'll give you ten thousand dollars.'f But 1told Jack, "Look, I don't vvant to buy this. There \\rill be no end to renovating alld repairing this place. So, let's offer thirty-fi\'c hu.ndred dollars cash. n Of course, 1 never thought they \!vould accept. Well, I was defeated again and Jack and I ended up \vith this place. And I must adlnit that from the time vv'e acquired that property every.rthi11g turned up roses for us. \eVe n10ved in there dlld had endless energy.' and enthusiasm, and \,\le renovated the place. J\fter about t11ree years \ve l1ad an absolutely gorgeous little home. By 1959 Vv'C \vere sufficiently settled that 1 could return to spending I110re tin1c on gay acb\'ism. 1 started to vvrite letters again, and sa\/v' senne of thenl published in Look/ Saturday l\Jight! the Toronto 66 Cl[ALLENGING T'HE CONSPIRANCY OF SILENCE

Dally Star, and other l11.dgazines and newspapers. Jack aJld I vvere doing very vvell in our business and for the first time in our Iives vve vvere able to buy a ne\\r car, a Rambler. VVe decided to use the nevv car to go 011 a road trip and attend the fifth l\!lidvvinter Institute of ONE, Incorporated, in Los i\ngeles; fronl 30 January througll 1 February ] 959. Jack and I alld another gay couple dxo\!c do\tvn to Los Angeles. The conference thenle \,vas "i\1ental Health and Homosexuality,.1f and 1 f()und the senlinars fascinating. We lTIet W. Dorr Legg and Jim Kepner29 . Kepner invited us to see his personal library and coUection of gay 111enl0rabilia. We lnet Dr. Blanche Baker30 and her husband William, vvho \,vere one hundred percent gay positive. Blanche -Baker vvas a great believer in psychodrama, and she vvas able to get us into a couple of sessions. [)uring one of tIle sessions Dorr l"egg introduced me to IJr. Evelyn Hooker and told her that Jack alld I 11ad been together eleven yearsJ1 . She vvas inlpressed by our long-term cODlnlitnlent alld in\rited Jack and lout to her 110Jne, vvhere she intervievved us for two or three hours on tape. StH? \vas charlning, and I \vas glad to meet her. But, 1 read SOine of her vvorks later on and I think she sometimes made \1ery dubiolls staten1cnts. She believed that there \vas no such thing as a honl0sexual individual, but only individuals \1\/ho engage in homosexual practices. And she contel1ded that t]lere is no such thing as a homosexual personality. 1certainly don't agree with either of these statements. It vvas also during 1959 that I 11ad a v'vTonderful exchange of letters \vith the I{ight R_everend Angus J. MacQueen, "vho was at that time the .rY1oderator of the United Church of CanadaJ2. MacQueen wrote a regular, inspiratiol1al colunln for the Tbronto Daily Star called "The Church and You." One particular coluln,n vvas titled "Dare to Be 'Different/" vvhich was all about tolerance and understanding and acceptance of difference or non-conformity. You never read such a pile of hypocritical bullshit in your life! So I thought I'd playa trick on hiln. I vvrote to i\1acQueen asking if his tolerance extended to supportil1g the loviIlg, monoganl0us relatio:nsllip of a devoted gay couple. fIis response advocated tolerance and 1111derstanding and liberality, except for those acts that are condemned in Scripture. We sent several letters back and forth, and I found it amllsirlg that every letter the old boy se11t to me vvas \vritten in longhan,d. I think he didn't vvant his secretary to type it up and to see \vhat he was \vriting. MacQueen did begin to nloderate his tone a bit al1d vvas not quite so A GAY i\CTIVIST DURING THE 19505 67

The hOll1osexual "marnage" certainly requires work If it is to succeed. But it is questionable if one ever achieves Inuch in this world \vithout \villingness to \vork and sacrifice \vhen necessary. And in feyv cases does this hold more true than in that of two homosexuals \vho \vish to spend their lives together. As a speaker ren1arked at last year's Mid-vVinter [nstitute while discussing this subject. "Fifty-fifty is not enough, each must contribute at least 60<% to the effort." The ul1\villingness to do so accounts for a good many of the break-ups. There are, of course, other causes as well: those "other pastures" that look so deceptively green~ the foolish, petty jealousies and so often - the incompatibility that exists in every rOOITI in the place other than the bed-rooln. The successful hotnosexual relationship is cornposed of many elernents: love, trust mutual respect, co­ operation ancL above all the determination on the part of both partners to rell1ain together in spite of what family, friends or anyone else thInks, says or does. Apart from these requirements that 111USt be present, there IS still another that is a prerequisite not only to the successful relationship, but which is equally essential to the happiness ofthe Single honl0sexual. 1refer to the ability to accept oneself as a h01110sexual - cotnpletely \vithout reservation or guilt. That nlany cannot do so is, 1 finnly believe, the cause of so much of the 11lisery and unhappiness that besets their lives and so often sets thenl upon the downward path that leads to the psychiatrist's couch.

From "Homosexual Marriage ... Fact or Fancy?,!! by lint Egan, ()NE lv1agazine, December 1959, p. 7. 68 C 1-i ALL ENG INGT 1T E CON 5 P I RAN C Y 0 F 5 I LEN CE

\'ituperati\'e bJ\<\;'ards the end of our correspondence. lie e\'en asked that 1recorrunend books or articles that he nlight read to gain a better understanding of the /Iproblenl 'f of homosexuality. So I bundled up se\reral books; one ()f vvl'1ich I recall \vas COf)/S The Hornosexual in ,,4nuTid7! as \-veIl as copies of C)lVE Magazine, and mailed them off to him. IvlacQueen mailed theal back four months later, saying tl1at the pressure of church business vvas such that he dIdn't thillk he had time to read all of thenl, but he thanked me for my interest. My expE:1 flence v\rith R.everend MacQ'Lleert vI/as siluilar to on.e ltd had earher v'v'ith Fultoll. Sheen. Sheen "vas an American Roman Catholic bishop \-vho vvas the host of an enormously popular religious television program during the 1950533. T11e set was n1ade up to look like his study. When the program opened the bishop swished or\to the set in his ecclesiastical drag, with the crucifix swinging, and threvv his arms open to say! IIGod bless you all." 'The program vvas non-denon1inational and cOl'1sisted n10stly of sanctimonious platitudes. In one of his programs Sheen said that the role of the true Christian \vas to be accepting al'1d understanding of people w110 were differenC and that it \ivas a very serious sin for a Christian to POi11t the finger of criticism and scorn at others because they didn't share his beliefs. He \,\rent on and on and on. I thought, "Well, isn't that 111teresting." 50 1sat myself dovvn and vvrote him a letter. I wrote that 1 V/ClS part of a gay couple who!d been together for a number of years! vvere \rery much in love, and l1ad a monogamous relationship. We did ha\re a problen1, though, \!vith the COl1flict \!ve felt betwee11 our relationship and the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. Believe

Dlet the last part \J\'as a pure figment of the imagination! I asked Bishop Sheen if he could offer us SOlne word of comfort. The response r recei\'ed vvas signed, I presume, by one of his secretaries. It \vas one of Hie nlost outrageous responses imaginable, considering the letter 1 had sent. This idiot said that \A/e vvere living in a state of sin! vve \vere doomed to eternal damnation, and vve \vere doubling the seriousness of the sin - the culpability - by trying to justify it. He ordered us to separate at once an.d never see each other again. I recall I \vas so infuriated by' this letter that I crumpled it up into a ball C111d thrc\-\' it in the fireplace, And then I sat dOvvn and vvrote a blistering letter in reply, })ointing out that if my original letter ll.ad been legitinlate the response might \veU have initiated t\VO suicides. So nluch for (()lnpassion and understanding of those vvho are different. A GAY ACTIVIST DURING THE 19505 bY

The house at Beamsville, Ontario, 1960.

The Nature Boys, ca. 1960. Chapter Five: Gay Personalities of Old Toronto

As an early gay activist in Toronto, Jknevv dozens of gay and bisexual men. Here are my random memories of a fe\v of the personalities and characters \"rho vvere active in the gay community then. George Hislop Jack and Thave knovvn George Hislop from when he \tvas considered a chicken in the gay world! We kllevv him even before he met Ralp11 Anderson, \vho was George's partner before he nlet Ronrlie Shearer. But apart from meeti11g him at tlle occasional party or running into hiln downto\tvn and listening to tile latest tale of woe about the 1a test boyfriend, we were not really very close to George. As far as I can remember, George didn't have tendenCIes towards gay activisD1 back in the 1950s. His interest in gay Hberation really didn't take off lllltil the 19605. In about 1965 or 1966, after Jack and I had moved to the West Coastl George sent nle a letter saying that he felt the time vvas ripe to start a gay organizatio11 in Toro11to. II1 reply l sent C;eorge a five-inch reel to reel tape \vith advice about vvhat I would do if I \vere starting up a gay group there1. Of course, George's enthusias111 and hard "vork eventually led to the formation of the COll1.IT1Unity Homophile Association of Toronto (CH.AT) in December 19702. Peter Marshall We knew Peter to see him, but that vvas all. Once in a while Jack and I vvauld be sitting in the Chez Paree Restaurant [located at 220 Bloor Street West] and Peter WOllld COlne in vvith his entourage of chickens and s"Vveep by with the bleached blonde hair. You know, your typical wealthy older queen. Peter was a flamboyant character \'vho "vas famous for holding parties up in Rosedale. We heard all about theln and knew people \'\/ho had been to then1. But I don't think tllat Jack and II in those days, would have been really into that lifestyle. We did11't move in those circles. As I'm sure is the case today, gay life in Toronto in the 19505 and 19605 vvas on a series of levels, vvith your opera queens a11d the h.ighly educated university types at the tOpl and the ribbon clerks at Simpson's at the bottom. While there 111ay have been a certain alTIOunt of overlap, vve didn't associate vvith a11ybody except from v\rhat vve Inight refer to as the "lo\ver orders. 1t /\nd I say that in the ki11dliest \;\·'ay, because vve vvere part of it.

70 GAY PERSONALlTIES OF OLD TORONTO 71

------

The Chez Paree Restaurant, Toronto, ca. 1956. Photo by Jones and Morris. 72 CHALL ENG I NG TIl E CON SP j RA N CY 0 F S 1LEN CE

Jimmy Roulston Ji111111Y Roulston used to play' either die piano or one of those electric organs at the Chez Paree. Most outrageous! Back in the] 9505; 1n the evening the Chez Paree \,\/as patronized lllainly by gaYI [nen. It vvas a very nice restaurant. I'll alvvays remelnber one night in partIcular. Jirr1my sat vvith his piano on a bit of a dais/ abo\T€ the flOOf! arld people would get up and ask him to playa particular nUlnber. ()n this evening/ a tall, elegant/ Clifton Webb type \vent up. Jinln\y leaned down and this guy vvhispered, "Will you play so and so." ,L\nd he turned around to go back to his table just as Jilnlny spoke into the n1icrophone and said! "r\re just had a request fron1 nly dear sister so,,­ and-so to play this nUlnber. JJ Th.is poor n1an looked so ernbarrassed I thought 11e'd drop dead in his tracks! JimnlY vvas that sort of flamboyant/ in-your-face type. Jin1my vvas one of those people like a ship that passes in the night. Jack and I sa\Jv hiln frorn tinlc to hnlel vve knevv' vvho he v-vas, but rm not sure that I ever even spoke to hi]11. J do renlember

\A/alking along Bloor Street once in the sU111mertime t though. Jinl1ny v\laS just ahead of 111e l a.nd there ,-vas qujte a cro\vd of people all around us. Just as \ve got to Bay Street the light turned red. -,,~nd

Jinlmy looked around at all these people and said l "My God. It l1ever fails! Every time I get to a street corner the light turns red!!' ~rhese people vvere \'\/ondering vvhat this \vas all about. Jilumy vvas just a fun person3. Frances and Geraldine

T\rvo characters stand out in my nlen10ries ()f the C=orners. It IS hard to say hovv old they vvere vvhen I kne\v thenl. I don!t kno\\' if I ever

knevv their real nallleSl although everyone called thenl Fra.nces and Geraldine. Frances \vas a black guy v\rho v\reighed t\\'o hundred pOU11ds at tIle absolute lllinilnUlTI and \vas alvvrays plastered vvitll makeup, including green eye shado\iv alld lipstick. l-le dressed in a unisex \tvay so that it vvras difficult to tell vvhether you \vere lookin.g at a TIlan or a VV0I11all. Geraldine vv'as the \rery Inirror opposite. He vvas also about t\VO hundred poun.ds but \vith porcelain features and makeup galore. The t\~'O of then) \-vert> great sisters. TheyI \vere hustlers. They'd C01l1e to the Corners in the e\'enlng to drink beer and look for clients. I don't kno\r\/ tl1at they.' nlade 11'1£1ny pickups at the

Cornersl but they vv'oLdd cruise the streets and SOlne horny heterosexual \vould pick thern up. They!d say that it V\ra::; the \vrong tilne of the month, but they could ghre hinl a good blcn\' job! Frances CAY PERSONALl'flES OF 01. D TORONTO / ') and (~eraldine could pass; especiall)/ back then, because the C1\'erage straight D1an lueeting thenl reaHy \vocddn't question t11at they \vere vvomen. I \vas great friends \vith both of thern. 1reniember one night there at the Corners. The tvvo of thenl vvere sitti11g at a table, as usual; together, dishing up a storm about somethillg. Four or five really rough looking nUDlbers canle in and took seats in the m.iddle of the rOO]11, and kept glaring o\'er at Frances and (~eraldine. And they knc\v they vvere being looked at. The rnore the guys looked at thelT\; the nlore flaol,boyallt they' became. So, fiI1ally, Frances got up to go to the \cvashrocun! and tvvo seconds later one of these guys fro111 tile table got up and follovved hin1. i\nd in about hetH a D1.il1ute you never heard such screan1S and shrieks coming out of the vvashroonl! Frances \lvas vvhaling the shit out of thjs tough guy. TIle bartender jumped over th.e bar alid \v€nt in \lvith a savved off pool cue and dragged this straight one out and threw him out th.e front door. The gay ones \;vere alvvays protected dO\tvn there, but in this particular instance Frances handled the situation very vveU. Miss Jeffries 'TIlere \vas a \!vonderful character ,,\-rho used to frequent the Corners. I don't kll0\!V \-\Thy! but nobody.! e\'er sat \!vith hinl. Nobody e\/er talked to hiJn. Everybody referred to him as J\1,iss Jeffries. I~Ie vv'as th.is absolutely fragile little creature. I don't Sllppose he vveighed more than ninety pounds. He \-vas sort of pretty, in a refined kind of \vay; and alvvays vvore these vinyl jackets. Quite stylish, but \'er)/ aloof. The beverage rooms at the Corners \rvere mixed, you kIlO"\'. They vveren/t by any means exclusively gay. E\reryone sat around in a mixed groupl and for the T110st part minded their ovvrn business. TIle

straight ones that canie in \vere usually older 111en j rough 'vvorkmen types. They sat dovvn and drank their beer. Miss Jeffries used to conie in; and like several others vv'e knevv \vould proceed vvith a ritual after 11e sat do\vn. 1\11 this fussy business about arranging the change in one pileI and the cigarette 1ighter/ and the keysl and all the tilne brushing back the hair and fluttering up the collar.

()ne evening a big, elderly; rough V\r orknla,n \vas sittilig kitty­ corner fro111 ,lvi.iss Jeffries, and \vas absolutely open-ITlouthed \:vith an1azenlent. He couldn't figure out \:\rhat It vvas. TvIiss Jeffries didn't do anythi11g for a\vhile; but vvas vvell a\-van: that l1e v\,'JS beIng stared at. Finany.' he turned around alld looked at this old guy dlld said, i/VVell, do )/ou \\!(1nt to fuck or fight?!! ~rhe fnan \vas Just thunderstruck: He gulped his beer do\vn, got up, a.nd fled. 74 CHALLENGING THE CONSPIRA CY OF SILENCE

-- ... _------.-- - ~ ._- _.-:----:---=::--:-=:------

The Municipal Hotel, Toronto, part of the Corners, ca. 1952. Photo by Jones and Morris. GAY PERSONALIIlES OF OLD TORONTO 75

The beverage room, Municipal Hotel, Toronto, ca. 1952. Photo by Jones and Morris. 76 CHALLENGING T}-!E CONSPIRANCY OF SILENCE

Madame Butterfly There \vas a rnan VVll0 used to hang around the taverl1 at the Savarin Hotel \\-rho \vas known as Madanl€ Butterfly. He had been an opera singer in his youth but had \vrecked his voice. He had this husky/ husky voice d11d every senten.ce vvas preceded by the halld on the chest - t11at gesture. H.e vvas a panic. There vvere qUite a fevv characters like him around. Btlt/ apart froln runnillg into then1 in the pub! I never socialized vvith any of them at all. They were just casual acquailltances. Fred "Scotty" Wilson and Art Truman Jack and I knevv Scotty for 111any years! although \II/hen we knevv him he vvas no longer called Scotty but vv'as known as TillY. He was a truly hilarious gay man. Tiny was a born entertainer, and h.ad gained some falne as a comedian in overseas shows for the Allied troops duri11g World War Tvvo. When vve knevv 'Tiny he ITIUst h,ave vveighed t\VO hundred seventy-five poundsl vvith chins on the chins on the chins. The mOlnent he \valked into a room he sirnply took over. He had a charismatic aura about hini. Everybody just sat there, fascln.ated. And l~iny vvauld never stop. He vlould hold forth - 11e vvas on/ as the saying goes, from the tin1e he \valked in and \ivould skip from one thing to the next. He sounded very Churchillian when he spokel quite the sonorous tOl1es. But in the blink of an eye he could grab up a throvv from a chesterfield and put it around his shoulders, place a lampshade on his head! and be transformed into Queen Victoria inspecting the pluo1bing at Buckingham Palace. He kept everyone in fits. W11en Tiny vvas in VVorld \iVar One he met another young glly about his o\'\'n age, Art 'Truman. Those tvv'o vvere together for more than forty years, right up until Tiny's death in 1959. As "fillY and i\rt grevv older 1 think they vvere absolutely devoted to each other, but in the latter years vvere not quite \\that you vvould call lovers, jllst absolutely de\'oted friends. They used to address each other as Miss Wilson and IVIiss lrulnan. Art Llsed to dance attendance on Tiny all the time. He used to fuss over him like a little nlother hen vvith baby chicks. 1t V\las a delight to see the t\\lO of thelTl together. But \vhen Tiny died tl1ere v,,'as not a \vord in the death notice about poor little J\rtt . After Tiny died I think Art only lived for maybe a year, and then he follovved hin1. GAY PERSONALITfES OF OLD 'TORONTO

Alex Bakalis I used to see A,lex Bakalis fairlv often at the Corners. -He vvas about forty years old aI1d vvorked as a clothing salesnlan. We became pretty good friends, on a purely Platonic level. One nIght early in May 1960 Alex and I \'vere sittiI1g in tl1e tavern of tI1e Union House Hotel "vhen this young guy caine in. His naTTIe vvas Joseph Normandin aI1d he "vas a handsoil1e feUov\-'! about twenty years old. But other gay men had mentioned to me that ]1e \vas really unbalaJ1ced a11d unstable. He was strictly a ltustier, not a yOLlng gay lTIan who \vas just looking for sex. 111a1' night Alex happened to glance over and say, liOh, there's Joseph. l'n1 ofL" 1 said, "Gee, Alex! you!d better vvatch out. That kid has a dreadful reputation. II Alex repliedl "Oh, r can handle him. I've had him half a dozen times." Well, they left together and th.at's t)1e night that Alex was murdered. The local papers covered the murder and related ho\'v Alex took Normandin back to his aF)artmeIlt on Farnham Avenue. They had a falling outl and Norma11din stabbed Alex nUlnerous times, first in the

back with a steak knifej then \ivith a butcher knife. Normandin fled the apartment vvith Alex's wallet but later surrendered to a policeman. Alex's n1urder became quite the cause celebre for me becallse 1 had seen them go off together. I was also keenly interested to see how the case "vould be ha11dled, both in court and in the newspapers. T attended the preliminary hearing, during w11ich Normandin's lawyer tried to put forvvard the bullshit argument that his client, a fil1e, upstandiJ1g, blue-eyed, Canadian boy, had been assaulted by a vicious pervert. After the hearing J vvaited in the corridor olLtside to talk to Normandin's lavvyer. I told l1im that Alex \vas a friend of mine and I had been i11 the 110te] the 11ight that Alex V\rent over and picked this kid up, as he had done several times before. I didn/t intend to sit by and allovv hinl to use this defence to get this boy off scot-free. I told him that if he persisted in it 1'd go to the Attorney General's office and declare myself a friend of the court. Then 1'd testify that I kne\-\f that Nornlandin was a professional hustler in Toronto and that he vvas certainly not an innocent youth. I'm not nluch in favour of villdictive vengeance because I don/t think that serves 111uch of a pllrpose, but Tdidn't vvant to see Alex defarned in this vvay. Th,e lavvyer's reaction \vas quite anlusing. He listened to vvhat I 78 C 1:i ALL ENG INGT II E CON 5 P I RAN C Y 0 F 5 I LEN CE

had to sa)' arid said t IIVVelt I don1t think you're really serious because you knovv tl\at if you got on the \vitness stand and testified like that

l e\rerybody vv'ould k110\'V \vhat you are,!! AJld 1 saidl JI'vVelL it doesn/t bother me. 'Tllafs the point. 1 don't care vvhetller everybody knows vvhat I am." vVhen the trial came up Nortnandinls lavvyer didn't try t11at tactic at all. Nornlandln pleaded guilty to a charge of rrlanslaughtec reduced froID nlurder. -rhe defence lavvyer acknovvledged that NornlaI1din \tvas a disturbed young mal1/ and it canle out that he had. \vorked as a h·ustler for five years. In the end" Norn1d11din vvas sentenced to life imprisOIlment5.

Fe\\r minority groups have ever had to Hhnpose or authorize the imposition contend with the degree of of cruel and unusual treatment or discrimination or the denial of civil punishnlent." The alternative to right to which the homosexual is celibacy is a possible life term in subject. While recent legislation has prison as a crilninal sexual made it virtually impossible for the psyc.hopath upon conviction of a bigoted to discriminate against any single offence. These laws are all the minority in matters relating to housing, more unjust in that in so far as jobs or publie accomnlodation~ this consenting adults, in private, are protection~ unfortunately, does not concerned the activity outlawed is in extend to the hotllosexual and he no slightest \vay detrimental to the remains the relatively helpless victim welfare of society nor could it be of a society which seems determined described as "criminal" by even the not to lose their sole remaining IllOst violent distortions of logic. scapegoat. Sexual acts, bet\veen consenting Under present federal legislation, adults, in private -- regardless ofthe the homosexual, ifhe "vvishes to ren1uin sex of the participants are strictly \-vithin the law, is condemned to a life­ ll1atters of private InoraIity and time ofenforced celibacy -- in spite of neither the law nor society can justify our celebrated Canadian Bill of Rights their 1n50lent intrusion into this which prohibits any la\v that would sphere of human behavior.

Fr01T1 IiCi\Cil Liberties and the H01110Sexual,/I by Jan1es Egan, Toronto Daily Star, 23 llctober 1963, p. 7. C:hapter Six: Exploratiolls of Gay Male Community In 'Toronjo in the Early 1960s

As letters a.nd articles vvere published under 111y ovvn nanle/ 1 ever1tually became recognized as a gay activist in the small to\!vn of Be2u11sville. I 111ust say that even back then there vvas never any antagonisnl s.hov\;'n tovvards Jack or myself. We never 11ad any hOITlOphobic slurs throvvn at us! or anything like that. But, as tinle \>ver\t by! Jack becarrle increasingly uncornfortable \vltb. our situatioI\ there. He didnft like the publicity. [n the fall of 1963 Jack sllggested that vve TITO\

Bea.ffisville a11d 1110ved to 'Toronto I \vhere yve took an apartment at 1052A Bloor Street West above the Bloor Supermarket. ()ne day, shortly after our move back to Toronto, 1 got a telephone caU frOl1'l Sidney Katz, \-vho was an associate editor at Maclean's 1. H.e had bee11 commissioned by the magazin.e to do an article on the ga.y cOll1.munity of Toronto. Katz said h.e'd read some of the pieces 1'd \lvritten. He V\l anted to do the article but said that he knew alnlost nothing about hon1osexuality. He wondered if I vvould be \villing to cooperate vvith hinl, not ill helping to vvrite the article but in talking to l1im about h.on1osexuality alld gay life. I vvas pleased to help, and invited hilTI up to our apartment. One of the bedroo111s there had been converted into a library-study, and the walls were ]i11ed \rvith bookcases. I had dozens of books dealing with hon-losexualitYI sonle of them quite old alld rare. I regret that I've lost, disposed of! or sold a lot of them since then. Katz canle up and lle and [ talked for 1 don't kll0W how long! and I loaded him do\vn vvith all kinds of books, papers! and clippings to read. Katz later caIne back to the apartment for tvvo or three visits and vve talked about aspects of the gay life that he had 110 kno\vledge of at all. At that time police \vere criticising certain local clubs as being IIhangouts for l1)ale a.nd fenlale homosexuals2." Katz asked me about these places and I invited him to do a round of the bars 011 a Saturday night. He agreed. vVe started off do\vn at the Corners. We \'vent dOVVIl there at about eight-thirty at l1ight, \,vhen they vvere at their mildest! because frankly I didn!t \Va11t 111rn to see then1 a t eleven, \vhen they \vere at tileir height We hit the beverage roonlS at the MUJlicipal and the Union House 11otels. \lVe left the Corners and \,valked north on Bay Street, heading for

7Y SU C HAL LEN C INC THE CON 5 PI RAN C Y 0 F '5 I LEN CE

, l

One evening, III the company of a homosexual gUIde [Egan]. j vIsited two of Toronto's lowest gay taverns. One tavern consisted of a long. shabby, J depressing room. Most of the men were "masculine-type" homosexuals, dressed III sloppy work clothes. Other guests .- most of these over forty -. were conspIcuous by their neat and conventional attire. Entering and leavll1g the tavern and table-hopPlllg were a number of youths -- male prostitutes solicitlllg the other men.. Tourists who come to the gay bars to stare are discouraged in different ways. In one bar, the regulars will point and stare at the offending "stralght" people, whisper among themselves and then burst out laughing. After thIS routine is repeated a few times, the tOUrists retreat 111 confusion and dismay. One nIght, a party of gay people found themselves next to a table of giggling. finger-pointing heterosexuals. One of the homosexuals leaped up and, in a loud. shrill female voice, said. "I must now go, my dears. Your poor mother is exhausted after washing. ironing and cooking all day."

From "The Homosexual Next Door," by Sidney Katz, Macleall's, 22 February 1964, p. 2Sl. TORONTO IN TIlE EARLY 19605 the beverage rODrn at the Ford Hotel [at 595 BayL \vhich vvas at the corner of Ba y and I)undas streets across frorn the bus terlninaL In those days Bay vvas a \.'ery dark and gloo111y street at night. There \vas absolutely nothing doing. As \lve vvere vvalking north I sllddenly sa\v 11eading south, obviously to the Corners, a gay character that I knew. His name vvas Fred. I never did k110\V his last name. tie \vas about fifty-five years old t a little on the overvveight side but not too bad. Under ordinary CirClllTIstances 11e vvas a perfectly nonna1 appearing man. But when he started to calnp it up, there vvas nobody who could hold a candle to Fred. He \vas absolutely outrageous, and truly hilarious. Fred was a painter, and a very successful one. He used to paint street scenes, with light ref1ecting on rainy streets poplliated by stick­ like figures and tall apartment buildings. Fred used to chllIn out these paintings in an endless production line. f-Ie cOllld never produce them fast enough. "rhere were galleries all aroul1d Torollto buying thenl lip from him. Fred spellt every l1ickel tllat he made on street kids. He liked the sixteen- or seventeen-year-olds, and tllere were lots of thenl around in Toronto in those days if you knew \A/here to look. So Sidney Katz and I were vvalking north and \eve were talking about what he just saw at the Corners and I savv Fred approaching from about a block avvay. 1 recogllized him and thought, OIL, my God, of all the people I'd want us to run into the last would be Fred. When Fred finally recognized Ine he paused alld said [in a lispy voice], "Hi, Jinl. How are you tonight?/' and he really \vent into his little act. Alld

I said, "Hellot Fred. Hoyv are things going? Off to the Corners?" "Oh, yes." And then he looked like a coy girl, and got himself all y\Trapped around himself, and said /I And vvho is your nlost attractive gentlen1an friend7" I nearly shit, to tell you the truth. Sidney \vas looking at him absolutely O}1en-n1outhed. 50 1 said,. "This is Sid,. a friend of lnine. This is Fred. We've got to get going, Fred. \!Ve'll see you later." And so we took off. I often "vander \vhatever happened to Fred. VVe arrived at the Ford Hotel and just had a beer there. It had a Inixed gay-straight beverage room. -rhere \vasn't very much doiI1g. From tl1ere vve \event to the l\.ed Lion, at tlle Westbury Hotel rat 475 Yonge Street]. It vvas a very popular h.angout at that tilne and had a huge beverage room. I glless it vvas getting on to ten-thirty \vhen \ve got there, and it \vas packed. There were probably tv/a hundred fello\'vs in that place. We sat dovvn at a cor11er table for t\VO and 82 CHALLENGING THE CONSPIRANCY OF SILENCE

... the homosexual, in growing numbers, is becoming bolder in his campaign to be accepted as a member of society in good standing. Homosexuals are demanding the right to live their private lives in their own way without censure or penalty. At present, the legal bar to equality is SectIOn 149 of the Criminal Code, which states that "everyone who commits an act of gross indecency with another person is guilty of an indictable offense a.nd is liable to imprisonment for five years." Sexual union between two members of the same sex is interpreted a "gross indecency," making a practising homosexual, ipso faciO, a criminal.. .. Verne Baldwin [Jim Egan]... , a highly educated forty-three-year-old homosexual, speaks for the newly militant homosexual when he says. "As the first step towards justice, Section 149 should be abolished. It's a vicious law. Nobody is harmed by two consenting adults who perform, in private, what comes naturally to them. Jews, Negroes and other minorities are now protected by anti-discrimination legislation. We homosexuals are society's rema.ining scapegoats."

From "The Homosexual Next Door," by Sidney Katz, Maclean's, 22 february 1964, p. 10. TORONTO IN TIlE EARLY 19605 83 ordered a beer. Katz was looking around. l-Ie ,"vas very discreet. Sidney never resembled a tourist. Eventually he leaned over to me and asked, "HOV\l many of the fellows in llere do you suppose are gay?" I said, "Well, 1 k110vV a great lTIany of them by sight and there are some I don't knovv, but I ilnagine that ninety-five percent are." Katz replied, "Well, \Arhat is that idiot chief of police talking about? The vvay he describes a gay beverage foon1 as some sort of den of iniquity, with degenerate looking people. 1 don't see any felloyv il1 here that I wouldn't be prou.d to call my son as far as personal appearance is concerned." So he certainly got his eyes opened on th.at. 1'In not sure where I took 11im from tl1ere. There were a couple of other places. Eventually, late that night, we ended up way over on College Street in some little restaurant that must have been open all night. Sidney Katz's li'The Homosexual Next Door: A Sober Appraisal of a New Social I'henomenon" was published as a two-part series in Maclean's m,agazirte during February-March 19643. These are considered to be the first full-scale articles published in a mainstream Canadian publication to take a generally positive vievv of homosexuality. I have talked to people who weren't overly impressed by then1, claiming that they were not sufficiently supportive of gays. I thought they were fair and objective. Consideri11g that they were written by someone like Katz, who vvas not gay, the articles \,\lere refreshingly non-judgmental for the time, and very inforn1ative. In t11e first part, "The Homosexual Next Door," he quoted me extensively under the pseudonym Verne Baldwin (Jack vvas "George Galbraith"). In the second part Katz went after opinions froin psychiatrists at the Forensic Clinic, religious leaders, and other "authorities.!! I had no further contact \vith Sidney at all. I feel I vvas son1ewhat remiss in not vvriting to him and thanking him for \!vriting a good piece. I vvas afraid that Macleanls would be svvamped with letters of protest about tl1ese articles. I had visions of the plllpits being emptied vvhile all the clergymen rushed to their typevvriters to dash off letters of bitter protest. So I sat doyvn and wrote four or five relatively brief letters praising Macleanfs for publishil1g the articles, and signed them all \vith false l1ames. Well, my fears were llnfollnded. Maclean's published three letters, all of \vhich vvere supportive4. In connection vvith all of this I ShOllld mention that I had a friend 8.:1 CI-fJ"\LLENGING THE CONSPIRANCY OF SILENCE in Toronto by' the nan1e of SauL f-fe "Vvorked as a despatcher for a large read)r-mix cenlent conlpany and \A/as one of my favorite people. lJ11e day I got a telephone call fronl hilTI, and he asked rne if I "vas free il1 a day or tvvo to have lunch vvith him. I said sure. He said there was SOIneone l1e'd be bringing along \tv ho \A/anted to meet nle. I said fine, 1'd be glad to Ineet him. We m.et at the Chez Paree. I carne into the restaurant arId gla.nced around. There vvas Saul sitting at a table vvith this very tall, distillguished, gray-haired gentlernan \Nith a hand-polislled leather face. He \vas just OOZillg lTI011ey, posit.ion! and povver! and \vas a very charming nlan. Certainly you vv'ou]d ne\rer jUlnp to the conclusio11 he was gay just by illeeti11g him. The man looked like a lavvyer! perhaps!

or a \vealthv,j stockbroker or rea] estate man. Salt! il1troduced me on a first nalne basis only, and I don't remember the nlan's n.anle. I-Ie ordered a delightful light lu.nch for the three of us. Aftervvards! \ve lit cigarettes al1d \vere sitting there talking for awhile! and he said, IiWell, I've asked Saul to bring us together because I ha\re sOlnethillg very serious 1 vvant to talk about with you. A group of us \A/ere discussing the rnatter the other night, and we understand that you are about to collaborate vvith Sid11ey Katz 011 publishil1g an article about tl1e gay comm.U11ity 111 Toronto." I said t113t "vas correct. He continlled, "Well, vve tl1ink it's very unwise. My friends and I are very concer11ed about tl1is and we think you should not do it. You should c11a11ge your mind and inform Katz that you will not cooperate vvith him." I vvas thunderstruck! and replied, liWhy on Earth vvould you feel concerned about tl1is? As far as I'm concerned, this is the opportunity of a lifetime: to 11ave an article published in a national magazine like Maclean's in vvhich I will have some influe11ce to ensure its accuracy.1I Well, he said! Jiyou've been writing a lot of stuff in the papers lately and I understand you're going on Pierre Berton's show." I said, JiYes5." He replied, JiTh.e thing is, if you keep on publicizing this the way you are, it \'von/t be possible for any gay man to be safe. IJeople \'vill begin to get

suspicious and gay men vvill be recognized as living a gay life. Now1 one can live a quiet! unobtrusive life, and nobody suspects that the forty-five or fifty-year-old Ina11 vvho is unm.arried and lives in a bachelor apartment, or luaybe even shares an apartm,ent v\lith another In,an! may be gay. But if you keep this IIp! they're going to knO\V about it." And I said, "Well, to tell you the truth, that's exactly ll1y purpose. Fra11kly, there's nothing I vvould like better than for TORONTO IN THE EARLY 19605 85 every homosexual 111 -roronto to be exposed overnight as a hOlTIOSexuat sllTIultaneous]y, and the problern v\-'ouid be solved. There is absolutely not11ing society c()uld do about it." Welt he v"ras quite horrified by this and altl10ugh he vvas very polite and reasonable, vve discllssed it at great length. I finally ellded up saying that I \\lot.lldn/t even drearn of backing off on this. So Sidney Katz/s articles were vvritten vvith some assistance fronl n1e l and ,[ vvas pleased "vith tl1e result. It vvas at about this tilne that illy relationsl"lip \\lith Jack came under severe pressure. We had been back in 'roronto for a fevv il10nths when Jack announced that either I give up gay activisrn or Ollr relationship "vas at an end. I was becon1i11g so involved in this that our telephone \vas rillging all the tinle. I '\-vas involved in battles with the local ne\r\rspapers, particularly thE.) Telcgrarn. I had one hell of a row \lvith th_eln. VVe vvere phoni'ng back\\J'ards and fOf\Vards because they vvere trying to ignore a response that I had \vritten to a series of three terrible articles they had published on the "shadow \vorldlf of

I the homosexuaL entitled J/Society 311d the Hornosexual/ vvritten by "a senior Telegrarn staff reporterll [Ron PoultonJ6. Sidney Katz and Pierre Berton had phoned a nU.mber of times. I was also getting calls frOITl complete strangers \;vho were looking for a crisis line. By that time Jack and J had been together for more than fifteen years and he vvas totally fed up "vith gay activislllo In those days Jack had a straightforvvard vie\l\! of gay life. He thought that if you're gay) you IIleet someone and settle dovvn \vith them. Then as a couple yOll / live a quiet, unobtrusive life. D011 t interfere with anyone, and they vvon/t interfere \tvjth you. I/ ni afraid Jack felt that most gay men wh.o ran afoul of the 1a\\/ vvere in their predicament because of their o\",n foolishness. But I didn't see it quite that vvay at all. \rYe had a IOJlg talk Otle n,ight and Jack said that he had not become involved in a relationship to become a gay activist. He didn/t like the 11otoriety associated "vith this sort of activism, and couldn't avoid it unless I gave IIp my public invol\lement in gay issues. t 011 the other hand, had nlade up my m,ind that I was going to stick to it. Tllis was very inlportal1t to nle. I couldn't just vvalk a\vay from it and tried to convince Jack to accept the fact, but nOI it vvouldn't do. 1 foolishly 1I said, iI All riglltl if that's the \-vay it's going to be, so be it. So \ve separated. "Ve split the bal1k account dovvn the centre and I took h,al£ and he took half. At that time I was ",vorking in a bookstore on Bloor Street, trying to get it organized. r quit this job and set up another 86 CHALLENGING TIlE CONSPIRANCY OF SILENCE business preserving biological speciJnens, prin1arily \vhite rats and cats. I rented a \\Torkroom in the Spadina-College district and lived in a one-room apartInent above. Jack kept livin.g in our old apartInent. After Jack and I split up, I began to spend a fair amount of time during t11e evenings at the Music Roon1, one of Toronto's first gay clubs [located upstairs at 575 Yonge Street]7. The Music Room \vas owned by Rick Kerr, a gay man, and Sara Ellen Dunlop, a lesbian. The club didn't have a liquor licence so it attracted people as young as sixteen and seventeen. People \vent there to have coffee and conversation and to dance. [Jrag shovvs vvere also }leld there. Murray Burbidge [a.k.a. Toni Seven] vvas one of the leadin,g drag queens in Toronto at the time, and 11e used to perform often. 1vvould say he was semi-professional. Murray nlade all his own costumes, and was excellent. WIlen I "vent to the Music Room 1 would often chat \\Tith I~jck Kerr. Rick was usually on the door, both to \VelCOlne people coming into the club and to make sure that the wrong type didn't get in. l\.ick was a relatively small guy, maybe five foot eight and about one hundred forty-five pounds, but he could be a scrapper if he had to be. Tremember a guy who came in there one night and started to create trouble. Rick dragged l1im over to the door and started to beat 11im

up. Sara was in a panic and yelled, "Stop it! You're going to kill him. fI Rick was right on the point of throwing the guy down the stairs. Some of the kids vvho went to the Music I\.oom vvere l1aving real trouble coming to terms with their sexual orientation. Tl1ey vvould try to el1gage Rick in conversation, and he'd bring them over to the table where I was sitting and ask n1e to talk to them. Often some guy would wander into the club i11 a panic after he'd finally realized he \\Ta5 gay, or he had kno\vn for some time al1d he just wanted to talk about it. Gay people today have no idea \\That it vvas like being gay it1 those days. Homosexuality vvas not discllssed openly in polite society. There vvere no positive gay role models..rv1any young gays felt there \\'as absolutely no one to turn to or to talk to. In Toronto, there vvere 110 support groups of any kind. So Rick directed a fe\,y of these people to ll1e and \\!e had interestin.g conversations. I remember one YOU11g fello\\' in particll1ar vvho had just arrived in Toronto froln some place in th.e country, a farn1ing area. He \vas one of the nicest boys 1'd ever met altll0l!gh notl1ing happened between us. He was an extremely attractive, fresh-faced farm boy vvho \\'as really in a bad m,ental space. vYe sat and talked for avvhile TORONTO IN THE EARLY 19605 87

Kick up yO'.lr heels and have a gay .winging time. Dining and dancing lllltil 4.30 &. m. - on the week-end llntil 2. a. m. throughout the week.

MUSIC ROOM

MELODY ROOM

Toronto'. original after-hour. gay club•• 0 f fer in g you a complete range of facilities from the quiet Intimacy of our TV lounge to lively floor Ihowl featuring Toronto'l finelt Female lmperlonatorl.

The steep, barren staircase is an unlikely entrance to a place so warm and vital. Once the red and gold door is passed, the world of Yonge Street swiftly fades from memory. Rich wine drapes with the flocked wallpaper, plush red wall-seats and the textured white ceiling all combine to relax the visitor into an easy mood of gaiety.... Sociable mixing is easy at the Music Room; it is small and bright enough for a friendly smile to be visible across the room. The wall-seats make it possible to sit strategically near someone, while working up the courage to propose a dance, without actually walking up to the table. Those who choose to devote themselves to each other without unwelcome interruption, may do so in the alcove cornerjust offthe stage.

From "Music Room Private Members Club," by Peter Alann, Two, no. 3 (1964), p. 23. 88 C HAL LEN CING THE CON S P l RAN C YO}' 5 1 LEN CE and eventuall,y he told 111e that 11€ had been a\;vare of his feelings for otller boys, and his entire lack of feeling for girls, for as long as he could remember. He didll't hate VVOll1en, but they held no sexual attraction for hiln a t all. His fatller had died alld he'd convinced his mother that she should sell the farm, because lle really vvasn't into fa.rming. So she sold the farn) and Inoved to to\tvn, vvhere she vvas quite cODlfortable. He saw this as his big break to go to Toronto, \!vhere he began to investigate the gay '.!varld. He "vas absolutely horrified by what he found. I asked hiln what had upset him about It. "Well/' he said, "I don't vvant to become like tlleTYL!f He pointed out to the dance flOOf, \vhich \vas OccLlpied by tvvelve or fifteen seventeen- or eighteen-year-old shrieking! screalnulg queens \vho ,",vere carryil1g on in the rnost outrageous fashion. They vvere absolutely fantastic dancers, everyone of thein, and vvere having a great time, but \vere scream.ing and shrieking and canlping it IIp a11d carrying on. I told him th.ere \'vas no reason in the world he must turn into one of those types. In 111y opinion/ they \Jvere that vvay t11rough choice. l'hey had chosen that lifestyle! and he nlust choose his. They find acceptance among ot11er young guys \vho behave like themselves, alld th.at's fine. But just because you're gay doesn't lucan you }lave to act like that. The young guy seenled relieved. This is just the sort of idcllbty crisis that lTIany YOUll.g gay Incn face when they first become a\vare of their sexual orientation! and I hope that in my c011versations at the Music I{ooln 1 was able to allay SOlne fears concerning the gay life. During those early days at tl1e Music I\.oOlTI, sonletimes on a ThlIrsday night the music would stop at arollnd ten and everyone would sit arollnd and talk about gay life in Toro11to. There \VOllld sometimes be fifty or sixty people at these infoflnal discussions. At that time I \vas really interested in the idea of l1elping to establish some sort of fornlal gay organization in Toronto. I l1ad been in touch vvith ONE, Incorporated! quite a bit/ and I had asked Dorr Legg if they vvould agree to the fornlation of a Toronto branch of ONE. Dorr ,,'vas quite enthllsiastic and asked lTIe to see \v·hat ] co·uld do. Well, \A/hatever talents I 111,ay have/ organization is not one of thein. I didn't have a clue as to hovv to go about organizing a group like that. I really vvanted son1eone else to act as organizer! alld 1. \vould certainly have "helped. TIle idea was eventually abandoned as I found that not lIlany ot]1ers \vere interested in it at all. Sonletimes outsiders \A/ould come to talk at these discussions at TORONTO IN TIJE EARLY 19605 the !\1usic I{oonl. 1 renlember on one occasion three or four psychiatrists from the Forensic Clinic Carrl€ and they had a lot to say. (llle psychiatrist was holding forth and one of the boys in the audience asked tl1is doctor poirtt bla11k, "1)0 you thiIlk all gay nlen are sick?/! The doctor hedged about it a bit and said, "I fhjnk a11 gay mell are by definition neurotic and in 011e sense of the vvord, yes; sick, and require treatment.1! And so the kid asked, lIWhy do you thil1k vve're all sick?1I -rhe doctor replied! J/Becallse of your irtability to engage ir1 normal sexual intercourse \vith a woman.!! Then the kid asked! I1\tVelt \Nhy do you think vve do not engage in normal sexu,al intercourse?" The doctor saicL II Because the hOl1"1osexual nlale is afraid to make the effort for fear he fails. fie fears failure in the act and doesn't try.1I So the kid thought about that and sat do\vn and nobody else said anytl1ing. So I said, "Novv, vvait a luinute. Hovv could you possibly fear failure of an act you have not the slightest desire to commit? If I vvere sitting here drooling over girls and vvishing I could go to bed "vjth tllem but vvas afraid to ll1ake the effort! yea. But what if you don/t have the faintest desire in the yvorld to go to bed \vith a vV(Hnan and you l1ave no desire to succeed at all? How could I be afraid of failure?!! The doctor didn't have 111uch of an ans\rver for this. 1 t.hink 11€ replied that I had succeeded in convincing myself that I really wasn't interested. But that \vas just the sheerest sophistry! as far as I "vas cOllcernedR• Shortly after Sidney Katz's articles appeared ill Maclear(s I received a telephone call from a man \tvho Introduced himself as Dr. William Hogg! a psychiatrist \vith tl1e Forensic Clinic in Toronto. He had read the articles and had contacted Sidney Katz! and Katz gave him my name. Dr. Hogg vvorked primarily \-vith gay young offellders vvho 11ad been referred to hinl by the courts. He thought that it tnight be useful to set up a weekly discussion ITleetillg of six or eight gay nlen! self-accepting or not! to just sit around a11d talk about \vhat it mea11t to be gay. Dr. H.ogg ""ranted to sit in 011 the discussion as an observer" just to listen and not to criticize or express doubt. I agreed to arrange for the group to meet. At that time I had an older gay frieJld nanled John Harvey, and he agreed to host these disCllssiol15 at Ilis hOlne in East York. I lined up about six other fello\vs vvho vvere gay; of various types" and vve started llleeting for a couple of hours on \!Vednesday evenings. T'h.is cOl1tinued for a few months until June 1964, \!vhen Jack and I decided to leave Toronto. 90 C HAL LE l\: G J N G THE CON SPI RAN CY 0 F S I l E . C E

These meetings were really very interesting. Dr. Hogg arrived, was friendly, and didn't mdicate in dny way where he stood on the subject of homosexuality. We all knew he was a psychiatrist, but he said he was not there to evaluate us. He just wanted to hear what gay people talked about, and to see what kind of people we were. Dr. Hogg had never met any gay men other than youngsters who were in dire straits with the law. So the group sat around and talked about a great many things, but mainly about homosexuality. We talked about the state of the gay world in Toronto, and what the police were up to, and about love affairs that had come and gone. I remember that one of the guys in the group was really mixed-up. He "vas a young x-ray technician at a local hospital. He knew that he was gay but didn't like it at all, and we used to talk to him quite a bit. One evening Dr. Hogg was accompanied by a handsome kid about seventeen years old, who was one of his patients. He seemed absolutely petrified with fear. He sat as far away as possible from the rest of us, listening to what was going on but not contributing anything. He never said a word (Ill night. On another occasion, Dr. Hogg arrived with. a man, about forty, whom he introduced as a colleague. This person sat in absolute frozen-faced indignation throughout the entire evening. 1n June 1964 1 announced to the group that the next week would be the last meeting, as I was moving away. Dr. Hogg felt that was fine. We had been meeting for awhile and the group had served its purpose. Dr. Hogg suggested that we hold a little party after our final meeting, and we agreed. We brought bottles of wine and snacks. Just as the party was winding down, and everyone was preparing to leave, Dr. Hogg announced to the group how much he had enjoyed listening to the conversations. He had learned a great deal about what it meant to be a self-accepting gay man. Before he had attended the meetings, he had dealt with homosexuality as a social problem for years, and had explored the varioLLs current theories on cause and cure, and so on. The meetings had opened his eyes, because until then he had never met well-adjusted gay men. I must admit that I found his reaction rewarding, which made the experience of the discussion group even more worthwhile9 During the first half of 1964 I kept very busy, wi th work, activism, and meetings. I was not entirely happy, though, due to my separation from Jack, and to my perception of a lack of support for gay activism within the gay community itself. TORONTO IN TIlE EARLl' 19605

Although Jack and I separated early in 1964 after more tl1an fifteen years together! the spbt \tvas not conlplete. I rnust admit that during the separation we still savv each other regularly for sex. But it just wasn't the same. llanged for the relationsl1ip to corne back! to be viable again. I had made up Iny lll.illd vvhen I vvas abollt tvventy-five that I \!vas going to meet someOlle, I was gOil1g to fall ill love \vith him! and we \vere going to gray,,! old together as a couple and die together. .t<\fter tny separation from Jack, I saw this starting to slip avvay. At the saIne time! L begall to be disen.chanted vvith beil1g a gay activist. I was pissed off that ll10St meillbers of the gay conl111unity in

Toronto didn't give a hoot about \Jvhat came to be kno\!vn as II gay liberatjoll." You must remenlber that when Jack a11d I filet! and for years afterward, the mere act of t\\lO Inell going to bed together "vas a serious crin1inal offence in Canada. This vvas the case for every gay cOllple. We cOll1d have been declared crin1inal sexual psychopatlls if \ve'd been caught at it, and sentenced to an indeterminate _prison sentence. Although the law didn!t stop any of us from goin.g to bed! not very mallY people were prepared to state publicly that the law was wrong! or to actively protest for change. I want to clarify that I vvasn't lookil1g for adulation fron1 the gay community for espousing the cause. lv10re support \!vould have been nice, though. I renlember sitting one night in the fV1usic Roorn! early ill 1964 after my split '-''lith Jack! when lT1Y letters and articles were being published in the mainstrealTI press ~ in the Tbronto Daily Star! Saturday Night, and so all. This guy about thirty years old came over and said that someone had pointed ll1e out as beillg Jim Egan. He introd-uced 11imself a11d said that he had read a letter of Inine in the paper the other I1ight and thought it was really great. He vvas so glad that someone was standi11g up for the gay community. I thanked him, appreciating the kind vvord! but said it vvould be a better if he vvere to take a couple of minutes alld \tvrite a letter to the editor a_nd thal1k him for publishing Iny letter. He looked as though r d stabbed hin1! He becam,e very nervous a11d scuttled a\vay. This "vas the sort of passivity in the cOlnmunity that infuriated inc. \/Vhy vvouldn't a man thirty years old have the courage to v\/rite a letter to the editor and thank him for publishing Jinl Egan's letter? T "vas becon1ing disillllsioned with the congratulations I received for lny acti\.rities; but no real support. The letters and articles 1 VVfote took a considerable anl0unt of iny time, and I began to feel that they' 92 ell L\ LLFN C, INC I HE CON 5 PI RAN C Y 0 F SI L.E NeE

r ",lL:':' TV':ENT\ 1"[\'E l'.l(J~THI ): C,::"TS

INSIDE THIS ISSUE • New Yorks Middle Class Homosexuals • The Biased I • THE FURTIVE, FRATERNITY • The Wicker Report

Cay (later CII,ll Intl'rn,llfo/wl), Toronto's first gay tabloid, began publication in 1964. TORONTO If'\ THE EARLY J9605

JULY AUGUST 75C

Two magazine was launched in Toronto In 1964 by Gayboy Publishmg; Egan contributed to Two. 9-1. C :H ALL ENG f NGT II E CON 5 P I RAN C Y 0 F S 1 LEN CE accolnplished little other than to let the editor and the occasional reader knovv that hon1ophobic attitudes \lvere not acceptable. I kno'Vv this may sound like sour grapes, but it's vvhat I felt. After our separation Jack was havirlg a hard time! too. I-Ie missed n1C. Jack had a sisterl vvho \vas about t\venty years older! and they vvere extremely close. She \~las absolutely furious \vhen we split up. She vvas more angry \Nith Jack th.an v\lith mel and bllgged him constantly and insisted that we get back together again. She couldn't believe that vve'd separated after fifteen years. One night in May 1964 Jack and I met! by coincidence! at the J)arkside Tavern [located at 530 Yorlge Street]. He invited nle back to our old apartn1ent and vve had a long! long talk. I finally said to Jack that 1 V\Tanted to get back into th.e relationship and that I was prepared to abandon my gay activisrn. But I told hin1 vve!d have to leave Toronto or else I'd surely be dra\vn back into it again. tt \vas tilne for a fresh start. F-Ie agreed! and we discussed the idea of moving either to New Zealand or British Columbia. In those days it was easy to ernigrate to New Zealand. But in my biology busirless I had done a lot of vvork for a company in Victoria that retailed biological specimens to schools and universities. So I \VIote to the owner of tIle con1pany a11d told l1im we vvere thinking of moving to British Collunbia and getting into the wholesale e11d of marine biological specilnens. I asked him what he thought of the idea! and he replied in a highly enthusiastic letter u.rging us to do that. So vve decided to settle in British Columbia. The first thing vve did vvas recon1bine our bank accounts. We had some money from t11e proceeds of the sale of our property near Beamsville! and the business tllat I was operating \vas doing quite ,/ve.1!. We bought a brand nevv five-ton truck c11assis and had a used fllrnitu,re van body mounted on the back. We hired tvvo meaty young men from the Salvation ArnlYI and tl1ey helped us pack the truck with all of our possessions. The truck vvas just barely big enough to hold everything. ()ur .huge old apartn1ent vvas a il1011strous place full of stuff, btlt we vvere able to pack it all in. Then, one day in June 1964/ vve left Toronto for a ne\v life, driving all across Canada vvith this big truck! and th.ree chihllahuas sitting on the seat betV\leen llS10. Aftenvord

Jiln Egan kept his prornise to Jack Nesbit for lDore than tvventy years. Except for the occasional outburst such as a letter-vvriting can1paigrl in 1973 disputing tvvo homophobic COIUn1.IlS in the Victoria Daily

Colonist \vritten by Gorde HU11terf Jin! Y\laS not involved in gay issues again until 19851" In fact, Jim and Jack had no sign.ificant gay contact at all from late 1964 to 1985. They drove across Canada and arrived on Vancouver Island in July 1964. They didnft knovv people there, and were relieved to be out of Toronto's gay svvirl. Jim and Jack settled in the tovvn of DLlncaI1 and set about establish,ing tl1e Jan1ack Biological Supply Company, a wholesale business specializing in rnarine specirrlens such as starfish and sea cucumbers. Working as a tealn, they perfected the preservation of tltese animals in their natllral state. Vvithin a year they had more business than they could l1andle, but decided to keep Jalnack as a small, two-man operation. Jim soon developed a great interest ill the environmen.tal movem,ent then starting to blossolll in British Columbia" He joined the Society for tIle Prevention of Environn1ental Collapse (SPEC), one of th.e leadi.ng grou-lJs of the day. Jin1 became vice-president of the Cowichan Valley branch of SPEC, and his passion for environmental issues continues to this day. In 1968 JilTI and Jack moved to Thetis lslarld, \vhere they purchased \!vaterfront property 011 Telegraph I-Iarbour that included a small, comfortable 110l1se. T'hey built a lab there to continue their thri\ring business. The collection of marine specimens for preservation involves hard physical \lvork, including scrambling over slippery rocks on the beach a11d carrying heavy pails of \-vater. By 1970 Jack's back started to give out, a_nd in 1972 Jim and Jack decided to give up their business. They sold the property on Thetis IslaJ1d and lTIoved to Chemainus, B.C." \!vhere they lived in 3 rented cabin. Life at Chenl_ainL1S \"/35 quiet. They lounged around and enjoyed their retirement. During the SLlInnler Jin1 involved hin1self in ellvironmental \vork vvhile Jack indulged his passion for gardening. At the first sign of vvinter they packed up a trailer and drove to i\rizona or California. Their life as Snovvbirds vvas short-lived! though. 'r11ey became restless, sold the trLlck and trailer! and decided to visit India, where they spent three months backpacking around the COul1try. In 1974 Jin-l and Jack nloved again. l-hey bought a property at

95 Y6 CHALLENG1NC THE CONSPIRANC\ OF SILENCE

Jim and Jack in British Columbia, ca. 1972. ~AFTERWORD 97

1\r1erville, on w11ich they built a two-thousand-square-foot stackwall _house. In his spare time Jack \rvorked at the local crisis centre, first on the telepllone lines and later as a marriage cou.I1sellor. Jim worked as a free-lance carpenter and did environmental work. In 1980 he became embroiled in an ellvironmental controversy. The local sevvage plant had proposed to the Waste Management Branch of the British Columbia Ministry of the Environment that the raw sewage it collected from Comox, Courtenay, and CFB Comox be pumped out, untreated, into tlle Strait of Georgia. Egan became a member of tIle Save OUf Straits Con1mittee, an ad hoc group of local environmentalists devoted to blocking this plan. The protests of the Save OUf Stra.its Committee \vent into high gear when the Ministry granted the perlnit to the plant. The Comnlittee ,vas eventually successflll in overturning the perTnit and persuaded the Ministry to require the plant to treat the sevvage. Jim's environmental work made him a local celebrity, and in 1981 he was encouraged to stand as a candidate for regional director for Electoral Area B of the Regional District of Comox-Strathcona. Egan

"vas reluctant at firstl but decided to run and "vas elected. His election was a first - Jim Egan was the first openly gay man living in an openly gay relationship to be elected to public office in Canada. Egan had a distiI1guished career as a regional director and took a prominent role in lobbying efforts to acquire the land that eventually became Seal Bay Park. He was re-elected twice. Jim served from 1981 until 1993 when, at the age of seventy-two, he decided not to sta11d for re-election.. In May 1985 Jim an,d Jack sold their property at Merville and moved into a bungalow on the outskirts of Courtenay. Soon after the move they began to meet local gay people. During their life in Britis.h Columbia Jim and Jack had not had gay friends. l'hey had developed a netvvork of heterosexual friends who gradually came to understand the nature of their relationship. SOn1€ friends asked if they were a couple, and Jim and Jack talked openly about their relationship. Other friends never asked, and Jim and Jack never told. By the 19805 Jack's attitude toward gay liberation had changed, and in the fall of 1985 he a11d Jim started the Comox Valley branch of the Islan.d Gay Society. T'hey placed an advertisemellt in the personal calum11 of the Saturday editions of the Tirnes-Colonist an110uncing a gay information line. Soon they were sponsori11g a drop-in at tl1eir honle once a month, vvhic11 sometimes attracted as many as thirty 98 C HAL LEN C 1NeT HE CON 5 P 1RAN C Y 0 F 5 1LEN CE

TIl(' stackwall house at Merville, B.C., ca. 1976. AFTER\VORD 99 people. 'T11e drop-In continued for eleven years" after vvhich bnle Jin1 and Jack decided tJ1CY J1ad contributed enough. T'he COITIOX \Talley.! branch of the lsland Gay Society collapsed soon after. During part of this tinle Jim vvas also invol\.red vvith the North Island l\IDS Coalition; he served as president in 1994. Ln the late "19805 artd early 1990s Jirn Egan and Jack Nesbit vvere thrust into the public eye by their Supren1e Court chaHenge! in vvhich they used the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedo111S to chalJenge the discriminatory exclusioJl of pension ben_efits to San"le-SPX co-uples under the Old Age Sectlrity i\Ct. "Theirs vvas the first claim involving same-sex rights heard by the Suprelne Court of C:anada u11der the Charter! which guara11tees that all Canadians are to receive eq-ual benefit of the 1a\'\1. The background for the case started in 1975, \t\!hen the spousal aJlo\lvance be11efi t vvas introdu_ced under section 19(1) of the Old Age Security Act. In section 2 of the /\ct! and in dozens of other pieces of federal legislation, tile "vord /lspollsefi vvas defined as a person of the opposite sex. -rhis meant that san1e-·sex couples! even those \v110 had been together for many years, vvere ineligible for any of the tax breaks! benefits! and allo-vvances heterosexuals could obtain! even a common lavv couple \lvho had been together for only one year. T'his despite the fact that all C~anadians - gay or heterosexual -­ throughout their vvorking lives pay i11colne tax at a rate establis11cd by the federa.l government that allovvs the governn1ent to payout all these tax breaks and tax benefits. When CanadiaJ1S beconle sixty-four years of age they apply for tIle old age pension. They receive their first pe_t1sion cheque the month after they t1lrn sjxty-five. If their partner, either the husband or vvife, is sixty years of age and if their combined i11come is less than a certain amount the younger partner can apply for spousal benefits! \'vhich the government instituted to aid the couple until the younger member is old eIloug11 to receive the old age pension. It "vas obviollS to Jim a11d Jack that the exclusion of saIne-sex couples from eligibility for these benefits constituted a blatant case of discrimination. (In 25 February 1987! \:vhen Jack \vas about to turn sixty! t11ey applied for tll€ spousal be11efit on his behalf, vvith the full expectation that the request \vould be denied. Jirn and Jack didn't really care about the extra income the spousal benefit vvould provide. T"heir goal vvas to fight iJ1stitutionalized discrilTIination against gay people. T'he application and expected refusal \,\-7ere just a 1100k on Ion CHALLENGING TIlE CONSPIRANCY OF SILENCE

\vhich to hang a court challel1ge under the Charter. ~rheir goal vvas to force a high court interpretation of section 15 of tl1e Canadian eh_arter of l~ights and Freedoms that vvrould pro}1ibit discrimination 011 the basis of sexuEd orientation. "rhe vvords 11 sexual orientation" did not appear in the list of prohibited grounds for discrimination under section 15; but 111any constitutional ]a\vyers believed that it \vas an analogous ground and could be read into the Charter \/vithout

requiring a form.al alTlendrnent If the high court ruled in their favourt same-Sf::~x couples vvc)uld be legally recognized as spouses and \VOllld be protected fr01T1 discrin1ination in a II areas of federal legislation. \rVhen Jack vvas refused the spousal benefit by }{ealth and

vVelfare Canada only one vv'eek l.a tert the couple hired Victoria lavvyer

David Vickerst of Vickers <:111d Pal111ert vvho approached the Court Challenges ProgralTl; vvhich is sponsored by the Canadian Council on Social Developlnent and is funded by the federal government. l~his progranl \,\,215 established to provide funds to support the cost of litigation in selected test cases related to equality rights issues under the Charter. Their application ",vas successfut and Egan aIld Nesbit brought an action in the "1"rial Oi\'1510n of the Federal Court of Canada on 6 Decenlber 1988. The action appealed Health and Welfare Canada!s ruli.ng dl1d claimed discrimination under the Old Age Security i\ct in its definition of the vvord "spouse.!' They also asked

the court to rule that the definition of i/spouse!! in the legislation vvas unconstitutional in that it discriminated against saIne-sex couples on t11e basis of gender and sexllal orientation (an analogous ground)t contrary to section 15(1) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and FreedolTIs. It is inlportant to note that in using the Charter to challc11ge the legislation, Jiln al1d Jack did not request special rights! special protectiont special privileges, or special benefitst just absolute equality under the la,,,r. After lTIOntl1s of delays the case \vas finally 11eard in Vancouver on 28-29 May' 1991, and on 2 Decenlber 1991 Justice Leonard Martin deli\rered 11is decision: he dislllissed the action. He ruled that although the Old Age Security Act did not define same-sex partners as spousest it did not discriminate on the basis of gender or sexual

orientatio11. Martin stated that same-sex couples JI do not fall within the nleanillg of tIle vvord 'spouse' any 1110re t.han heterosexual couples \'vho li\re together and do not publjcly represent the111selves as man a11d \vife! such as brotl1er and sistert brother and brother! AFTER \VORD 101 sister and sister! tvvo relab\'es, t\\!O friends! or parent a.nd child." Martin concluded that Egan and Nesbit \·vere not the sort of couple

Parlian1ent had in 111ind \c\/11en the Act vvas passed in 1975, that if ••• the relatio11ship is a different one than a spousal relationship and that the parties to suell relationsllip cannot expect to share the benefits accorded to those in spousal relationships, not because of their sexual orientation! but because their relationship is not a spousal one2. Jr JilTI and Jack decided to appeal this ruling. Their lavvyer, [)a\rid

Vickers, had been ele\rated to the SupreJne Court of British Colunlbiar and their case vvas taken up by Victoria lawyer Joseph Ar\ray, of Arvay, Finlay and i\ssociates. 1'he Court Cl1allenges Progral11 agreed to fund art appeaL U-llfortuflately, the program \vas cancelled by the Mulroney government. Arvay agreed to vvai\·'c his ft~e. He sent the case to the Federal C~ourt of Appeal ()1l 12 l\.ugust 1992. In their appeal Egan and Nesbit focussed on 'vvbetber the restrictive definition of "spouse!! in the Old Age Securit)/ Act \riolated section 15(1) of the Charter on the basis of discrilnination based on sexual orientation, ()n 29 April 1993 Egan and Nesbit lost again vvhen Canada's secorld-highest court upheld the judgnlent, ruling in a 2-1 decision that Egan and Nesbit had not been discrinllnated against based on their sexual orientation, j-ustice Allen Linden, in the only dissenting opinion, stated that pension benefits should be extended to same-sex couples \lvho 11leet the other requiren1entsf and that to deny such benefits prolTlotes lithe prejudiced vievv of the legitinlacy and vvorth of these relationships3," Egan and Nesbit vvere preJ1ared to fight all the vvay to the Supreme Court of Canada and vvere supported in their endeavour by the reillstituted Court Challenges Progranl. On 2 June 1993 Joseph Arvay filed an application to appeal to the Supreme Court, and the appeal was 11eard on 1 NO\'enlber 1994. The Supreme Court appeal hinged 011 t\VO questiollS: 1/1) Does the definition of 'spollse' in section 2 of the Old Age Security Act,

R.S.C., 1985, chapter 0-9 r infringe or deny section 15(1) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedolns?; alld 2) If tlle ansvver to question 1 is yes, is the infringelnent or de.nial demonstrably justified in a free and den10cratic society pursu.ant to section 1 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms?!! The judgn1ent of the Supreme COllrt of Canada in the case of Egan and l\fesbit v. Canada \rvas re11dered on 25 Nlay 1995, 1110re than eight y'ears after Jack had applied for the 102 ellALL ENe ING -r HE CON S P I RAN C Y 0 F 5 I LEN CE spousal benefit and ITIOre than SIX years after they had introduced an action in the Federal C:ourt of Canada. In a 5-4 decision! the appeal \vas dismissed, -rhe result vvas bitters\veet for Egan arId Nesbit. It vvas a victory of sorts because t11e court agreed 5-4 that the current liefi.nition of "spouse1! in the ()ld Age Security Act \vas discrilninatory. -rhis decision vvas a substantial step forvvard for gays alld lesbians: it vvas tl1e first time the Supreme C=ourt had ruled that the failuxe of federal legislation to recogn,ize san1e-sex relationships is discrin1inatory. All ni11E' justices also held that "sexual orientation'! rnust be read into the C.harter as a ground of discrin1ination analogous to existillg grounds such as race! gender! a11d religion. But the Court also ruled 5~4 that the discrinlination vvas jllstified under section 1 of the Charter. Four justices ruled that section 15 does not extend to same·-sex relationsl1ips. Justice John Sopinka cast the deciding \/ote vvhen he ruled that although the failure to recognIze saIne-sex relatio11ships is discriminatory, this particular piece of legislation can be jllstified because the Governlllent of Ca11ada is entitled to take tilne to bring its lavvs into conformity \vith the Charter':!. Jint d11d Jack's in1111ediate reaction to the decision is captured in David Adkin's doclunentary liJim I-Jo\'es Jack: 'The James Egan Story.}! Surprise and disappointment are etched on tl1eir faces. Jack suffered three angina attacks from the stress of the situation. Jiln later referred l to th.e decision as a Ilblack cloud vvith a sil\rer lining. ! Gay and lesbian indl\riduals and groups across the country expressed dismay vvith the decision, but t11ere was optimisln concer11ing jnlplications of the case, SOIne COlnn1ents vvere particularly astute. Equality for C;ays and Lesbians Everywhere (EGALE) savv the case (fa loss but not a defeat. fI EGALE/s solicitor; Cynt11ia Peterson, stated that as a result of the ruling that sexual orientation constitutes a ground of discrimi11ation/ 11 Every Cal1adian statute vvhich treats same-sex relationships as inferior to heteroseXllal relations11ips is therefore subject to C011stitutional challerlge. ff She continued, JlThe Supreme Court has left the door open for future legal ch.allenges. This is only the beginning and th,ere is no question that the Courts are Ino\ring forvvard. The only question that remai11s is vvhether the GoverIllnent \vill recognize our right to equality! or \vhether it \vill cOl1tinue to pour Il1illions of dollars of taxpayers! 5 Inaney into defending unjust la\vs ,n Jin') and Jack vvere hailed as heroes after the ruling 111 Egan and AFTERWORD

Jim and Jack as grand marshals of the Toronto r'ride parade, 1995. Photo by Ali Kazirni. 104 ClfALLENG1NG TIfE CONSrIRANCY OF SILENCE

Nesbit v. Canada. They had done their share in fighting for same-sex equality rights. During the rest of 1995 and into 1996 their story "vas told on radio/ television! in llllmerous nevvspaper articles! and eve11tually in the documentary "Jim Loves Jack.!! Jim received a national human rights award in Ottavva on 28 May 19951 presented by the Lambda Foundation for Excellence. Jim al1d Jack \!vere the honorary parade marshals at both the Toronto and Vancouver Pride eve11ts in 1995. O:n 2 June 1996 Jim vvas invited to Victoria to address a conference of Canadian human rights con11nissiol1ers/ sponsored by the British Colu,mbia Human Rig11ts Commission. And! in September 1997! Jim vvas avvarded a Paul Harris Fellovvship, the highest award bestovved by l\.otary International, in recognition of his cOlnmunity service. JilTI and Jack still live in Courtenay, enjoyi11g retirement and looking forward to celebratin.g their fiftieth anniversary on 23 AllgllSt 1998. Although recently slowed by illness, they continue to show a keen interest in gay liberation and do vvhat they can to support tl1e fight for sanle-sex benefits. Jim still gives interviews and attends conferences. For example! he offered insightful comnlents at the plel1ary session entitled "Not a Faggot:y Dress-up F'arty: Disrobing the Suprenle Court of Can,ada in the Post-Egan Era/I part of the national gay! lesbian! bisexual! and transgendered conferel1ce Queering the Nation at York University on 27 June 1998. In his seventy-seventh year Egan remai11s a contender, fighting the good fight an.d instilling in a younger generation the importance of cl1allenging the conspirac~y of silence.

0011 McLeod Toro11to/ July 1998 Notes

Preface

1, As C;ary Kinsman has noted, JlTvlainstream psychia.try' and psychology/ in the tvventieth century" have generally \tievv'cd h01110SexuaJit)/ as a synlptoDl of 'infantile regression' or sorne other pathological disorder! and have developed \rarious strategies to cure, regulate, or adjust patients to the

J heterosexual norn,." See Gary Kinsn1an, The Regu/tltioJ1 l:f [)csin ' HOlllO and I--Jetero Sexualities, 2nd ed., rev. (Montreal' Black Rose Books, 1996L p, 31. For an examination of psychoanalysis and honlosexuality see Kenneth Levves, The Psychoanalytic 77wory (~f Male F-{orJlosexuality CNevv Ycnk: Sinl0n and Schuster, 1(88); see also \1ern L, Bul1ough, ScitT/((' ill the Bcdroonl. /\ t"{isi'ory qf Sex Research (Nevv York: Basic Books, 199-1),

2. For general background on social condibons for gay n1en in Toronto during the 1940s and 1950s see [)avid Stc\vart C~hurchil1, /iComing ()ut in a (~old Clitnate: A l'fistory of (;a\1 fV1en in 'T'oronto during the 195()sl! (1\1aster of Arts thesis, C~raduate Departnient of Education, University of Torcrnio, "1993);

Paul Jacksonj III!vlale Lovers' in Canada, 1930-1950: Breaking the Code of Silence" (Master of Arts paper, Departnlent of History", Queen '5 University, (~r ] 994); and Kinsn1an, The Regulation fJcsire l 2nd ed" rev.! especia lIy chapter se\'en. See also John (~rube, If'No More Shif: "The Struggle for IJeJnocratic Gay Space in l"oronto/' in Queers 111 Spl1ce: COll1Jllunii'ies! Puhllc Plnces, Sites (~f Resistance, eds. Gordon Brent Ingrarn, Anne-M.arie BouthillettC'r and Yolanda

Retter (Seattle: Bay Pressj 1997t pp, 127-45; and John C:rube, "(2ueens and Flaming Virgins: TO\i\lards a Sense of C;a)l Cornmunity," Rites, Jv1arch 1986, pp. 14-17. For a study of o1ale-oiale intinldcy in Toronto during an earlier period see Steven Maynard, IJ'Horrible Teniptations!· Sex! tv1en, and vVorking-Class Male Youth in Urban ()ntario, 1890-1935/' Conadian J---flslorical Reuie'LL' 78 (June 1997): 191~235. For an exaniination of the anti-gay discrim,ination canlpaign conducted by' the Canadian state during the] 9505 through the 19705 see Gary Kinsman and Patrizia C;entile, \vith the assistance of Heidi McDonell and Mary' Mahood-C--;reec "In the fntcrcsb c:Fthe State'" The Anti-gay, Anti-lesbian National St'curity Canlpazgll lJl Conado, .A Prelinzinnry Research Report (Sudbury, Ont.: Laurentian Universit~v', ] 998).

3, Amendments to the Canadian Crintinal (~ode passed in Bill (~-150 can1e into effect on 26 f\ugust 1969 f decrilYtina lizing it gross indecency!' and "buggery" in pri\rate bet\veen h,vo consenting adults tvventy/-one years of age or older. This change in the la\v no doubt acted as a spur to gay organizing in Toronto, altliough there ha,d earlier been at lea5t one failed attenlpt to establish a homophile group there. See t)onald VV, J'vlcLecKt Lf's[lin!l and Gay Liberation ill Canada. A Selected linnotated Chronology, 1964-7975 (Toronto: EC\V Press/l--lon1e\vood Books, 1996)! pp, '10-]1,4'1-44. For inforn1ation on the rise of a gay' liberation n10venlent in Canada, see Kinsrnan, The Regulatioll

iUS 106 CllALLENGING TIlE CONSPIRANCY OF SILENCE

{~F [)esire, 2nd ed., re\'., particularly' chapters eight and nine; and NlcLeod, Lesbian and C;ay Liberation in CnnadcL

4. The case of Egan and f\Jesbit (1. CClJlada is vvell docurnented in Donald C~. Cassvvell, Lesbians, Gay lv1en, Clnd Canadian LaLL1 (Toronto: Ernond l~obert Montgo111ery Publications, 1996L pp. 371-4110 See also \rVintenlutel iiDiscrinlination against Sanle-Sex Couples: SectIons 15(1) and :I of the Charter: Egan 7), Canada/' Canadian Bar l\cuiezu 74 (Decelnber 1995): 682-713; Irl, the European COlH.wnflOH, and The Caluldian Charier (()xford: Clarendon Press, 1995)/ pp. 254-60; and John A. Yogis, I~andall H.. Duplak, and J. Roy·den Trainor, Sc.yual ()n.clliation and Canadian Ltn{l: An ASScssJrlcnt (~r lhe Lazc L~ft()Ctzl1g L.esbian and C;ay PersoJls (Toronto: Enl0nd .tvlontgcnuery Publications, 1995)} pp. 21-24.

5. Alfred Taylor [pseud. of Philip tvlcLeodL )/ l~ Perfect Beginner: Jim Egan and the Tabloids/' Canadian Lesbian and Gay ]-Izsiory NefIuork l\/eLusletter, no. 2 (1986), pp. 12-18.

6. I\obert Chan1pagne (intervievving Jin1 EganL IICanada's Pioneer Gay

Acti v1St: J1111 Egan/' 1\ ites 1 Decen1ber 1986-January 1987, pp. 12-14; Jinl Ega 11: (afulda's Pioneer Cay .i4ctivist, compiled and introduced by Robert Chalnpagne, Canadian Lesbian and Gay History Netvvork Publication, no. 1 (Toronto: C:anadian l-,esbian and Gay History Netvvork, 1987).

7. C~ary Kin~man, The Regulation (:( Desire: Sexuality in Canada (Montreal: Black l~ose Books, 1987), pp. 119-120, 160. A second, revised edition vvas published as The l\t'gulation of Desire: }iOlno and }-iefero Sexualities by the sanle publisher in 1996; see pp. 167-69 and 251-52.

8. Churchilll ifCOtnlng Out in a Cold Clinlate./I

9. Da\'id Adkin, IIJiln Loves Jack: The James Egan Story.!! (Toronto: David Adkin Productions, Inc.; ]996), 53 111inutes.

10. Michael Riordan, (Jut Our Way: Gay and Lesbzan L7fc? in the Country

(Toronto: Betvveen the Linesl 1996), pp. 106-110.

Chapter One: Beginnings

No notes,

Chapter Two: Wartime and After: Gaining Gay Experience

1. [Jr. Raymond Crandall Parker (1903-1974) had a long and distinguished career in the field of virology. Today he is best renlembered for his \vork Vv'] til polio. Parker \vas directly responsible for developing the culture technique NOTES 107 that made po'>sible the mass production of the Salk polio \'accine. See "Raymond Crandall Parker," The CIIII

2. Dr Alexis Carrel 0873-1944) was renowned f()r dc\(~loping innovative surgical techniques and for studies in tiSSUE' culture. In 1912 he was awarded the Nobel [Orize lor Physiology or Medicine for developing a method of suturing blood vessels. Carrel worked at the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research from 1919 to 1941 See Theodore 1. Malinm, Surgery and L!fe: The Extr

3. Raymond Cr,mdall Parker, Me/hods of Tissue C/.lltllre (New York: PS. I'loeber, 1LJ3ti: 3rd ed., 19(1) This work included a fort:'vvord by Alexis Carrel.

4. After he left Connaught Laboratories Egan discovered that Dr. Parker was gay. Egan recalls, "J never had a clue about this all the time J was working with him in the lab."

5. Allan Berube, COl/llllg Out Under Fire: The History of Gml Men ,md Women 111 World War Two (New York: The Free Press, 1990).

6. John Horne Sums, The Gallery (New York: Harper, J947)

Chapter Three: Living the Gay Life in Post-War Toronto

1 After Egan met Jack Nesbit, Jack and Charlie Egan became very close friends, and remain so to this day.

2. Gore Vidal, The Citll and the Pillar (New York: Dutton, 1948).

3. Jim Egan and Jack Nesbit were monogamous for more than twenty years, at which point they decided that monogamy was not vital to their relationship. As Jim recalls, "Although r don't think either one of us had more than four or five sub,>equent extracurricular experiences, it was clearly understood that these would only take place where there was no threat to our relationship. There never was. I can say that over the years, like any couple, Jack and 1 have had arguments and disagreements, but never over a third person."

Chapter Four: Challenging the Conspiracy of Silence: Jim Egan's Emergence As a Gay Activist during the 19505

1. For a discussion of these and other gay cruising site::. in Toronto during the HJ8 C IiALL ENe J N G T IT EC 0 J\~ 5 P J RAN C Y 0 F S r LEN C E

19505/ see Churchill, IICorning (1ut in a C=old Clin1atc,U particularly chapter three/ IIUrban Spaces and (~ay Sites," pp. 55-75. T{)ronto has d long and ren1arkable history of police cnJraprnent of gay men that merits systenl.atic stud~/. JVluch of this histor:y is still hidden dvVc1.Y in accounts of arrests published in n1ainstrealTI and tabloid nevvspapers, and, 1110re recently, in the gay press, and in personal accounts or oral histories. For a study on Toronto pohce surveillance and entrapJYlent early in this century see Steven Nlaynard, IIThrough a Hole in the Lavatory Wall: I-Ioo10sexual Subcultures, Police Surveillance! and the Dialectics of I)iscovery: Toronto, 189()-] 930,l! Journal (~r the History (~( 5c),:uality 5 (()ctober 1994): 207-42. In researching this project I have exan1ined nU111erOUS published accounts of police entraplnent, 1'nany of \,vhich relate to High Park. See, for eXdn1ple, an account of events at "the 1110st farnous per\'ert-trap in Toronto It in Ron f-laggart, liThe Strange Ordea1 of Malcoln1 Phlarb/! J()roillo [)aily Star, night cd.,1 19 July 1961, p. 7; and Ron F1aggart! "t\1alcoLm Phlarb's ()rdeal in the vVeird vVashroom,!1 Toronto [JaiZy Star, night ed.! 20 July 1961, p. 7.

2. 1 ha\'e been able to exan11ne all issues of ) u:)tice vVeekly published during the 19505. This tabloid was adept at reporting local arrests of homosexuals, and is useful for tracking the vigorous police campaigns of entrapluent and arrest of gay rnen dLHing this period For exan1ple! the follovving small selection of articles details t.he arrests of n10re than one hundred ITICn in .Fhgh

Park and se\/eral locations in dOvvntovv'n ·Toronto: Ii Nlagistrates Are Not Helping Police Rounding Up }·hgh Park Sex Deviates: Fines Are Being llnposed for Rc\'olting Practices 111 Washroorns for Public/' JHstice vVeekly, 9

April 1955/ pp. 3,5,16; /I University of T()ronto C~rounds Attract Homos: Two More Jailed, Fined/' Justice Weekly, 30 July 1956, pp. 2, 4; /lOld Hole-in-vVal1 Technique Elnployed in rlo111osexual Orgies in Public Park: Seventeen Sex Diviates [sic] Conv'icted in Short Titne, Fine Is $100 or ]5 Days/' rustiee Weekly, 3 November 1956, pp. 2, 4; IIPolice Express Concern ()ver Homos' Activities: Large Nun1ber r'\rrested/' Justice VVeckly, 24 No\'ember 1956, pp. 3, 11; "One Hundred I-foDlosexuals Arrested in Toronto during Last Three rv1onths: All Tried Found C;uilty of Gross Indecency; Tvvo Policen1en Given Credit/! Justice Weekly, 2 February 1957/ pp. 2{ 16; IiIntensive Police Drive against Hon1os: Thirteen i\re l~ounded Up in l~estauranton Yonge; Eight Pay Fines of $100," Justice Weekly, 15 t'v1arch 1958, p, 12; "Director of r-lospitalization Among Homos AdlTIitting C~ross Indecency; Back to High Park £ro111 Honey De\v," Justice V'leekly, 26 April 1958, pp. 3,14; and "Men/s I-Javatof)' in l\!lovie Theatre Is i\fe\\' Hang-out for Homosexuals: Gross Indecency Charges i\dm.itted by F()ur l\rrested; T\vo Accused Get Ren1ands,'"' jll5tzcc VV'eekly/ 21 February' 1959, pp. 3,5, For an exan1ination of the treatn1ent of gay' rnen in Hush Free Press, aneJther Toronto tabloid of the period, see Eric Setliff, "Sex Fiend or S\vish Kid? C~ay I\;len in Hush Free Press! ]946-1956 11 (f\"1aster of Arts paper! Departnlcnt of f-1istory, lJni\"ersitj' of Toronto, 1994); and Eric Setliff, IiSex Fiends or S\vish Kjds? C;a;/ Men in Hush Frec Press, 1946-1956/! in C;endcred Pasts: r~{istorical ESSL1~/5 on r"frnnllnit,l/ and J\ c1nsculinity in Canada, eds. Kathryn NOTES 109

McPherson, Cecilia Morgan, and Nancv Forestell (Toronto: ()xford University Press, forthco111ing).

C~]yde 3. Alfred C. Kinsey; \tVardel1 B. POll1eroy, and E. fvlartin t Sf.yual BelulLJior jn the !--[llf1Zall Male (Philadelphia: VV.B. Saunders Company, 1948). Kinsey's fanl0us study appeared just at the beginning of ,",vhat has been described as a "sex crin1e panic!! that svvept the United States (and (~anada) fronl roughly 1949 to 1955. One of the results of this panic \,vas the transforrnation of the public lInage of the hon1osexual fron1 a hannless {{fairy!! to a sexual psychopath or dangerous child n1olester. See George Chauncey J[,; liThe Poshvar Sex C~rinle Panic," in True Storie's front tlte Anlcrican Past! cd. William C~raebner (Nevv 'lork. tv1cGravv-lli.ll 1993L pp. 160-78; Estelle B. Freednlan, iI/Uncontrolled Desires': The Response to the Sexual Psy."chopath, 1920-1960/' 1n PaS5wn and Po-wer: Sexuality in History, cds. Kathy,r Peiss and Christina

SinlJ110ns, \vith Robert A. Padgug (Philadelphia: Ten1p]e University Pressr

-1989)! pp. 199-225; and Eric Setliff, IfSex Fiend or Svvish Kid? Gay ~vlen in Flush Free Press, 1946-1956" (Master of Arts paper), pp. 1-3.

4. Allen C~hurchill! 1J\!\fhat Is d l-lonlosexual?" Argosy! i~UgUSt 1949, pp. 28-29, 96-97.

rv1enac(~ 5. Ralph H. Iv1ajof! Jr" JI Ne\;v [\10ra1 to ()ur Youth/' Coronet! Septen1ber 1950, pp. 101-102.

6. See Appendix [)! liThe Correspondence of Jinl Egan! 1950-1964,,;

7. James Egan! uVievvs Vary on the Kinsey I~eport: for Publication ff (letter), Globe and !'viail, final ed.; 16 May 1950, p. 6.

8. For overviews of the top Canadian tabloids of the day see H.R. Ho\A.', uHaLf a Million for Sex and Scandal," Canadian Business; July 1951, pp. 34-35! 66; and l~asky! l Frank IICanada s Scandalous Scandal Sheets," Liberty! November 19541 pp. 17,74-76,78-80. See also Gary Kinsll1anf s analysis of the tabloids in his 'The Regulation (~( Desire, 2nd ed., rev., p. 168.

9. "Unparalleled Orgies of Per\'ersion Exposed by Intrepid Flash I~eporter: Toronto Stearn Bath Uncovered as Den for LTnnatural \lice!/' Flash! 2 May 1950, p. 5.

10. J.L.E,! IIReader Defends Homos, Says They're Inv'erts" (letter), Flash! 16 -lVlay 1950, pp. 16, ? For an analysis of this and other articles and letters by Egan published in the Toronto tabloids see i\1fred Taylor [pseudo of Philip

\1cI...oeodt /1 A Perfect Beginner: ]in1 Egan and the Tabloids.'!

11. Donald VVebster Cory [pseudo of Edvv'ard SagarinL The Hornoscxual in Anlerica: A Subjective /-tpproacll (Nevv York: Greenberg, 195]). 110 CH tLF THE CONSPJRANCY OF SILENCE

12. ].L.E., "TNT Taken [ask nrr (letter), True NeIL'S TilJifs (TNT!, 16 October 1950, p. rJ

13. For a brief analysis of these coluJnns see ChurchiJI, 'Coming Out in a Cold ClImate," pp. 51-54.

14. Sara H. Carleton, "The Truth About Homosexuals," 5Ir!, June 1950, p. 57.

15. Leo Engle Ipseud. of Jim EgaI'll, "I Am a HomosexuaL" Sir', December 1950, p. ?

16. J.LE., "Fairy Nice" (letter), Ihw News TilJlt'S (TNT!, 19 February 1951, p. ?

17. See "Appendix B: A Checklist of Publications by Jim Egan, 1950-1964."

18. Philip Daniels was a busy man during the early 1950s. Not only did he write, edit, and publish a weekly nevvspaper, he also worked full-time as a cashier at the Long Branch Racetrack in Toronto Daniels was born in England in about 1893. After emigrating to Canada in 1911 he worked as a professional boxer, promoter, and sports writer popularly known as "Darkey" Daniels. During the Great War he served with the Canadian Expeditionary Force and edited an army paper, The Siberian Bugle. After the war Daniels eontinued his career in journalism, working as the editor of such publications as Canadian 5port, and Daily Racing FornI. During World War Two Sergeant-Major Daniels was the editor of The Bullet, the official weekly army newspaper for Military District No.2 and Camp Borden. At this time Daniels became involved with the Toronto tabloids, and in 1945 was briefly the editor of Flash. Late that year Daniels decided to form justice Weekly as an alternative to the other local tabloids, which he felt were more interested in making money than in exposing the truth or working for "justice." justice Weekly began publication the first week of January 1946 and continued until 15 April 1972. See "Introducing Ourselves," justice Weekly, 5 January 1946, p. 4; and Rasky, "Canada's Scandalous Scandal Sheets," p. 80.

19. George Hislop recalls that these two establishments were also known as "the Chamber of Commerce and the Board of Trade," because of the number of male hustlers there and due to their proximity to Bay Street, the heart of Toronto's financial district. For more information on the Corners, see ChurchilL "Corning Out in a Cold Climate," pp. 81-84,88,90.

20. Philip Daniels once outlined his feelings about homosexuality in an article in justice Weekly: "... 'Justice' carries articles on homosexuals because I believe in throwing my columns open to everybody. Homosexuality has become an engrossing theme the world over judging by recent happenings, as for instance the appointment of the Wolfenden committee and its most interesting report. I am not a homosexual, nor do I condone their way of living. At the same time J do not condemn them, that is as long as they stay NOTES 111 alTIOng themselves and leave heterosexuals alone. And I de,1 believe in presenting their side of the story. That is vvhat a nevvspaper is for - or should be,IT See Phil 1]an.ie1s, III-'Tere Is AnS\,\ler to Unfair, Untrue Artic1e/' fu:::-tict' VVeekly, 2] ]\/larch 1959/ p. 160

21. See IT r\ppendix B: A Checklist of Publications by' Jint Egan! 1950-1964. 'f

22. The arrests of Gielgud, Lord Montagu, and others for h01T\OSexual uHenses led to a v,vave of public cOUlmentary on homosexuality" in England and elsey/here during 1953-54. See Stephen Jeffery-Poulter, Peers, Qu.ecrs, and C0t1n1l0fls: The Struggle for Gay LaIU R(~f(nln front J950 to the Present (London: Routledge! 1991)} pp. 14-19.

23. See I, Appendix B: A Checklist of Publications by Jinl Egan, 1950-1964.!!

24. [Jinl Egan], "Parliamentary Legislative Committee Ignored This Letter from I-Iomosexual Suggesting Changes in Criminal Code,u lustice Weekly, 19 March 1955/ pp. 5/14.

25. Fronl 1954 through 1960 Justice Weekly reprinted a great deal of rrlaterial from the gay press. I have studied all of the issues published during this period and counted 240 items (including parts of serialized articles), mostly from ONE Magazine and The Mattachine Reviezu. During 1956 alone fifty,-one items appeared, an average of one per issue.

26. Based in San Francisco, Harold L. (Hal) C~al1 (1917- ) became the head of The Mattachine Society in 1953. In 1954 he co-founded Pan-Graphic Press (vvitb Donald Lucas), and in 1955 began publication of The Mattachine Revie'lu. See '''Gay Sexualist'- Hal Call/' in Eric Marcus! 1Y1akil1g History: The Struggle for Gay and Lesbian Equal Rights, 1945-1990. .0411 Oral History (l\Jew York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1992), pp. 59-69.

27. W. Dorr Legg (1904-1994) "vas the Administrative Director of ONE/ [ncorporated, from its beginning in 1952. For 11lore than four decades he "vas renl,arkably prolific as a leading American gay activist, educator, and writer. See "40 Year Dedicated Activist Dorr Legg Dies at 89/' ONE/lGLA Bullet111, no. 1 (1995), p. 4.

28. [\·1uch like Egan, r"'fenry' C~erber (1892-1972) \"raS a lone pioneer vvhose early vision of gay rights vvould be fulfilled by a later generation. See Jim Coughenour, "The Life and Ti11les of an Ordinary Hero: Henry Gerberfs Fight for FreedolTI - 45 Years Before Stone\.-vall,1f ~,yindy City Thnes, 22 June 1989, sec. 2, pp. 60/ 62; Encyclopedia ofH0f11DSexualitYf S.v. "Gerber, Henry," by vVarren Johansson; and Henry Gerber, "The Society for .Human Rights ­ 1925," ONE Magazine, Septenlber 1962} pp. 5-11

29. For an account of the conference see D.S., OMental H,ealth and ~"{onlosexualitY/" ONE lvfagazine/ April 1959! pp. 15-16. Jim Kepner (1923- ]12 CHALLEf\iCJNC THE CONSPIRANCY OF SILENCE

1997) \\/<15 d pIoneer gay activist, \vriter, and ardli\rist. In 1942 be founded the collection that e\'entuaUy torn1ed the basis for the International Gay and Lesbian Archi\'cs! the largest gay and lesbian resource centre in the \;\/orld! nov\" housed at the University of Southern (~alifornia! Los Angeles. See David vv. [)unlap! ilJill1 Kepner! in 70's! ls [)eDd: Historian of Gay I\.ights Effort/' j~Ie{c York TinIes, late cd. t 20 NO\Tenlber 1997! p. B13; and IINeV\ls Hound - Jim Kepner," in rvlarcus, A1aking History! pp. 43-53. A selection of Kepner!s prolific vvritings is collected in his Rough j\Jel.us, £Jaring VieLos: 19505 1 Pioneer Gay Press jourllalisnl (Nev\.' York: r-farringtc)n Park Press! ]998).

30. [Jr. BJanche Ivt Baker (died -1 Y60L a San Francisco-based psychiatrist! \t...'as one of the early' professional allies of the gay 1110\relnent. She spoke and \Vfote frequently on the ileed for ga:' !]"len and lesbians to stop being ashamed of their sexual orientation and to strive for personal acceptance. Fronl January 1959 to June 1960 Baker \vrote a regular colulnn for 01VE Nlagazine entitled IITovvard Understanding." See Blanche M. Baker! "ToV\rard Understanding," (INE iVIagazinc, January 1959! pp. 25-27; and John [)'Ernilio, Sexual Politlc,! Scyual Connnlulities: The Making {~r a Fionloscxulll lvlin.ority in the LJ tl ited State::;, 1940-- J970 (Chicago: lJniversit), of Chicago Press, 1983), p. 117.

31 Dr. E\,'elyn Hooker (1907-1996) \l\Tas a professor of psychology at UCLA.. In 1954 she began a serious COlll.parati\'e psychologic-)} study of gay and heterosexual men, later presenting research-based papers rejecting the prevailing orthodox)l that hornosexuality vvas psychopathologica1. For exanlple, her paper liThe /-\djustm_ent of the Male Overt Homosexual/' presented before a meeting of the American Psychological /\ssociation in 1956/ declared that gay men could be as V\TeU adjusted psychologically as heterosexual men, and that there \vas no 111easurable difference bet\·veen the t\\ro groups of nlen in her study. Hooker's vvork vvas controversial and vvide1),' publicized, and "vas influential in leading to the eventual removal of homosexuality front the American ps:rchiatric Associatjon's Diagnostic and Statistical j\!lanual qf Psychiatric LJisorders in December 1973. See David W. Dunlap, "Evelyn Hooker, 89, Is Dead: Recast the Vievv of Gay Men," Nez£) York

TinlC:1 t late cd., 22 Novenlber 1996, p. 019; and "The Psychologist - Dr. Evelyn Hooker/! in Marcus, i\1aking }{istory, pp, 16-25. Dr. rfooker vvas the subject of the documentary "Changing Our Minds: The Story of Dr. Evelyn I-looker,'f directed by fZichard Schrniechen and produced by David Haugland (\tVest l"fol1y\;vood, Ca.: Intrepid Productions, 1992).

32. Rt. Re\F, Angus J. MacQueen! "Dare to Be Different'! ("The Church and '{ouff coluDln), Toronto Daily Star! night ed., 6 June 1959, p. 13. j\ngus l\;lacQueen (1912- ) V\'3S I\1oderator of the United Church of Canada from

] 958 to ] 960. See ;\ngus janles f\·1acQueen l l'vlnnory Is My Diary, 2 vo1.s. (Han.tsport. N .5.: L"ancelot Press! "1990-91).

33. IJuring his lifetinlc Bishop (later i\rchbishop) Fulton J. Sheen (1895-1979) vvas one of the n10st pron1inent spokesmen for the H.onlan Catholic Church N OTI:S 113 in i\nlcrica. FrOl1l 1930 he' \·vas d radio preacher, later ITloving to ne\vspaper colull1ns and tele\rision. In 1940 Sheen conducted the first religious service to be telecast. fronl 1951 to 1957 he \vas the host of the vveekl;..l ABC television series "Life Is ~'Vorth Living.!f See (~eorge Dugan, 1/ Archbishop Sheen, Who Preached to rv1iIJions ()ver T\/J Is Dead at 84,11 l\!eZLl York TiJnes, late city ed., 10 Decenlber 1979, pp, i\J, 1)13; and Fulton J. Sheen, Treasure in Clay: TIlt! /\.utoblogrnplzy c:f FultcJJ] f. Sheen ((~arden City, N,Y,: f)oubleday, 1980).

Chapter Fi ve: Gay Personalities of Old Toronto

1 r have been unable tC) locate George l-lislop's letter to ]ilTI Egan and the tape

()r c1 transcript of it l although l'lislop donated the tape to the Canadian LesbIan dnd Archi\,'es Dli.lny years ago.

2. For more inforn1ation on eriAl, see !v1cLeod, Lesbian and Coy Liberation in COllado, pp. 59-61.

3. Jinl111Y I\oulston's perfonnances at the Chez Paree before an audience of u/sa-vvish' kids" v\"ere sornetiDlcs D1entioned in the tabloids, Sec, for example, / "Toronto's Breeze Around ' (colU111n), Hush Free Press l 9 October 1948, p. 7.

If 4. In 2,000 War Shovvs, iScottyf Wilson [)ies/' Toronto l)aily 5tnr l night ed., 25 ~1arch 1959, p. 3.

.5. iJ[jfe Term in Prison 1Jllposed in Stabbing: fVlurder Charge Reduced," Globe and !vlail, final ed' l 2.+ Septen1ber 1960, p, 4; "Lo\\'dovvn" (colunlnt Justice l;VeeklYI 22 October 1960, p. 13; "Salesnlan Adn1its Slaying/' Toronto Daily Star l Inetro cd., 22 Septclnber 1960; p. 65; and IIStabbing !Y1urder Charged," Toronto

[)aily Star, Inetro ed. 1 4 May 1960, p. 1.

Chapter Six: Explorations of Gay Male COInmunity in Toronto in the Early 19605 1. Sidney Katz vvas onE' of Canada's lnost distinguished journalists of the 19505 and 19605. i\tluch of his vvork concentrated on nledjcine and on contell1.porary social issue:::., and he \vas kno\vn to take risks, For example, Katz Vv'3S the first journalist ever to take LSD and describe the experience for a nlainstrearn magazine, See Sidney Katz! "M)! 12 Hours As a l\1adman/'

A·1aclcan's, 1 October 1953 1 pp. 9-] 3,46-50, 52-53,55.

2. Albert \I\,la1'so11, If Blames Lack of Public Disgust for Grov\,th of I'.01110Sexuality: l)egenerates Parade, Inspector Says/' Globe and iV"lail, fina1 ed., 14 November] 963! p. 13. See also Nathan Cohen, IIMonday i\1iscellany/J (collunn), Toron!o L)aily Star, night cd., 13 January 1964, p. 18; and Egan's response, "Police Concern fc)r J""Jon1osexual Clubs Tllogicar" (letter)1 Toronto

DailJI Star l night ed., 21 January' 1964/ p. 6.

r Homosexual 3. SidneJ Katz l liThe Next [)oor: A Sober Appraisal of a Nevv' 1 Social PhenoD1enon/ /vIaclean's, 22 February 1964, pp. 10-11 1 28-30; Sidney l]~ CIIAL,LENGINC; I'HE C:ONSPIRANCY OF SILENCE

Katz, "The Harsh Facts of Life in the ;(;a)/ VVorkt" A1aclc171l '::;, 7 ~1arch 1964, pp. ] 8, 34-38. Sec also Kinsn1an's discussion of this series in his The Regulation L~r DesIre, 2nd ed., rc\'., pp. 251-52.

4, For exanl.ple: r\nonynlous, letter, A1aclcufl ~::-;, 2 May' 1Y64, p. 36; C~ordon K. 10hn50n, "Treating the H01110Sexuaf' (letterL Maclcull 's, 2 I'vlay' 1964, pp. 7, 36; and L(Juis Stoetzer, letter, iv1adea n's, 2 Tvlay 1964, p. 36. Katz;s articles also received favourable COITIJYlent in C)N E IVlngn:nlc. See WTangents: Ncvvs & \/ie\-\/5/' ()i\jE iVlnsn:~I fie, f\pril 1964; ~). 18; dnd J\tr. M.J .M., L,etter, Ol\lE Mc7g{7Zillc, June 196-t p. 29

5. Katz and Egan vv'crc schf'duled to hInl clrl inter\ric\'\' tor uTIle Pierre Berton 5ho\\.J' on 2C) February/ 1964; but the segnlE'nt \,VJ::, caTlcelled. See Sidney Katz Ys letter to Jin'1 Egan, ] --l Febru':'lry 1964, Jantes Egan T)apers; accession 88­ 006, Canadian Lesbian and (~ay/ Archives; T()rontc).

6. [1\.on f\ntltonL dnd the [uo·{(JDIOSexua!" (part i); T()r()nto 'Telegranz, final ed., 11 .t\pril 1964, p. '7; [Ron PoultonL liThe Sick LifE,!' (part 2); Toronto Tclegnllll; final ed,! 14 Apri11964, p. 7; and tRon Poulton}, JlChurch and La\v;' (part 3), 7tH-onto Telcgra lIZ , final cd.; 15 i\pril 1964, p. 7. Egan's response to these articles \vas nE'\'cr published in the Tc'!egrrnu; but did appear in Trpo. See Jim Egan; iiTn'o C;uest Editoria]/' TLUO; no. 2 (1964); pp. 13-19.

7. For a description of the Nl usic Roonl see Peter Alann, liVery Much ()ut ... and About: Ivluslc Roonl Private l'vlenlbers Club," J'zpo; no. 3 (1964,L pp. 23-24; George C~rahanl, "Strange Life of the (~ay Ones Behind This Door/' Toronto Tefegra/71, night five star cd.; 7 June 1963, pp. 1-2; and references to j;The Club" in Sidney Katz; liThe }-]on1osexuaJ Next Door: f\ Sober it\ppraisal of a Nevv Social PhenC)l11enon/' i\r1aclean's, 22 February' 1964, pp, 10-11,28-30.

8. Formal nleetings and discussions \vere held later at the lvlusic 1{oon1's sister club, the IVlelod}/ Roonl, located at 457 Church Street and active froln 1964 to '] 966. Sec, for example, an account of a discussion of homosexuality.' and religion \vith a Baptist nlinister; held at the Melod),' ROOill in early 1966: Untitled article; 1'n\l; no. 9 (1966), p. 28.

9, Dr. \tVillial11 Hogg's identity is sCHnevv'hat 111yster,ious. I have been unab~e to confirnl that Dr. Hogg \vorked at the Forensic Clinic in Toronto. HOvve\'ec files at the University of Toronto i~rchi\'es confirnl that VVillianl F. rlogg; ~1.J).; a graduate of the LTnj\rersity of Western ()ntario; \vas appointed a fellovv of the departrnent of psychiatry' at the Uni\rersity of Toronto in 1960, and thathis elTIployn1ent ccased there in 1961. lvJ iglzt's Creater Toro!1 to City DirectorF lists a Dr. VVillian1 F. 11:ogg beginning in 1963, employed as a psychiatrist at the Ljniversity of Toronto (1963; 1965, 1966)/ and as a psy'chiatrist \vith the Board of Education (1964), I have been unable to locate Dr. Hogg after 1966.

10. 1t is ironic that Jiln and Jack left Toronto in ]964, a }'ear in vvhich several 115 nliJestones occurred in the dc\/elopn1cnt {Jf a visible local gay COHll11Unity. For exan1pje, the first issue of CO,!/ (latcr Ca~1 International) \\,'as published on 30 rYlarch 1964. /\lthough it ceased after only fifteecr issues, Ga,l/ \,\'(:15 an i111portant first step in publishHlg a general interest tabJoid for hOlY10SeXllals, It vvas also ()ne of the earliest gay publications to use the \,vord "ga.yJ' in its title, ()n ] 3l\pril '1964, in 'Torontcl, the Roman SalIna Baths opened at 740 Bay Street. hi its da~/ it \\/35 one of the largest and rnost rnodern gay bathhouses in Canad.a, Ln July]964, TUJo JTtagazine began publication, listing the Melody I~oonl as its editorial office (Egan contributed to 17UO). T'leo!s stated purpose \\ras "to pro1l10te knovvledge and understanding of the hornosexual vjevv'point arnong the general pubhc and to educate hCH110scxuals as to their responsibilities as \'axiants fronl thE.' current rnoral and social standards.!? Finally! on 24 July]964 Sidney Katz \vrote in the Toronto L)niiy Star that plans vvere being made to £01'111 a I"--Iomophile Refornl Society that vvould \vork towards amendments to the CriminaJ Code (Sidney Katz, JlHomosexuals Plan ()\J\lll ()rganization/! Toronto LJaily Star, night ed,! 25 July' 1964, p. 2). For rnore Infornlation on gely organizing in Toronto (and elseV\/here in Canada) at this tinle see McLeod, Lc~bia.J1 and Gay Liberation in Canada.

Afterword

1. J\rticies and correspondence relating to Jim Egan's acti\'ities after he and Jack 11loved to British COIU1l1bld are located in the Janles Egan Papers, accession 96-130, Canadia.n Lesbian and (~ay Archives, Toronto.

2. Justice Leonard Martin, Reasons for Judgment, faIlles Egan and john l\'orns Nesbit v. FieI' Majesty tllt' Queen in Right qf Canada, Federal Court or Canada, T­ 2425-88,2 Decenlber 1991, pp, 13-14. See also Stc\vart Belt "Gay Couple Not Spousat Judge Says/' Vancouver SUJl, 5 Decen1ber 1991, p. B1; Steve Bridger! "B.C. Judge in Egan Case Says Oniy Traditional Fan1ilies ArE) 'Building Blocks of Society,'" Angles! February" 1992, p. 5; Stephen Brunt JlH01110Sexua] (~ouple to Sue Over Benefits," C--;lobe and iVlail, n1etro ed" 27 August 1988, p. r\12; C;abriella C;oliger, "C;ay' (~ouple Seeks Pension Benefit: B.C, Nian VVants Federal Spouse Supplen1ent for f..·£js Lover," X5: A Supplenlcnt to Xtra! iVlaga::nlc, no. 4 (February 1990), pp 1, 3; Lora (~rindlay, "Spollsal Benefits I)enied to C~ay Couple: Court Ruling Sparks Outrage and a \TO\;\' to Keep

l Fighting/' \/anCOlf( Cr Procincc, 5 Decenlber 1991, p. i\5; John Hanley',

3, Justices H.obertson and l\r1ahoney held the n1ajorit)/ viev\" See J. BO\'V1113n, "Ga yr Case l1eaded for Canada!s Top Court/I ]\'/orth Island [\)eTus, 24 ()ctober 1993, p. 2; "B.C~, Couple Loses ()Id-/\ge Pension r\ppeal/' Vancouver 5l117, 30 116 CHALLENGING TIfE CONSPIRANCY OF SILENCE

,4pril 1993, p. AlO; "Federal Court Denies Same-Sex Partner's Benefit Claim - Appeal Under\vay," Charter Cases/Hun1an Rights Reporter section of Lancaster Labour Lt7l.U Reports 9 (Novelllber 1993): 1-3; and Debra M.

McAllister, /I Egan: /\ Crucible for Human Rights," lVational Journal of Constitutional LazD 5 (November 1994): 95-108.

4. Egan v. Canada (1995), 124 D.L.R. (4th) 609, [1995J 2 S.C.R. 513. Justices Cor)?, L'}-Ieureux-Dube, Iacobucci, McLachlin, and Sopinka ruled that the definition of IIspolise" in the Old Age Security Act "vas discrinlinatory; Chief Justice Lamer and Justices La Forest, C;onthief, and Major voted no. Ho\vever, Chief Justice Lan1er and Justices La Forest, Gonthier, Major, and Sopinka ruled that the discriDlination was justified in this case under section 1 of the Charter; Justices Cory, L'Heureux-Dube, Iacobucci, and McLachlin voted no. Much has been written about Egan v. Canada. The case is ,Nell documented in Casswell, Lesbians, Gay Men, and Canadian LaID, pp. 371-411, and in Robert Wintemute, "Discrimination against Same-Sex Couples: Sections 15(1) and 1 of the Charter: Egan v. Canada/' Canadian Bar RevieLu 74 CDece.mber 1995): 682-713. Selected articles from nlainstream and gay sources include: Brad Berg, HFtunbling towards Equality: Promise and Peril in Egan,lf l\Jational Journal (~f Constitutional LaIC 5 (June 1995): 263-78; Sean Fine, "Top Court Ponders Spousal Benefits: Gay Couple A~.rgues Discri.1nination/' Globe ClrLd Mail, Inetro ed., 2 November 1994, p. A6; Sean Fine and Tv1argaret Philp, "Divorced Mothers, Gay Couples Lose in Court," Globe and Mail, metro ed., 26 May 1995, pp. Al, .A.9; Christopher GuIy, "Court Challenge (~ould Pave the Way to Equality: Longtern1 Canadian Couple Who Defied the Odds Are Hoping for a Little More Luck," Washington Blade! 16 Decen1ber 1994, p. 14; Neal Hall, IICay Couple Lose 8-Year Fight for Pension Benefits: Supreme Court Ruling," Vancouver Sun, final ed., 26 M.ay 1995, p. A3; Philip Hannan, "Checkered Victory: No Pension for Spouse of 47 Years, Court Rules/' Xtra!, no. 277 (9 June 1995), pp. I, 12; Wendy McLellan, "One Battle Is Lost ­ i\.nother VVOll," Vancouver Province, 26 M,ay 1995, p. A6; Bruce Ryder, "Egan v. Canada: Equality Deferred! Again/' Canadian Labour & EJrlployJrlent LaZD Journal 4 (1996): 101-110; "Two Decisions on Equality" (editorial), Globe and Mail, metro ed., 26 May 1995, p. A14; and David Vienneau, "Fighting the System: Together 46 Years, Gay Couple Take Battle for Benefits to the High Court,'f Toronto Star, metro ed., 23 October 1994, p. A2.

5. Equality for Gays and Lesbians Everyvvhere (EGALEt /lEGALE Responds to Egan: 'A Loss But Not a Defeat/" press release, 25 May 1995, p. 1. Subsequent litigation, such as Rosenberg 7.'. Canada, concerning sa.m,e-sex spousal access to survivors' pension benefHs, and M. v. H., a case currently before the Suprelne Court involving a lesbian relationship in \lvhich one partner is seeking the right to claim spousal support froln the other, obviously supports this remark. See Laura Eggertson, IiGays, Lesbians Hail Decision on Pensions: Federal Move \!\Till Lead to Revisions! Activists Say," NOTES ]17

Toronto Star, metro ed., 23 June 1998, pp. A1, A24; and Pan! MacEachern, IIRosenberg v. Canado: The Irnpact of Egan v. Canada on Lesbian and Gay Equality Clainl.s," Canadian Labour [,- Ernploynlent Lcnu Journal 4 (1996): 87-100. Appendix A: A Chronology of the Life of Jim Egan

1'12'1 Jameo. Leo (.11111) Egall wao. born in Toronto, 14 September, to James Egan and Nellie (joo.ephine) Engle, The Egan fancily li\'ed at 281;;; Ceorge Street at th"t time,

1922 Ch<1rle~ Egan, Jim'~ only :,ibling, \\d~ born 14 ,'\;0\ ember

1924 The Egan family moved to 39 Westlake A\ enue

1927 JIm Eg,m began ~chool at Holy Name School, 690 Carla\:\' Avenue, which was operated by the Sisters of St. Jo~eph

John (.I<1ck) Norris Nesbit was born 27 June in Toronto, the son of William S, and Agnes Nesbit.

1930 The Egan family moved to 245 B<1in Avenue, [Jim Egan li\'ed there until 1937,]

J934 At the age of thirtet'n Eg<1n came to realiLe that he was sexually a ttrc1Cted to males,

1935 By the age of fourteen Jim Egan had becomt' an avid reader, a trait that would contmue throughout his life

1936 james Egan died on I) JanuMy, aged seventy.

Ccl,1936 Jim Egan entt'red the [do.tern High School of Commerce, 16 Phin Avenue, taking a mixed science course of biology, chemistry, and physics, as well as English literature and composition, He failed the first year <1nd attended only two months of a second year before abandoning formal schooling, i 937 -39 Egan \'isited his uncle Wilbur Jewison at Bailieboro. Ontario, and worked on farms in the area After the declaration of war in September' '1939, Egan tried to enlist but W,15 rejected due to a corneal scar.

1939-.Jc3 Biology always greatly Interested Egan, and he spent many hours studying the subject. Late in 1939 he was hired as a departmental technician in the Department of Zoology at the University of Toronto, He' later worked at onnaught Laboratories in the insulin production department, and III the tissue culture lab, dOIng work on typhus, polio, and C,lncer research under Dr, Raymond Parker.

]9-13-47 Jim Egan enlisted in th(~ merchant navy and sen'ed as an ordinary se,1man thmugh the end of the war. He served on several ships,

Ill' APPENDIX }\.

incltldlng OTIC year and t\·vo 1110nths on the Konge 5Z 1C1TC', a Nor\.vegian vessel under Britisb registr~.'; and CHl the Juan /\1. 5eguznc! a U.S. Liberty' Ship. Egan travelled thrOtlghout the rVlediterrancan and served in the SOUtli Seas. IJuring and after the

\:var, he carne into contact for the first tinlc 'vvith a Il gay \vorld" 'vvhile \Tisiting cihes like London dnd f---Iarnburg. late] 947 Jirn Egan quit the nl.t::rcbatlt navy dnd returned to Toronto. fie soon started going to the Sa\'arin f"'lotel's be\'erage 1'oon1, located at 336­ 44 Bay Street \vhich \vas frequented by" gay' lllcn. This \,'\/dS the first tinle Egan realized th,lt there \:\"as cl cOffilnunity of gay" n1cn in 'Toronto.

Egan disco\'ered that bj~ }'ounger brother, C~hdrles, \/v'dS gay' \\'hen he spotted hill1 at the Sa\'arin, sitting at a table of obviously gay rnen. T'tle brothers never discussed their gay orientation, but it vvas gradually accepted betvv'een then-l

1948 1n August Jinl Egan. nlct Jack Nesbit, first at the Sa\'arin and later at the King Cole H.()Onl at the Park Plaza t'-fote!' located at Bloor Street and Avenue Road. They entered into a relationship, and Jirn \vas soon )jV'111g VVlth Jack and his parents at 164 Curnber!and Street. ()n 23 August 1948, Jin1 and Jack exchanged rings and agreed to cornrnit thenlsclves to each other.

1949 By' tnid year Egan began vvriting letters to the editor in response to sensational or misleading reports on hOll1oseXudlity published in Inainstream local nevvspapers such as the Globe and lV1ai/, the TiJrolIto [)aily Slar, and the Toronto TelegrnnL 0Jone of these early? letters \vas published.

ji111 and Jack nloved to ()ak l\idges, about fifteen ll1iles north of Toronto, late in the year. There they' operated a biological supply business and established their first hOnl€ together.

1950 Throughout 1950 Egan sent letters to mainstreanl Anlerican nlagazines such as Coronet, Tlte Ladie< Horne /ourlll1l, Potent::;' .A/lnga:inc, and Redbot)/( JVlagn:inL', try-'ing to sell story' ideas that depicted hornosexualit:,r in an honest and straightforvvard fashion. I-lis ideas \,vere rejected

Egan's earliest knc)\vn publications appeared on 16 i\1ay'; a letter signed J. L.E. In flash! and d letter defending the Kinsey! Report signed Janles Egan, in the C~/obe and iVJnil. Soon, his letters appeared regularly" in the Toronto tabloids! such as Flash! Justice V\/eekly, and True ]\./cu1s 'Finles (TNT)

In Septell1ber Egan decided to \·vrite a book detailing the socjal and 120 CHA L LE NG IN G THE CON 5 PI RA N CY 0 f Sl LE NeE

legal situation of hornosexuals H1 various countries of the \\,'orld. ()\'er the next tV\/O nlonths he VVf()te a letter of inquir).' to c\"ery foreign elnbass.y in (Jtt:'1\\ra, requesting a copy of the country/'s penal code and infornlation about hODl0sexuaJity and the la\\'. !vlan)l of the legations responded. Egan's project v\ras abandoned vvhen Donald VVcbster Cory (pseud,) published his \vork The l-1ornosexuallrl Jlnlcnco: A Subjective /lpprollch (Ne\,v 'y.'ork, 1(51).

iiI £\rn a Homosexual," by Leo Engle (pseud., the nan1(' of Inaternal grandfather), a long eSSd}r synlpdthetic to horno~exualit)", v\ras published in the Decelnber "1950 issue or the /\merican ,men's nlagazine Sir.!. Egan receiv'ed letters frenTl several readers, and began a lengthy' correspondence' v\rith at least t\VO of tllenl.

1951 In January' Egan began corresponding vvith the early Anlerican homophile activist I-Tenry C;erber. Their c()rrespondence extended into Ma)' 1951

Egan's sev'en-part series l'Aspects of Homosexuality!! appeared vveekly in True 1',Jelus Tinzcs (Ti\fT)/ beginning on 19 NC)\reniber and extending to 31 December.

1953 Egan began to correspond \vith Inenlbers of the R1attachine Societ)/ in Los Angeles.

1953-54 "HoIl1osexual C~oncepts,ff a tvvelve-part series by Egan, vvas published in ]listice Weekly betvveen 5 IJecetnber 1953 and 27 February 1954. This V\'as fol](Hved by another, untitled series, published in fifteen parts between 6 1\1a1'ch and 12 June 1954.

]955 Jim and Jack sold the property' at Oak H.idges and purchased a farn!

near Chesley, ()nta1'iof vvhere they' gre'vv [11aJ ting barley' and raised pigs and turkeyrs.

On 19 1\1arch Iusticc v\./eek(L/ published a brief that Egan had sent to the Parlianlentary Legislative Committee of the I-Iouse of COffilnons concerning proposed an1endlT1ents to Section 206 of the Canadian Crilninal Code, regarding gross indecency.

1958 Egan and Nesbit decided to abandon fanning and 111o\'ed to Bean1s\'ille, Ontario, \vhere they' established The Nature Shop, a pet and garden supply store, as \\,('11 as a 5111a11 \yholesale biological supply conl,pan);.

1959 Jim and Jack attended the fifth Mid\vinter Institute of ()NE/ Incorporated, in Los Angeles, fronl 30 January through 1 February. 1heJi illet many' leading honlophile acti\'ists during this APPENDIX A 12J

conference, including Dr. Blarlclle Bakec Dr. E\"el~yn Hooker; Jirn Ke.pner; elnd \tV, Dorr Legg. Egan "vas inspired by these' contacts to \!vrite articles for OJ\)E A1ago:inc'; t\o\'o articles \Nere published in ()ctober an.d [)ecernber.

'Throughout the year Egan vvrote letters relatIng to gay topi.cs; sonle of vvhich vvere published in Look" Saturday 1\/ight, the Tc)ronto [Joily Star; and other Dlagazines and ne\vspapers.

1960 In May Jin1 1 5 friend i\.lex Bakalis \-\Fas tTi.urdered by a .young rnale hustler. Egan folJo\ved the case closely'! and attended the prelinlinaT)l hearing.

1963 Egan and Nesbit moved to 'Toronto late in the year and lived at 1052A Bloor Street West.

1SJ64 Sidney Katz's t\vo-part series liThe Homosexual Next [)oor: A Sober /\ppraisal of a Nevv Social Phenon1enon'" vvas published in A/inc/can '5 n1agazine during February-March, 'T"hese are considered to be the first full-scale articles published in a mainstream Canadian publication to take a generally' positive v'ievv of h0J11osexuality, Katz used Egan (and Jilll'S extensi\re library) as sources of inforn1ation about h()lnc)sexualitj(, and relied on Egan to provide a practical tour of local gay sites.

Early in the year Jim and Jack's relationship caIne under pressure due to Jack's increasingly public gay activism. The couple decided to part company; the separation lasted several months. During this time Egan started another biological 5pecin1en business and spent n1any evenings at the Music ROOD1, one of Toront

From the spring until June, Egan Inet \'veekly vvith about six other gay" 111.en for inJornlaJ discussions concerning gay life. These sessions \vere attended by Dr. VVillianl HJ)gg, a psychiatrist" \,\,,110 acted as observer.

By June Egan and l'\Jesbit Vv'E're reunited. Egan decided to abandon gay' activism in h1\rOUr of his relationship vvith Jack; and they decided to move avv'a)" fronl Toronto. They loaded all of their belongings into a five-ton truck and dn)\re across Canada to British Columbia, \vhere the:" intended to begin a nevv life together.

In .Iuly.' Egan and Nesbit settled in Duncan, B.C., vvhere the}' established the Jan1c1ck Biological Supply Company; specializing in tnarine specinlcns. In [)uncal1, JiIn de\reloped a great interest in the en\'lronmental n10vement and joined the Societyl for the Prevention of En\~ironnlentalCollapse (SPEC~) 122 C HAL LEN G 1 N G THE CO N SPIRA N C Y 0 F 5 [ LEN CE

1968 .11m and Jack moved to Thetis Island, where they purchased a property on Telegraph Harbour and continued their thriving business.

1972 Egan and Nesbit decided to retire from their business, sold the property on Thetis Island, and moved to Chemainus, B.C., 'where they lived in a rented cabm. At Chemainus Jim was involved in environmental work.

1974 The couple bought a property at Merville, S.c., on which they buill a large stackwalj house. Jack began to work at the local crisis centre, while Jim continued his environmental work.

]980 Egan joined the Save Our Straits Committee to block a plan to aHow the pumping of untrcated sewage into the Strait of Georgia. The committee was successful.

198] Egan was elected as a regional director for Electoral Area B of the Regional District of Comox-Strathcona. He was the first openly gay man living in an openly gay relationship to be elected to public office in Canada. Egan was re-elected twice and served from 1981 until 1993, when he decided not to stand for re-election.

1985 Egan and Nesbit moved to a bungalow on the outskirts of Courtenay, S.c. They started to meet local gay people, and in the fall started the Comox Valley branch of the [sland Gay Society. They sponsored a drop-in at their home once a month; the drop-in lasted for eleven years, until] 996.

1986 "A Perfect BeglllJler: Jim Egan and the Tabloids," by Alfred Taylor (pseud. of Philip McLeod), was published in the September issue of the Canadian Lesbzan and Gm; Histor.v Network News/ellf'r.

Robert Champagne's interview of Egan, "Canada's Pioneer Gay Activist: Jim Egan," was published in the December-January 1986­ 87 issue of RiffS

1987 On 25 February Jim and Jack applied on Jack's behalf for the spousal allowance benefit provided wlder the Old Age Security Act. Health and Welfare Canad,l's denial of the benefit (lne week later set the stage for a court challenge test case under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Tlin Egan: Cmwda's PlOnf'Cr Gay Acln'lsl, compiled and introduced by Robert Champagne, was published by the Canadian Lesbian and Cay History Network. APPENDIX A l23

1988 On 6 December Egan and esbit brought an actIon in the Trial Division of the federal Court of Canada claiming discrimination under the Old Age Security Act in its definition of "spouse." They cl

199J On 2 December Justice Leonard \1artin dismissed the action, declaring that their relationship was "not a spousal one."

1992 On ]2 August Egan dnd Nesbit appealed the ruling in the Federal Court of Appeal, focussing on whether the restrictive definition of "spouse" in the Old Age Security Act violated section 15(1) of the Charter on the basis of discrinlination based on sexual orientation.

]993 The Federal Court of Appeal upheld the decision of the lower court, ruling on 29 April that Egan and esbit had not been discriminated against because of their sexual orientation. On 2 June, Egan and Nesbit filed an application to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada.

1<194 Egan served as president of the North Island AIDS Coalition.

Egan and Nesbit's appeal was heard in the Supreme Court on 1 November.

1995 On 25 May the Supreme Court of Canada rendered its decision in the case of Egall alld Nesbit". Canada; the appeal was dismissed. The justices ruled that "sexual orientation" must be read into the Charter as ,1 ground of discrimination; they also ruled that discrimination waS justified in this case under section 1 of the Charter

Egan was presented with a national human rights award by the Lambda Foundation for Excellence on 28 May in Ottawa.

Egan and Nesbit were the honorary grand marshals at both the Toronto and Vancouver Pride celebrations.

]996 Egan addressed a conference of Canadian human rights commissioners on 2 June in Victoria, sponsored by the British Columbia Human Rights Commission.

David Adkin's ducumentary "Jim L()\'e~ Jack. The James Egan Story" was released. 124 C HAL LEN GIN G THE CON SP 1 RAN C Y 0 F 5 I LEN CE

Egan and Nesbit vvere one of the couples featured in .t\1ichael Riordan's book Out Our Way: Gay and Lesbian LIfe in the Country.

1997 In recognition of his conlffiunity service, Egan \vas presented with a Paul H.arris Fellovvship by H.otary International in Septenlber.

1998 Egan addressed a plenary session entitled "Not a Faggoty Dress­ up Party: Disrobing the Suprenlc Court of Canada in the Post-Egan Era!! at the conference Queering the Nation, held at York University on 27 June.

On 23 August, Jin1 Egan and Jack Nesbit celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of their relationsh.ip. Appendix B: A Checklist of Publications by Jim Egan, 1950-1964

This checklist is based upon materials in the Janles Egan Papers (accessions 88-006 and 96-130) at the Canadian Lesbian and C~ay Archives, Toronto. Although Egan vvas generally careful in keeping a scrapbook of his publications, unfortunately he "vas unable to know if all of the letters he sent to nevvspapers and magazines vvere published. As a resultj his collection of clippings is incomplete. I have undertaken additional research to locate fugitive publications and have attenlpted to examine each item personally. Ho\'vever, I have been unable to locate extensive archival collections for tnost of the Toronto tabloids of this period, including Flash, The Rocket, Tab; and True NCIVS Tirnes (T1VT). I have therefore been unable to undertake a comprehensive exanlination of these titles for additional itelnsj and could not verify page nUlnbers for several clippings in Egan's papers. Unknown page numbers are indicated in the citations by ii p. ?If I have examined the substantial collections of Hush Free Press and JustIce Weekly at the Baldvvin ROOD1, Toronto Reference Library. The many entries in this checklist lnarked "JECPGA" are easily accessible, hovvever, as they are reproduced in facsimile in linz Egan: Canada's Pioneer Cay Actiuist, compiled and introduced by I~obert Champagne (Toronto: Canadian Lesbian and Gay History Netvvork, 1987).

1950

J.L.E., "Reader Defends HOll10S Says They're Inverts" (letter), Flash, 16 May

1950, pp. 16, 19. JECPGA j p. 9

Jan1es Egan, "Views Vary on Nevv Kinsey Report: For Publication" (letter), Globe and Mail! final cd.! 16 May 1950, p. 6. JECPGA! p. 10.

}.L.E., "HOIUOS Acts Not Concern of Outsiders Says One" (letter), Flash j 13 June 1950, p. 12. JECPGA, p. 11.

J.L.E., Letter, Flash, [1950, after 27 Junej, p. ? JECPGA, p. 12.

].L.E., 'ITNT Taken to Task by ???7" (letter), True Nc'loS Tinzcs (TNT), 16 October 1950, p. 11. JECPGA, p. 14.

J.L.E., Letter, True l',lelus Tilne::; (T1'JT), 30 October 1950 j p. ? JECPC-;A, p. 15.

Leo Engle (pseud.), "I Ani a I-Iomosexual/' Sir.', Deceolber 1950/ pp. 7.

[late 1950, before 16 January 1951.] l~dvertisenlent in \!Vriter's Digest [see Henry Gerber's letter to JiIn Egan, 16 January 1951.]

125 '126 elI ALL ENG INC THE CON 5 P r RAN C Y 0 F 51 LEN CE

1951

J.I".E.! IIFairy' Nice!! (letter), 'True i\lC"((1S TillIi',S (Ti\rrJ; ]9 February 1951/ p. 7. JECPGi\, p. 18.

J.L.E.! "Should AboUsh Absurd Anb-l-iolTIOSexual La\vs, Asserts

Correspondent" (letter), Iustice V'/eck(!J, 19 tvlay 1951 t p. 9. JECPGA/ p. 20,

J.L.E., [-,etter, Fhl~Jz! 18 June 1951, p. ? JE(~P(;/\, p. 21.

].L.E./ "I~eader Claims Abolition of Anti-Homosexual LJEnvs Would Lessen Sex Crimes" (letter), }usf'ice Weekly! 28 July' 1951/ pr. 15; 16. JECPGA, p. 23.

).L.E./ L~etter, True -,i\jelu~ Tinlcs (TI\lTJ, 12 Novenlber 1951; p, ? JECP(~A, p. 25.

[UnsignedJ, "Aspects of 11ornosexualit}.': History and Background Ancient Widespread in Land of Pharohs isic]!! (series, part one), 7)~ue j\lC'ZU5 Titnes (TNT), 19 Novelnber 195], pp. 5, '12, JECPC~}\, pp. 26-27

[U nsigned], II Aspects of !"-Ionlosexuali l)!' [)iscussion of the Legal Aspects in the Life of a Homosexual'" (series! part tv/oj, True i\/C7US Tinlcs (TNT), 26 Noven1ber 1951, pp. 5, 14. JECPGi\, pp. 28-29.

lUnsigned}, II Aspects of HonloseXllality: Discussion of the Legal Aspects in the Life of a Honlosexual" (series, part threeL True ?'-Jezu5 Tinlcs (TNT), 3 December 1951, pp. 5, 14. JECP(~/\, pp. 30-31.

[Unsigned], "_Aspects of Homosexualit),: J)iscussion of Scientific Approach to This _Most Baffling Question" (series, part four)/ TruE' l\}czus Tinlcs (TJ\/T), 10 Decernber 1951, pp. 5, 14. JECPC;A! pp. 32-33.

[LTnsigned], II.Aspects of Honl0sexuality: [)iscussion of Scientific Approach to This Most Baffling Question" (series, part fiveL True i\lcru5 Tinlcs (T1YTJ, 17 December 1951.' pp. 5, 14. JECP(~A! pp. 34-35.

[UnsignedL FlHoffiosexual 'I\1arriages f Just Like Normal: Fen1inine Types ~ot Typical Honlo NIan:' Quiet and Not Indiscreet Jvlany j J-Iappy Marriages' Last" (series, part six), True i'JC70S Titnes (Tl\/TJ, 24 Decenlber 1951, pp. 5,14, JECPGA, pp. 36-37.

rUnsignedL Jl1\1ore Tolerance Needed To\-vard Homos: Homosexuals !Fall Guys! for l)ressure C~roups and Gc)\/ernments .- Need to Be Properly Understood" (series! part sc\renL TnIt) l~eIUS Tinlcs (TI\lTJ! 31 Decelnber 19,51! pp. S, 11. JECPC;/\! pp, 38-39. APPENDIX B 127

1952

J. L.E./ LJeHer/ lu:;tice vVeek/y .. 3 fV1ay 1952, _pp, ]1r ] 6. JE(=P(;~A, p. 4].

1953

J. L.E., ilTredtnlent of Homosexuals Is RecoD1nlendcd by I~eader VVho Finds Fault VVith Lavv /l (letter); justlCC VV'('ckly, 21 Februar~/ 1953, p. 16. JECPGA, p. "+2.

~/Veekfy, J.L.E.; Letter, Justice ]4 tv1arch 1953 1 p. 14. JECPC;A, p. 43,

J.L.E" L.etter, Flash,S Septen1ber 1953, p. '? JEC'PC;A, p, 43.

J.L.E., II HO\A' '1'0 Deal V"Tith l'-Iornosexuals Told By Authority on Subject" (letter), {ushce vVcekly, 21 November ]953, pp. 12, ]6. JECPC;A, p. 45.

[UnsignedL IISeries of Articles on Ffot110Sexuality and Hon1osexuals Begins l\Jcxt vVeek: Purpose to Bring ~About a Better Understanding Between Hetero and HOlTIO," Justice tAVeekly, 28 Novelnber 1953, p. 12. JECPGA, p. 47.

J.L.E., I'(~ra\'e Injustice" (letter), Tbronto Telegranl, blue streak metropolitan ed., 30 Novenlber 1953, p. 6. JECP(~A, p. 47.

].L.E., ii]-Iomosexual Concepts" (colUlnn), Justice vVeekly, 5 December 1953, p. 13. JE(~PGA, p, 48,

J.L,E., II HCHTIOSeXua] Concepts: The Mattachine Society" (column)! Justice ~;Y;eekly, 12 December 1953, p. 13. JECPGA, p. 49.

J.L.E., 1i1--Ion1osexual Concepts'! (colU111n), Jllstice ~/Veekly, 19 IJecenlber 1953, p 13. JECPGA, p. 50.

J,L.E., if}-{on1osexual Concepts!! (colulnn)f Justice ~Veekly, 26 December 1953, p. 13. }ECPC--;i\, p, 52.

1954

/ J.L.E" "I·'{c)luosexual Concepts (colurnn), !u::;hcc lA/eekly; 2 January 1954; p, 13. JECP(~i\, p, 54. 128 C 11 ALL ENG INC T 1-1 E CON SPI RAN C Y 0 F 5 I LEN CE

J.L.E" "1-1C)l110SexuaJ Concepts/.' 13. JECPGA; p. 55.

].L""E.; "Hornosexual C:onceptsl! (column), justice VV'cekly, 16 January )95--1-, p. 13. JE(~PGA, p. 56,

j.L.E' 1 "Hot11osexual Concepts" (colu111n), !ustlce VVeekly, 23 January 1954, p.

] 3. JECPC;A r p. 57 j.L.E" "1-ionlosexlJal C~oncepts" (colurnn)/ fu::>tlce \!\lcckly, 30 January" 1954, p,

]3. JECPC:,A t p. 58 .

Ju~ti(t' ~A/ceki~/t .l.L.E. t liHorno:=,exual C:oncepts" (colun111); 13 February -1954, p. ]3. JECPC;A, p. 59

J.L.E., "Homosexual C:onceptsll (column), Jushce Weekl.lf, 20 February -1954, pp. 13, 15. JECPC~f\; p. 60.

J.L.E' f ul''''lornoscxual Concepts" (colU111nL justice \/\/eekly, 27 February 1954, p. ] 3. JECP(~l\f p. 61.

J.L.E./ "\1Videspread Nature of l'''fomosexuality Revealed in Kinsey l\.eport on Male's Sexual Behaviour!! (series, part one), Justlce VVreekly, 6 March '1954, p. 13. JECPl~Af p. 62.

J.L.E., I'~tost Fantastic vVitch-J1unt Since Inquisition Was FoU()\ved by Dismissal of Honl0sexuals by the Hundreds from U.S. Gc)\,'ernlnent Offices" (series, part tvvo), ILfsticc VVeekly, 13 Iv1arch 1954/ p. 13. JECPl~A, p. 63.

J. L.E., "Anti-Ho1l1osexual Legislation i\ut01113tically Making Crilninals of Them Deeply H.esented by l'vlembers of llne-Tilne Little Knc)\vn Group" (series; part three), justice \iVeeklYI 20 March :1954, p. 13. JECPGJ\/ p. 64.

J.L.E., "Rash of rvlagazine Stories Catapulted rlomosexual tv1inority into Limelight; Effects Far-Reaching and Unforeseen" (series, part four), justice ~;yreekIYf 27 Pv!larch ]954/ pp. 13 1 16. JECPGA, p. 65.

J.L.E., "Persecution of Homosexuals C;ets Blan1ed for Their Increased ~~ctivity in Public" (series, part five), Justice \!Veekl~/, 3 April '1954, p. 13. JECPGA, p. 66.

J. L. E.! Ii Inability of In\/estigating C0111n1i ttees to Exalnine Hornosexuars Side of Fe.nee Explains the Failure to 501\'c T)roblenl" (series, part six), Iushee P/ecklYI 10 i\pril 1954, p. 13. JECPC;.

J.L.E., "Homosexuals i\re Not Perverts Bent on Corruption of Youth, Says \J\friter" (series, part seven), Justice VVeekly/ 17 jt:\pril 1954, p. 13. JECPGA, p. 68. APPENDIX B 129

J.L.E./ IITvvo Suggestions Subnlitted to Cope vVith the Problern of HornosexuaJityft (series, part eight), IustIo: vVeek/y, 24 f\priI 1954/ p. '13. ]ECPGi\., p. 69.

J.L.E., "Descriptlon 'C;ay' Used by 11omosexuals No l'v1isnomer/ According to ]"'his Writerfl (series/ part nlne)l Justice VVeckly, 1 May 1954, p. 13. JECPGA, p, 70. lUnsigned LJ/Present ~~nti-rlornosexual LegIslation C~reatest Bar to Solution ()f Problem ()plnion f-Ie!d by Articles \J\friter j.L.E." (series), fustice IiVeek(l/, 8 May 1954, p. 12. JECPC;A, p, 72.

J.1.,_ E., I'Cause and Cure of I-iOlTIOSexuality Result in Violent [)isagreelnents

Every Tinle These Questions Asked" (series), Justice Weekly, ]5 May 19541 p. 12. JECPGA/ p. 73. lUnsignedL l'l-lonlosexuaJ Can Lead I--Iappy l-,ife Maintains Articles Writer J.L.E.; Disposes of Fantastic Theories" (series), Justice ~!\jeekly, 22 M,Jy ]954, p. ]2. JECPCi\'! p. '74.

J.L. E., "'vVriter ') .L.E.! Debunks Pet Theories Fonnulated in Recent Years Seeking to Explain C:ause of Hornosexualityff (series), Justice 1vVeekly, 29 Jv1ay 1954! p. 12. JECPGA; p. 75.

J.L.E' j Ii\!a.lidity of the j Inborn! Theory' in Connection \ivith Homosexuals Expounded by 'Justice' \IVriter" (series), Justice Weekly! 5 June 1954, p, J2. JECPGA! p. 76.

J.L,.E., liVery Idea of Cure for Homosexuality l~idiculous, Writer!s Final Analysis" (series), Justice Weekly, 12 June 1954, p. 12. JECPGA, p. 77.

J.L.E., iIJ,L.E. l\nsvvers Letter frorTI Canadian h1otherJ! (letter)! Jushce lvVeckly, 26 June 1954, pp. 5! 9. JECPC;/\, p. 79.

1955

(UnsignedL"Parlian1entary Legisla ti\'e COffilnittee Ignored This Letter fron1 Homosexual Suggesting Changes in Criminal Codeff (letter)! Justice vVf'cklYI 19 March 1955, pp. 5, 14. JECPGi\, pp. 83-84.

1959

James Egan! llI-litler's \!Vorld" (letter), Look, 17 February 1959, p. 14. JECPGi\! p.86.

James Egan, "Nathan C,ohen's Corner: The Readers l-Iav'e Their Say!l (letter), Toronto [)aily Star, nletro ed.! ]4 ~1arch 1959, p. 28. JECPC;i\, p. 86. 130 C FI ALL ENe I N G "1' H E CON 5 P J RAN C Y 0 F S I LEN C E

JanlCS Egan; liThe Basic Bard!! (letter), Saturday l',ilght, 6 June 1959, p. 3. JECPGl\, p. 86.

J21t11e5 Egan, IJNathan Cohen's (~()Fller: Readers Have Their Sayl! (letter), Toronto [Joily Star, llletro ed., 18 July 1959, p. 25.

JECP(~f\, Jarnes E,gan, Letter; Bi:'17flzs'cifle E.x:prcss f [after 30 July 1959L pp. ?, 3. p.87

Janles Egan, URoger Caselnenf' (letter), Toronto [)ail.l/ Star, nletro ed., 25 August]959, p, 6. JECPC~i\, F). 87

laDles Egan, 1I[\v1ailbagf! (lctter), Mtl(IC{711 'Sf 29 August 1959, p. 4. JECPG/\, p. 87.

Jinl Egan, wroronto Fairy-C~o-Round,1!()I\jE Magazine, ()ctober 1959, pp. 10­ '13. l~eprinted as "So the Chief of Police Said tC) the l~oyal Conlmission ... : IToronto Fairy-(~o-Round/" Justice \;\/cckly, 7 Novenlber ]959, pp. 5, 15. JECP(~A, pp. 88-89.

Jinl Egan, "l-lOtllOSexua] 1'v1arriage --- Fact or Fancy?" ONE Magazinc, Decenlber 1959, pp. 6-9. JECPC;/\, pp. 90-91. l~eprinted in Justice Weekly, 23 Ja nuary 1960, pp. 5, ] 6.

1960

James Egan! II Apologize to Homos" (letter), Hush Free Press, 12 !\1arch 1960, p. 11.

James Egan, Letter, Flash, 2 i\pril 1960, p. 7.

James Egan, "Guard ]~ightsl! (letter), Toronto Daily Star! metro ed., 5 _,April 1960, p. 6. JECPGA, p. 92.

JallleS Egan, "Protests Censor Group Is 'Invasion of Civi.1 Rights!!! (letter), Toronto Daily Stnr, metro ed., 26 fvlay 1960, p. 6. JECPC~t\, p. 92.

.lint Egan, /iH.eaders on Writers" (letter), ()i\rE Magazine! June 1960, pp. 6-8.

Jzunes Egan! ffCanada's '\!icioLls! La\vs against r-Io111osexuality" (letter), Toronto [)niJ,l/ Star, 111ctro ed., 5 July 1960, p. 6. JECPC;./,\, p. 92.

Janles Egan, If Embarrassing Memory" (letter), Saturday l\J'ight l 20 August 1Y60, p. 2. JECPGi\, p. 92.

1961

Regular Reader (pseud.L "Letters on Subject of IJiscipIine, the Treattnent of APPENDIX B

Sexual Dc\'iates and Dressing \'oung Boys Like C;irls" Oetter), justice V\.7eekly, 22 July 1961, pp. 10,12. JECPC;A, p. 93.

Janles Egan, "F()r L~egal Refornl" (letter)! Toronto Ddily Star, night cd., 26 Jul),' 1961, p. 6. JECPGA, p. 94.

Jim Egan, ilBJueprint for Partnership/' (Jl\J E l'.tJagazillc, NC)\'"enlber 196L pp 20-23.

JaDles Egan, iJUnctuous Punditsll (letter), Toronto Daily Star; night cd.; 13 December 1961, p. 6. JECPCA! p. 94.

1962

f Janles Egan, fiMore Standards ' (letter), Saturday Night, 17 I\tlarch 1962! p. 3. JECPCA, p. 94.

James Egan/ /lOur Readers Speak ~- ConN (letter), Canadian COf1ul1enfator; June 1962, p. 15.

1963

Janles Egan, II Boy, ()h Boy~!! (letter), Saturday l\ilghf, Septelnber 1963, p, 8. JECPGA, p. 97.

Janles Egan, 'fiNo Crime in Pri\/ate Honl0sexual Acts betvveen Consenting Adults"! (letter), Tbronfo Daily Star, night ed., 7 Septenlber ]963! p. 6. JECPGA! p. 95.

Ja.mes Egan! Letters to the Editor, Tob Confidential, 28 Septenlber 1963! pp. 5, 8. JECPGA, p. 97.

James Egan! "Civil Libertie~ and the Honlosexual" (" Against the (~rain"

column), Toronto Daily Star! night ed., 23 October 19631 p. 7. JECPGA! p. 98.

Janles Egan, f'Hoil'losexuals" (letterL Glohe and A1ail, final ed., 23 Novenlber 1963; p. 6. JECPCA, p. 101.

1964

Jim Egan! IiTIPO Guest Editorial/' Tzro, no. 2 (]964)! pp. 13-19. JECPGA, pp. 102-105.

James Egan, "Police Concern for f"-loD1osexual Clubs 'Illogical''' (letter),

Toronto Daily Star! night ed,! 21 Januar).' 1964 1 p. 6. JECPC/\I p. 101 Appendix C: A Checklist of Publications Concerning or in Reply to Jim Egan, 1950-1964

As \J\rith Appendix B, this checklist is based upon Inaterials in the James Egan Papers (accessions 88-006 and 96-130) at the Canadian Lesbian and Cay Archives, Toronto. The collection of clippings there is inconlpletc, and I have undertaken additional research to locate fugitive publications concerning or in reply to Egan, and have attempted to examine each item personally. As I have been unable to locate extensive archival collections of most of the Toronto tabloids for this period, this checklist contains lnissing page nUlnbers for son1C items that are present in Egan's papers. Entries marked "JECPGA If are reproduced in facsilnile in jinz Egan. Canada's Pio!It>cr Gay Activist, COll1piled and introduced by Robert Champagne (Toronto: Canadian Lesbian and Gay l-listory Network, 1987).

1950

Percival Prosser, Letter, Flash, [May-J une 19507], p. ?

()scar, l--ietter, Flash, 23 May 1950, p. ? JECPGA, p. 10.

Julian Farnley, "Says HOll10S Are Part of Modern Depravity" (letter), Flash, 30 May 1950, p. 16. JECrGA, p. 10.

A.B.C~., Letter, Flash, 27 June] 950, p. ?

Julian Farnlev, "Inverts Can Control Selves Friend of Many Declares!" (letter), Flash, 27 June 1950, p. ? JECPGA, p. 12.

L.F.I., JJDefender of l-lomos Defended" (letter), True NeuJs Titnes (TNT), 13 NOVelYlber 1950/ p. ? JECPGA, p. 15.

1951

S.L., Letter, True Nezus Titnes (TNT), [19 February 19517], p. 7. ]ECPG.A, p. 15.

P.P., Letter, Flash, 16 Apri11951, p. 7. JECPGA, p. 18.

L.D. Demarest, Letter, Justice Weekly, 21 July 1951, p. 15. JECPGA, p. 21.

[Mother C;oose], II A Study in Lavender" (gossip (olum.n), True l\fezus Tiffles (TNT), 13 August 1951, p. 14. JECPGA, p. 25.

[Mother Goose], "A Study in Lavender" (gossip column), True Nezvs Tirnes (TNT), 26 Noven1ber 1951, p. 14.

132 APPENDIX C 133 ll [Mother Goose], 11 A Study in Lavender (gossip colurnnt True l'lcz{Js Tinzes (TNT), 31 December 1951, p. 13.

1952

[Mother Goose], IIFairy Tales Are Retold II (gossip column), The Rocket, 7 June 1952, p. 12.

1953

J--Iomo, IIThis Homo Wants No Sympathyll (letter), ['ront Page, [19537], p. ? j.M., 'I Aid for T\vo HOlnosexuals Asked by AlanYlcd Reader" (letter), Justzce Weekly, 14 Novenlber 1953, p. 3. JECPGr'\, p. 44.

N.B., "Readers Voice Opinions on I-Iomosexual Articles" (letter), Justice Weekly, 19 December 1953, p. 16. jECPGA, p. 51.

Pioneer, "Readers Voice ()pinions on Homosexual Artic.lesJ! (letter), Justice Weekly, 19 December 1953, pp. 13, 16. JECPGA, pp. 50-51.

M.J., III(.eaders Voice Opinions on f--I.omosexua! Articles" (letter), Justice Weekly, 26 December 1953, p. 13. JECPC~A, p. 52.

1954

Cardinal, JlReaders Voice Opinions on Homosexual Articles" (letter), Justice Weekly, 16 January 1954, p. 14. JECPGA, p. 56.

Homo, IIReaders Voice Opinions on Homosexual Articles" (letter), Justice Weekly, 16 January 1954, p. 13.

E.C.M., uReaclefs yroice Opinions on H.omosexual Articles" (letter), Justice Weekly, 16 january 1954, pp. 13, 14.

W.C.W., "H.eaders Voice Opinions on Homosexual Articles" (letter), Justice Weekly, 30 January 1954, pp. 13, 16. JECPGA, p. 58.

E.B.O., uReaders Voice Opinions on I:--IomosexuaJ Articles/! (letter), Justice Weekly, 27 February 1954, p. 13. JECPGA, p. 61

N.B., IIReaders Voice Opinions on Homosexual Articles/! (letter), Justice Weekly, 6 l'v1arch 1954, p. 13,

Grateful Parent, "Father of Young Homosexual Grateful for Advice Given by 'Justice' Writer/! (letter), Justice Weekly, 27 March 1954, pp. 13, 16. JECPGA, p. 46. 13~ CHALLENGING THE CONSPIRANCY OF SILENCE

One of Them, "'One of Them' Insists That Affections between Two of Same Sex as Satisfying and Re(11 as between T"\lo Heterosexuals" (letter), jllstice Weekly, 1 Ma\' 1954, p. 5.

Canadian Mother, "Homos Embarrass Her Says Canadian Mother i.n Answer to 'j.L.E.'" (letter), lustice Weekly, 10 July 1954, p. 9. JECPGA, p. 79.

A.e.B., "Letters to the Editor" (letter), Iustice Weekly, 14 August ]954, p. 15. jECPGA, P 81

Miriam, "Letters to the Editor" (letter), Justice Weekly, 14 August 1954, p. 11. JECPGA, P 80.

Bud S, "Letters to the Editor" (letter), lusticl' Wet'kly, 14 August 1954, pp. 11, 15. jEC1'CA, pp. 80-81.

1959

L.v. Scott, "Shakespeare's Virtue" (letter), Saturday Night, 4 july 1959, p. 2. JECPGA, p. 86

1960

Mr. N., "Matters Legal & Otherwise" (letter), ONE Magazinl', January 1960, p. 32

Miss V, "Homosexual Marriage" (letter), ONE Magazinc, March 1960, p. 30.

Mr. e. and Mr. 1'., "Homosexual Marriage" (letter), ONE Magt7zine, March 1960, p. 30.

Mr. H., "Homosexual Marriage" (letter), ONE /vlagazme, March 1960, p. 30.

Mr. K, "Homosexual Marriage" (letter), ONE Magazine, March 1960, p. 30.

M. Wi!:sOIl, "Reader to Reader" (letter), Flash, [after 2 April 1960j, p. ?

Michael, "Open Letter: The Honorable Da\'ie Fulton, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada" (letter), ONE Magazinc, December 1960, pp. 9-11

1962

Mr. C., "Comments 011 Contents" (letter), ONE Magazine, March 1962, p. 29.

Mr. W., "Comments on Contents" (letter), ONE Magozll1c, March 1962, p. 29. APPENDIX C J35

1963

SheHa Svvord, "Colossal Nerve" (letterL Toronto Daily Star, night ed., 10 September 1963, p. 6. JECPC;A, p. 95.

H.H., "Sex Plebiscite" (letter), Toronto [Jaily Star, night ed., 12 Septen1ber 1963, p. 6. JECPG,4, p. 95.

Ernest C. Fetzer, NPerverse!l (letter), Toronto [)oily Still', night ed., ] 3 JECPC~i\, Septclllber 1963 1 p. 6. p. 95. l\r1rs. \;V. VValsh, i/lf-ion1osexuality f\berration: Don!t Condone It'" (lettert

]bronto Daily Stor, flight ed.! 13 Septernber 1963 1 p. 6, JECPGA! p. 95.

C.M. DieT, 1/1 All of Us Ha\re a Certain Degree of Homosexuality,!I! (letter), Toronto Daily Stor; night ed., 17 Septcrnber 1963, p. 6. JEC:PC;A, p. 96.

Sheila Sv\/ord, "MisusE' of Sex" (letter)! Toronto Daily Star, night cd., 17 September 1963; p. 6. JECPC;F\; p. 96.

Thomas VVi11jan15; IJLicense to Lust" (letter)! Toronto [)ail.t/ Stnt l night ed.; 17 Septernber 1963, p. 6. JEC.PC;j\j p. 96.

S. Adams, "()ut of Context" (letter); Toronlo [)aily Star! all star ed., 26 ()ctober 1963, p. 6. JECPC;A! p. 99.

Christa Hant '''Fear of Sex Brands l-lc)nlosexuals as Menace'" (letter), Toronto Daily Star, all star ed.; 26 October 1963, p. 6. JECPGf\! p. 9<;1.

A I\.eader! 1/ Abo\'e the Lavv,I' (letter)j Tc)ronto l.Jaily Star! all star cd., 26 ()ctober 1963, p. 6. JECPGA! p. 99

Reader, "Run by I{ats" (letter)j Toronto Daily Star, all star ed., 26 October 1963, p. 6. JECPGA! p. 99.

John Smith, "Mental Disease" (letter)! Toronto Daily Star l all star ed., 26

()ctober 1963 1 p. 6, JECPC;_A, p. 99.

Canadiana! "Abomination" (letter), Tbroilio [Joily Star; night ed' l 30 October 1963! p. 6. JECPGA, p. 99.

John Tasco! "Ignorance" (letter), Toronto Daily Star, night ed.! 31 ()ctober 1963, p. 6. JEC=PGA, p. 99.

Quo \/adis! "Dare an M.P. Propose H.. eiaxing La\vs against Hon1osexuals?/f (letter); Tororzto Daily Star, night ed.! 4 NO\ien1ber 1963, p. 6. JECPC;/\I p. 100. 136 C HAL LE _N GIN G T}-i E CON 5 P I R i\ N C Y 0 F 5 1 LEN CE

Joe Tensee; IIJoe Tensee's Confidential [liar)."1 (colU111n), Tab C(n~fidcntial, 16 NO\'enlber 1963, p. 12. JECPGA, p. lOll

1964

f T.\"/,; "If\ Lot of [)irt/f Oetter), Toronto Daily Starr night ed., 27 January 19641 p. 6, JECPC;lA. j p. 101 Appendix D: The Correspondence of Jim Egan, 1950-1964

This calendar of correspondence 1:' ba:,ed on the content5 of the jame5 Egan Papers, accessions 88··006 and 96-130, at the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives, Toronto. Although Egan kept carbon copies of some of his outgoing correspondence, numerous letters sent by him do not survive in the Egan papers Egan was much more careful about keeping incoming correspondence, much of which ha:; sLU\·ived. 1 have tried to include approximate dates for undated letters, based on any information found in the return or related correspondence

Correspondence Sent by Jim Egan

1950

[undated, 26 February.] Greenberg Publishers, New York. ms, 2 pp.

6 t\llay. The Editor, Globe and MllIl. Toronto is, ] p, with 111S annotations.

[undated, june?] The Editor, Sir', Volitant Publishing Corporation, New York. ts, 1 p.

[undated, July7] The Editor, Esqlllre Magazine, Chicago. ts, 2 pp.

8 August. William Allison, Articles Editor, Redbvok MllgazlIle, New York. ts, ] p.

23 August. Gordon Carroll. Editor, Comnd Magazine, New York. ts, ] p.

2] September. The Editor, Flash Weekly, Toronto. ts, 2 pp., with ms annotations.

11 October. The Editor, FlclSh Weekly, Toronto. ts, 1 p., with ms annotations.

24 November. Dr. L.F. Freed, johannesburg. ts, 1 p.

1951

25 March. The Editor, Time lvlagazlI1e, New York. ts, 1 P

15 july. The Editor. Justice Weeklll, Toronto. ts, 2 pp., with additional 5 pp. of ts drafts attached

1952

7 August. james Balmerman, C.B.C. Studios, Toronto. ts, '[ p. [Two versions, drafts?]

137 13K C HAL LEN C 1 :'-J C THE CO N 5 P r RAN C Y 0 F 51 LEN CE

1953

[undated, late March.] An article, "The Homosexual Problem Can Be Solved," sent to juseph Corona., Editor, Adnlll - A Man's Mngo::IIJe, New York ts. 13 pp. [The but not the covering letter, survives in papers; see abo Corona of 8 April 1953.]

25 June. Noah Sarlat, New York. ts, 1 p., returned to Egan with a brief. undated annotation by Sarlat.

4 November Dr. Frank (' Linacre Pres~, inc., VVashington, D.C ts, 6 pp. Iincorn[Jlete

16 No\'t~mber. The Editor, EllCllillS {(>Ieglalll, Toronto. b, 1 p.

[undated, late November.] I'\'lr. pv1., c/o jus!w' Weekly, Toronto. ts, 3 pp.

Lll «.WLCU, UC'cemlJer:'! ONE, Incorporated, Los Angeles. ts, I p.

1954

29 Jal1Llilry. Ro) AId, ASSOCIate Ed itor, True Con!e::-s!olls, New York. ts, 3 pp.. with attached :3 pp. revbed draft.

[undated, 12 March.] Salter Jiayden, Q.c., Don Brown, Q.C, Members of the Parliamentary Legislative Committee [Joint Committee of the Senate and the House of Commons Dealing with Capital and Corporal Punishment and Lotterie:o],Hou:oe of Common:o, Ottawa. to., 3 pp., with two separate 3 pp. ts d rafts attached

20 April. The Editor, IlJrolllo Daily Star ts, '1 p.

1955

15 April. Parent's Action league, Toronto. ts, 1 p.

1959

21 Mav. The Editor, Toron!o 5!ar ts, 1 p., with annotations.

8 june. Rt. Rev. A..I. MacQueen, TOIOll!O Oniltt Stnr. ts, 2 pp.

12 June. Hon, Edmund Davie Fulton, MUllster of Justice, Department of justice, Ottawa, ts, 5 pp.

27 June, Rl. Rev. IVlacQueen. London, Ont. ts, 3 pp., with 8 pp. ts draft copies attached. i\PPENDIX D 13q

29 June. ""rhe Editor, San FrClJlcisco ChronIcle. ts, 1 p.

3 July. l\.t. Rev. A..J. kv'1acQueen j LC)lldon, C)nt. ts, '1 p.

6 Jul}", The Editor, Saturday i\JIght, Toronto. ts, 1 p.

22 July. The Ed.itoL Saturday l\Jight, Toronto. ts! 1 P

15 August j.K. [Jack KentJ Cooke, Publisher! Safurday I\Jight! 'Toronto. ts, '1 p.

17 August. The Editor, Toronto L)aily Star. tSt 1 p.

1960

f S February. The Editor, Iv'1aclean 2, Toronto. ts, 1 p.

26 February. The Edltorj Flush F'rce Press! T<'H'ont(L tS f 1 p.

26 February. Albert J, de IJion, Chairman; Ne\,v York ,Area ('ounci!, The Mattachine Society', inc., Nevv York. ts, 2 pp.

1

17 March. Leslie F. l1annol1J Maclc(1J1 S J Toronto. ts, 1 P

f 1R March. IIMailbag ' Editor, Maclean's, Toronto. ts, 1 P

26 Jvlarch. Leslie F. I-Jannoll, A1aclean '::;, Toronto. ts, 1 p.

11 April. Pierre Berton, Toronto Daily Star. tS j 1 p.

11 April. Robert Fulford, 'Toronto [laity Star. ts, 1 p.

12 ApriL Nathan Cohen, Toronto [Joily Stnr ts, 1 p.

12 June. II Mailbag,'l A/Iac/ean 's, Toronto. ts, 1 p.

28 June. Toronto Daily Star, tS j 1 p.

5 July. Pierre Berton, Toron to Dai(LI Star. ts, 1 p.

5 July. Bureau of Accuracy; Tc)rol1fo Dail~/ Star. ts, 1 p.

5 July. "Mailbag," A1at'lcan 's, Toronto, ts, 1 p,

21 July. The Editor, Saturday ]\iight; TC)fonto. ts, 1 p.

[undated, late Septen1ber.J The Editor, Globe and Mail, Toronto. tS j 2 pp. 140 CHALLENGING TI-IE CONSPIRANCY OF SlLENCE

25 (jctober. F.vV. I\.obertsoD, Globe and l\llail, Toronto. ts, 2 pp.

28 [)ecember. frank H.asky', Liberty, Toronto. ts, 1 p.

1961

9 Februar)/. 1)1'. M.D. lOllchtie! Fore.nsic Clinicl Toronto. ts y 2 pp.

22 April. Pierre BertonI Toronto Daily Star. tS I ] p.

12 M.ay. Letters, l\lcz-uszueek, Nevv York. ts, 1 p.

1962

1 February. Letters, L'Jez.usTueek, New York. ts, 1 p.

16 February. Department of Citizenship and luunigration, Ottawa. tSI 1 p.

26 February. The Editor, Saturday J\Jight! Toronto. ts, 1 p.

30 March. Dwight W. Norris! 1\./c7DsLveek! Nevv York. ts, 1 p.

28 Dece.lnber. Leonard Bertin, Toronto Daily Star. ts, 1 p.

1963

[undated, early March.] Pierre Berton, Contributing Editor, Maclean's, Toronto. ts, 3 pp. draft, \-'lith heavy annotations.

20 May. Ontario tIuman Rights Commission, Toronto. ts, 1 p.

23 May. E.A. Schofield, Civil Service Comlnission, Ottawa. ts, 1 p.

[undated, late May.] The Editor, l'Jczus-Obserucr, Toronto. ts, 1 p., with annotations. lundated, May-Septelnber.] The Editor, Saturday Night, Toronto. ts, 1 p.

[undated, 18-23 ()ctober.] Nathan Cohen, Toronto Daily Star. ts, 2 pp., vvith attached revised 4 pp. ts version of IICivil Liberties and the Homosexual."

14 November. The Editor, Globe and i\1ail l Toronto. ts! 1 p., vvith annotations, with 4 pp. of ts draft notes attached.

[undated, after 19 December.] The Editor, Globe and Mail, Toronto. ts, 2 pp. APPENDIX D 14]

1964

[undated, mid-January.] The Editor, Toronto L)aily Star. ts, 1 p,

Correspondence Received by Jim Egan

1950

2 March. Brandt Aylnar, Vice President, Greenberg Publishers, Nevv York. ts, 1 p.

20 March. Nial Kent, [s.1.]. ts, 2 pp.

18 July. Carl VV. Loveday, Assistant to the Publisher, \folitant Publishing Corporation, Ne\\r York. ts, 1 p.

19 July. Tom Morgan, Editor, "Sound and Fury/' Esquire, Nevv York. ts, 1 p.

4 August. (Mrs.) Judith H. Drucker, Secretary to the Editor, Parents' 1v1agazlne, New York. ts, 1 p.

10 r\ugUSt. Hugh MacNair Kahler, Associate Editor, Ladies' Horne Journal, Philadelphia. ts, 1 p.

21 August. [Unsigned], Associate Editor, Coronet lvlagazine, New York. ts form letter, 1 p.

21 August. Douglas E. Lurton, Your Life, The Kings\vay Press, Inc., Ne\v York. ts, 1 p.

[undated, September?] The Editors, Redbook Magazine, Nevv York. ts form letter, 1 p.

6 September. Hermann Mannheim, Editor, British Journal c~r Delinquency, London. ts, 1 p.

8 September. Helene Richards, Editorial Staff, Coronet lvlagazinc, Ne\v York. ts,l p.

30 September. Signature illegible: J. O'B--, Secretary, Embassy of Ireland, Otta\\ra. ts, 1 p.

2 October. C.M. Sakellaropoulo, Ambassador of Greece, Royal Greek EmbassYI Ottawa. ts, 1 p.

l~oyal 2 October. Signature illegible: Daniel F---1 Norwegian Legation, Ottavva. ts, 1 p. 142 C l{ALL ENG ING "r H E CON S P I RAN C Y 0 F 5 I LEN CE

2 ()ctober. Signature iHegible: E D~·-----, Consular ()fficer, Turkish Embassy, Otta\va. ts, 1 p,

J ()ctober, FJv1. .Forde; j-'figh C~ornrnissloner! Australian High Conllnissioner's C)ffice, ()tta\·\'a. ts, 1 p.

3 ()ctober. I'v1ariano de '{turraldc, CortsuJ (~eneral for Spain, I\'1ontreal. ts; 1 p.

3 ()ctober. H. Zoelly, Secretary" of Legation! Legation of Svvltzerland in C~anada, ()ttavva. tS f 1 p. \\lith ] p. attacl"led.

4 (1ctober Baron P de C~aiffier d'Hestroy'! (~ounsellor of the Belgian Elnbassy, ()ttavva. ts! 1 p. \vith 1 p. attached

4 October. N.1~. J)erryr, ()fficial Secretary, Office of the l-ligh Con1nlissioner for Ne'AT Zealand, (1tta\Na. ts, 1 p.

C~ordon 5 ()ctober. A. Huson, [)irectort lJnited Kingdonl Infornlation ()ffice, Otta\,va. ts, 1 p.

10 lJctober. P.K. Banerjee, Second Secretary, ()ffice of the High Comm.issioner for India, (hta\va. ts! 1 p.

10 ()ctc)ber. Sigge de Lilliehook, Second Secretary, Legation of S'Areden, Ottavva. ts, 1 p. vvith 1 p. attached.

11 C)ctober. l--L Kessler, Attache, Polish Legation, Ottavva. ts! 1 p.

11 October. I\1ichel de Warenghien, Service d'lnforn1ation Francais, Ottawa. ts! 1 p.

12 October. [.j. (--;arland, l\1inister of C=anada to NOf\Va;/, Canadian Legation, Oslo. ts, 1 p.

Hicrh 13 October. f,M. Forde, l-1:igh COlnmissioner, Austrahan b (~omlnissioner's ()fflce t ()ttavva. ts, 1 p.

16 October ()lavi Lahonen, Secretar\' of Legation, Legation of Finland, ()ttavva. ts, 1 p.

16 (jctober /\..\1'/. Stevvard, Inforn13tlon ()fficer, Office of the l-1:igh C0111111isSloner, 'Union of South f\fricd, Othnva. ts; 1 p.

16 ()ctober. ,1\..D. 'las Nunes, Secretary of Enlbassy, Netherlands Elnbassy, ()tta\-va. ts, 1 p.

19 (lctober Signature illegible: vVillianl [)uff ?, Nlinistry' of Home Affairs! APPENDIX D

StOrInont Setfast Northern Ireland ts; J p. \,vith 'I p, attached

2.7 October. fIc) Leo Engle.] \Villianl L. Fendley/; Batavia y N,,\", tS r 1 p

'Vitol~, 27 October, [To Leo Engle.l Z. [ZigurdsJ \VinnJpeg. rns f 3 pp-

28 (1ctober Luis Fernandez IVlacC;regor, C~OljllselJor of the E:nlbassv of J\1exlco, ()ttcYV\/3, ts" 1 p. lundated: j\.,Jovenlber?] iTo Leo Engle.J rvlarvin J Buddennan, Fairlnont, M.inn. rns, 2 pp.

[Ul1clatec1, NO\"cn1ber?] ITo Leo Engle.] t-L Koala; Ingersolt ()nt. ts" 2 pp, lundated: November?] [To Leo Engle.J Carl Peer; Beloit, Wis. 1115, 1 p.

6 November. Signature illegible: [)on Bell ?r 'Toronto. nlS; 2 _pp,

8 Nc)\'ember Francesca L vVelch 1 Edih)[; Sir!, Volitant Publishing (~orporation! Nevv York. ts; 1 p.

14 Nc)\.... en1ber. Belgian En1bassy, ()ttavv'(1 ts; 1 p. \vith -1 p. attached.

J.(:.(~. 17 NC)\·'enlber. Brovvll f for the Ministec Canadian Legation" Berne, S\A/itzerland. ts, 1 p. vvith 5 pp, attached.

17 No\'ember. [To Leo Engle.] C:harles ttYV. Maynard, /\rrovv Lakes; Needles/ B.C. ts, 1 p.

22 Noven1ber. ITo L,eo Engle.l Vannoy Lane Stokes! Bay St. Louis/ Miss, ts/ 1 p.

22 Noven1ber. A.W Stevv'ard/ lnformabon ()fficer, Office of the High Commissioner: Linion of South i\Jrica, l>ttawa. ts! 1 P

24 No\rember, Maxwell [Jean! Associated Editor, Exposition Press/ Ne\\r York, ts; 1 p.

28 NO\'enlber. N, R. Perry, ()fficial Secretary" Office of the High Con11nissioner for Ne\v Zealand; ()ttavva. ts, 1 p.

1 Decernber. C>lavi Lahonen: Secretary' of Legation, Legation of Finland/ Ottavva. ts, 2 pp. \vith 1 p, attached

12 Decenlber. Signature illegible: A.Y,! Se..XOh15rt/lvlagnzlllc, Nc\'v York. ts, 1 p,

28 Oecen1ber. Dr L,ouis Frankl1n Freed/ Johannt,~)sburg. ts, 2 pp. 144 CJiALLEJ\TGTNG THE CONSPIRANCY OF SILENCE

1951

10 Jarluary. [lJnsignedJ, Editorial Depart111ent Sexology Ivlagazinc! Nevv York. ts! 1 p.

l1enr~./ 16 January, C;erber, vVashington, D.C'. tS f '1 p.; \vith photograph attached

24 January~ Ko East, ()ffice of the f-iigh Cornlnissioner for the linited KingdoITI! ()ttavva. ts, 1 p, V\rith 3 pp. attached

27 January, f'ienry [C~erberL Washington, I).C. ts; 2 pp

29 January. Dr. Atljaleu! For the rvlinister; 'The Director of Social r1ygiene, Social ]-iygiene Managenlent, IYfinistry of Public Health and of Population,

Parisr France, ts, 2 pp. with 2 pp. translation attached.

1 February. (I'v1iss) Betty Bunn, Sir.'! Vobtant Publishing Corporation, N-evv York. ts: 1 p.

5 February. Dr. Louis Franklin .Frc'ed, Johannesburg. fiSt 1 P

7 February, l-Ienry lGerberJ, Washington! D.C. ts, 4 pp.

25 February. Henry [C;erber], vVashington, D.C. ts, 2 pp.

26 February. Dr. 1).0. Cauldwell, Sexology Magazine r Nevv York. ts, 2 pp.

5 March. Henry [(~erberJ, Washington! D.C~. ts, 4 pp.

12 f\1arch. Dr. D.O. Cauldwel1, Vida; Ala. ts, 4 pp,

15 March. vVilliam C, Lengel, Editor-in-Chief, Gold tv1edal Books! Favvcett Publications! Inc.! Nevv York. form letter ts, 1 p.

28 March. Henry IC;erberL vVashingtoll, D.C. ts! 4 pp.

5 April. Dr. 0.0, CauldV\'ell, Vida! 1\la. ts, 1 p.

10 April. l{enry lGerber], vVashington; D.C. ts: 2 pp.

13 A.pril. Henry Gerber, Washington" D.C. ts, 1 p,

16 i\priL }-{enry Gerber! \Vashington1 D,C. ts, 2 pp.

17 r\pril. Barbara Grigg! for the Editors, 'TitHt' i\1aga:inc, Ne\v York. ts! 1 p. APPENDIX D 145

23 A,priL [)r. D.O. Cauld\veU, V'ida, Ala. ts, 2 pp.

23 i\.pril. l-ienry IC:erberL Washington, I).C. ts, 1 p.

25 }\pril. 0.5. for August Lenniger, j\.ugust Lenniger Literary Agency, New York. ts, 1 P

7 J\:lay, Nicolas f\. Anissas t i\mbassador of Greece, Roval Greek Enlbassy, ()tta\va. ts, 1 p.

9 I'vlay. }--fenry [C;erber], Passau, Bavaria. ts, 2 pp.

25 C1ctober IYliss K. Rukmini, Second Secretary', ()ffjcc of the thgh Comrnissioner for India, Otta\va. ts, 1 p. \-vith 1 p. attached,

1952

~'Vriterrs 25 January. Ruth Jonest Editor, liThe Writer's M.arket," Digest, Cincinnati. ts/ 1 p.

5 February. IJorothy Babineau, for lnform,ation C1fficer, Union of South !\.fricd C~overnment lnfornlation ()ffice, Ottavva. ts, ] p.

28 february. Jerry Tax, U.S. Crinlc MagazIne, Nevv' York. ts, 1 p,

J 3D ~April. Jeremiah Tax, LI.S. Crillic Magazllu , Nev/ York. ts, 1 p.

29 August. Burt Carver, r\ssociate Editor, Exposition Press, Inc., Nevv York. ts, 1 p.

9 Septernber. Burt Carver, ~Associate Editor, Exposition Press, Inc., Nevv York. tS,l p.

7 ()ctober. l\nnette Van Hovvc, Associate Editorl Brit:fivlagazinc, Nevv York. ts, 1 p.

1953

26 February. Alfred F. Is1an, Jr., M(}naging Editor, Saga The Magazine c~f True Adl,cnturc, NC\,\l York. ts, 1 p.

11 March. Max\,vell Hamilton, Blue Boole ivlasazulci Ne\\' York, ts, 1 p.

23 March, Joseph Corona, Editor, Adattl A A1an's N1agazine, Favvcett Publicat1C)11S, Inc., Nevv' York. ts, 1 p.

8 April Joseph Corona! Editor, lldarn

Publications) Inc., Nevv York. tS I 1 p. 146 CHALLENGING THE CONSPIRANCY OF SILENCE

28 ApriL La\NrenCe Sanders, Editor, 1\1al1 '5 Iv1aga:inc, Ne\v York. tS j 1 p.

29 June. Theodore 1rvv'1n/ Editor, Real Magazine/ Nevv York. tS j 1 p.

20 August. Ken Burns, Chairmanj The Mattachine Society, Los Angeles. tS j 1 p,

7 Septelnber. Theod,ore Irwin, Editor, Real Magazine, Nevv' York. nlS, 1 p.

23 I)ecernber. Philip H. [)aniels, Justice vVeekly, 'Toronto. ts, :I p.

1954

7 January. Willi,1ll1 Lambert [pseudo of W. l)orr Legg], Business Manager,

ONE, Incorporated j Los Angeles. ts, 1 p.

15 March. Don F 81'0\\/11, M.P., l--fouse of COD1.lYlOnS, ()ttavva. tS j 1 p.

19 March. A. Sn1a 11 , Clerk of the Joint Conlmittee on Capital and Corporal Punishment and Lotteries, rlouse of COlTIJTlonS, Ottavva. ts, "1 p.

19 ivlarch. Keith Voget Private Secretary, Minister of Justice and Attorney C;eneral of Canada, Ottavva. ts, 1 p.

20 October. R. WC)(Kiy Gregory, Editorial Secretary, ONE, incorporated, Los Angeles. ts, 1 p.

15 November. R. Woody Gregory, Editorial Secretary, ONE, Incorporated, Los Angeles. ts, 1 p.

23 November. Vyvyan Holland, London. ms, 1 p.

1958

1 February. R.L. Chiocchetti, Westrect Ont. ts, 1 p.

28 June. Albert J. de Dian, \!ice-Chairnl.an, Ne\v York Area Council, The Mattachine Society, Inc., Nevv York. form letter ts, 1 p.

1 (Jctober. Calvin Hoffman, Belle _Harbor, N.Y. ts, 1 p.

1959

[undated, early' 195971 Shelton Devvey~ Glendale, Ca. ts, 1 p., "vith 2 ts. pp. attached.

3 February. Robert D. \fan 110rn, Colun1bus, Ohio. ts, 1 p. APPENDIX D

16 February'. C.L. Bennett, IJirector of Port AdTninistration, Custolns and Excise; Department of Natjonall\evenue! ()tta\va. ts, 1 p,

21 ?v'larch. Shelton Devvey, C;lendale, C~a, ts, ] p.

4 May. Jim Kepner, Los Angeles. ts, 1 p.

29 May, D.r'I.\!V. Henry, Acting Director, Criminal Lavv Secbon, Departlnent of Justice, Ottawa. ts, 1 p.

1 June. Janles 1-1. Felrney, Bridgeton; N,J. Ins,S pp.

2] June. Angus J. MacQueen, Moderator! The (~eneraJ Council, The United Church of Canada, London, C)nt. illS, 3 pp.

1 July. A.J. MacQueen, Moderator! ()ffice of the (-;eneral Council, The United Church of Canada, Toronto. fiS, 2 pp.

23 July. W.R. Jacket, Deputy Minister of Justice, I)eparlnlcnt of Justice, Ottavva. ts, 1 p.

8 August. Robert Fulford, Toronto Daily Star. ts, 2 pp.

18 August. Arnold Edinborough, Editor, Saturday Night, Toronto. ts, 1 p.

29 August. Shelton Devvey/ Glendale, Ca. ts, 1 p.

10 Novelnber. A.J. MacQueen, First-St. Andrevv's United Church of Canada, London, ant. illS, 1 p.

7 [)ecember. Jim [Kepner], ONE, Incorporate~l, Los Angeles. ts, 1 p.

9 Decernber. Sarah vVinter, Tirne !v1agnzinc, J\Jevv York. ts, '1 p.

29 Decelnber. J. V. Kingsbury! Executive Editor, Toronto Star Limited. ts, 1 p.

1960

[undated, January.] Daniel Cappiello, Brookline, Mass. ms/ 2 pp.

3 January. fVlrs. Venetia Ne\vall, Joint-Secretary, The Homosexual Len,v H.eform Society, London. ts/ 1 p.

21 January. Nathan Cohen, Entertainment Editor, Toronto Star Limited. ts, 1 p.

:1 February. Dan Cappiello, Brookline, Mass. D1S, 2 pp.

5 February.'. l\Jathan Cohen, Toronto Star Limited. ts, 1 p. 148 CI-fALLENGING 'II-IE CONSPIRANCY OF SILENCE

r 15 February. Rev. j\.. Hallidie Stnith, Secretary, The J-Iomosexual Layv Reform Society; London. ts, 1 p., \''lith annotations.

16 february. Leslie F Hannon, IVlanaging Editor, lv1aclean 'Sf Toronto. ts, 1 p.

16 February. [)onald S. Lucas, Secretary-General, The Daily Comnlittee, The Mattachine Society) Inc., San Francisco. forill letter ts, 1 p. With attachnlent dated 12 February 1960 fron1 the San Francisco Area Council, The Mattachine Society (oGpen Letter to I\r1elnbers of the M.attachine Society"). form letter and reports, ts, 7 pp.

[undated, late February.] Illegible signature: }-l(nvard ---I [San francisco]. ts note; 1 p., \vith attachnlcnts.

8 March. Jim [Kepner}, ONE, Incorporated, Los Angeles. ts, 1 p.

10 March. i\lbert J. de [)ion, Chairman, Neyv York Area Council, The tvlattachine Society, Inc., New York. ts, 1 p.

10 March. iv1argaret E. Fleming, Statistician, Analysis Section, Census Oi\'i5ion, D0111inion Bureau of Statistics, ()ttawa. ts, ] p., yvith tables attached.

24 March. Sally Hurst; Secretary to Leslie F. Han.non, Maclean's, Toronto. ts, 1 p.

24 March. Reg. M. Suthern, Wolfville,N.S. Ins; 1 p.

24 March. Joan Weatherseed, for the Editors, Maclean's) Toronto. ts, 1 p.

27 March. Bill Hatter, Niagara Falls, Ont. fiS, 1 p.

30 March. Don H.oberts; Nevv York. ts, 2 pp.

31 March. \'V.1\. (Bill) Bro'vvn, Sudbury) Ont. n15, 1 p.

4 April. Donald S. Lucas, Secretary-General, The Daily Committee, The rv1attachine Society, Inc., San Francisco. fornl letter ts, 1 p. With attachment ff dated 13 March 1960 (/lOpen Letter to All Mattachine Members ) from Albert J. de Dion, Chairman, Nevv York Area Council, The Mattachine Society, Inc., Nevv York. forn1 letter ts, 2 pp.

5 April. j\lbert J. de DiaD, Chairnlan, Neyv York Area Council, The iv1attachine Society, Inc., Ne\v York. ts, 1 p. With attachnlent dated 13 March 1960 C'Open Letter to All Mattachine J'vlembers'/) from Albert }. de Dian, Chairnlan, Ne\v York Area Council, The Iv1attachine Society, Inc., Nevv York. form letter ts, 2 pp. APPENDIX D

7 April. Jalnes N. Johnson, C;lencoe, Ont. Ins, 2 pp.

14 April. Robert Fulford, Toronto Star Limited. ts, 1 p.

16 May. Signature illegible: pp \'Valter van Woensel, Secretary, InternationaJ Committee for Sexual Equality (l.C.S.E.), Alnsterda111. ts, 1 p.

24 May. Joyce Davidson, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Toronto. ts, 1 p.

25 May. A. W. Nicot Executive Officer, Office of the Attorney General, Ontario, Toronto. ts, 1 p.

June. Ronald Payne, Circulation Manager, Ncz1. 1 StatesJrIL7fl, London. £orn1 letter ts, 1 p.

5 July. T.J .G. Willianlsj Toronto. ts, 1 p.

6 July. J.V. Kingsbury, Executive Editor, Toronto Star Linl.ited. ts, 1 p.

10 July. T.J.G. Williamsj Toronto. ts, 3 pp.

12 July. Pierre Berton, Associate Editor, Toronto Star Limited. ts, 1. p.

25 July. Picrre Berton, Associate Editor, Toronto Star Limited. ls, '1 p.

18 October. EW. Robertson, Associate Editor, Globe and MaiL Toronto. ts, 1 p.

11 November. Sidney Katz, Associate Editor, Maclean's, Toronto. t5, 1 p.

30 November. Nathan Cohen, Toronto Star Limited. ts, 1 p.

23 December. Venetia Nevvall, The Homosexual JZeforn1 Society, London. Receipt and separate compliments slip.

1961

[undated, 196171 Antony Grey, Secretary, Albany Trust, London. ts, 1 p., with attached receipt.

13 February [19617] Venetia Ne\vall, The H01110sexual Reform Society, London. ms, 1 p.

20 April. [)onald S. Lucas, Secretary-(;eneral, The I\1attachine Society, Inc., San Francisco. ts, 1 p.

31 May. Dvvight W. Norris, for the Editors, j\/cluslveek, Ne\v York. ts, 1 p. 150 CHALLENG1NG TI-IE CONSPIRANCY OF SILENCE l2 Jul)'. Nirs. Venetia Nc\valt T]"ush.:)e and Secretary', The A.Jbany Trust, London. ts/ ] p

18 !\ugust. I~on Haggart, Toronto Star LilnHed. ts, 1 p. lundated, late 196171 Venetia Nevv'alL 'rhe HOD1osexuaJ Lavv Re-torn1Society, London. ms, 2 pp.

1962

1j January'. Pdtrick VVatson, Producer, 'flnquiry/! Canadian Broadcasting

C,orporatiol1" Toronto. tS j 1 p.

18 ]anuar)/. Patrick Watson, Producer, IIlnquiry/' Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Toronto. ts, 1 p.

10 February. Albert J. de [)ioll, Chairman, The J\1attachine Society.', Inc., of Ne\\' York. ts, 1 p.

26 February'. E..P. Beasley, Chie( l\dn1issions Division, Immigration Branch, Depart111ent of Citizenship and In1n1igration, ()ttavva. ts, 1 p.

12 fV1afch. Angus]. rvlacQueen, J:::irst-St. Andrevv!s United Church of Canada, London, ant. n1S, 1 p.

2] March. Dvvight W. Norris, for the Editors, NeUJSI-Ucek, Nevv York. ts, 1 p. [The original of this letter does not survive in Egan's papers, but there is a copy that was re-typed by Egan.]

[undated, April?] F. v. Mechelin, President, International Com,mjttee for Sexual Equalit)/ (Le.S.E.), Amsterdanl, ts forn1 letter, 2 pp. [2 copies.]

1963

24 January'. J. Foomel International Conl1nittee for Sexual Equality (Le.S.E.), Amsterdanl, ts, 1 p.

11 February. Nonnan Jones, Scarborough, ant. ts, 3 pp.

15 March. Pierre Berton, Contributing Editor, Maclean!s, TOfonto. ts, 1 p.

28 WraITh. Bill [vV. DOff Legg?], ONE, Incorporated, Los Angeles. ts note, 1 p.

6 /\pril. Bill [W. Dorr Legg?L ONE, Incorporated, Los l\ngeles. ts note, 1 p. \,\;'ith three pp. ts attached. APPENDIX D 151

17 May. E.A. Schofield, Assistant Secretary, Ci\ril Ser\'ice COll1nlissioll, Ottavva. ts, 1 p.

29 May. Eric A. Schofield., ALssistant Secretary; Civil Ser\rice Conlnl1ss1on; Ottawa. ts, 2 pp.

30 May. Daniel C:. Hill, Director, O'ntario l--Iun1an r~ights COill111iss 1011, Toronto. ts, 1 p.

7 June. Torn Waugh, [TorontoJ. Ins, 1 p.

12 August. Joan fraser, Chairnlan; ECl-jO ConventIon COlll111ittee, The Mattachine Society', Inc, of Ne\,v York. fornl letter ts, 1 p.

22 August. Albert ]. de Dion, ECHO Delegate [and Chainnan, The Mattachine Societ.y! Inc., of Nevv York]. form letter ts, 1 p.

24 Septelnber. Pierre Berton, liThe Pierre Berton Hour," Toronto. ts, 1 p.

25 Septenlber. Joan Wharton, for the Editors, j\iez.usTueek, Ne\v York. ts, 1 p.

18 October. Nathan Cohen, Editor, Entertainm,ent and Special Features! Toronto Star Litnited. ts, 2 pp.

27 December. Pierre Berton, liThe Pierre Berton Shovv," Toronto. ts, ] p.

1964

13 February. Tom Allen, Associate Editorial Page Editor, Toronto Star Limited. ts, 1 p.

14 February. Sid Katz, Maclean's, Toronto. ts, 1 p.

22 April. Don Obe, Page Seven Editor, Toronto Telegranl. ts/ ] p.

26 May. John Aitken, Page Seven Editor, Tbronto Telegranl. ts, 1 p.

Restricted Correspondence

There is one folder of restricted correspondence in the Egan papers. It contains mostly personal letters from individuals. Egan conducted a steady and voluminous correspondence vvith some of these individuals, but no copies of his letters to them survive in his papers. Please note that the letters in this folder may not be exanlined or quoted vvithout the permission of Mr. Egan. The letters include: 152 CHALLENGING THE CON 5 PIRAN C Y OF S J LEN CE

Father Bernard, Saint George Chapel and i'vtonastery, The Church of D1\rine Lc)\'e ~ Orthodox! L,3S Vegas, Nev. ts, ] P'I dated 4 March 1959.

Marv Buddern1an, Fairmont Minn., and Chicago. Nine letters frOlTI

Fairnlont, Minn., six are tS I three are ms! total 18 pp. All are undated except for three, \vhich are dated January-February 1951. Se\'en n15. letters fronl Chicago, total 24 pp. All are undated except for one! vvh.ich is dated 3 June 1951. In addition! there are t\<\ro undated black and \vhite photographs of Budden.11an.

Roland C~hjocchettil SudburYI ()nt. r:our ts letters! 1 p. each, dated 18 February, 26 February, 25 May! and -1 July' 1959

Bill I-iBtter, Niagara Fallsl (Jnt. Three H1S letters! 3 pp.J 2 PP'f and 2 pp., dated 31 f\1arch, 6 April; and 18 April 1960.

Bob Jennings, Philadelphia. ts, 2 pp., dated 10 January' 1960

Charles H.vV. fvtaynard, Needles, B.C.! and Edge\vood! B.C. Ten letters (eight I11S, tvv'o ts), total 19 pp. All are dated betvveen 18 November 1950 and 16 May 195]. The first letter is addressed to i\drian B. Lopez, Editor of Siy,l, and \-vas passed on to OLeo Engle. 1f In addition, there is one undated photograph of Maynard

Allan Miller. Toronto. Tvvo ts letters, 2 pp. and 5 pp., undated lea. "19601.

Carl Peer/ Beloit, Wis. ms, 1 p., undated (ca. 19511.

I)on H,oberts! Nevv' York. t~, 2 pp.! dated 19 April 1960, \Nith 1 p. ts note attached from VVillialTI Lanlbert (pseud. of VV. Dorr Legg), ()NE, Incorporated, to Don Roberts dated 1 April 1960.

Reg Suthern, VVolfville, N.S. ts, 1 p., dated 2S1 l'vlarch 1Y60.

T~~-, [n.p.] ts, ] p., dated 10 Septenlber --.

Ziggy [Zigurds Vitols], VVinnipeg. n1S, 2 pp., dated 14 J\lovel11ber 1950. De"elopment 100 Index Canadian Lesbian and Cay ArCl1ives 12, 13 113n.1 "Adju,tmcnt llf the Male Overt Cawlilu;1l Lrs/Jiall ,Ill'! C".'Illi,,/ur.l/ ,\'etil','rk Homo~exual, The" (Hooker) ]]2n31 f\'ewslt'tter 12 Adkin, D<1I'id 12, 102 Carleton, Sara H. 50 P~vchidtric American As,ociation 112n,31 Carpenter, Edward 57-5 Americall P~~choJookal As~ociation , '" Carrel. Alexis 26, 107n.2 112n31 Chaillpagne, Robert (Rob) 12 :\nderson, Ralph 70 Chemainus, B.C. 95 An"die (Paris) 57 ChesJe\', Ont. 61-64 ArsosI/ -13 Chez. Pan~e RestaLU'ant (Toronto) 48, 70­ Arvay, Joseph WI 72, 84, 113n.3 ~l "Aspects of Homosexuality" (Egan) "Church and You, Tlw" (MacQueen) 66 52,5-1 Churchill, Allen 43 hurchill, David 12,13 Bailiebon>, Onto 24 Cili/ LInd the Pillar, The (Vidal) 37, 43 Bolin Avenue (Toronto) 15,21,23 "CiVil Liberties and the Homosexual" Bak"lb, Alex 77-7'6 (Egan) 78 Baker, Blanche 66, 112n.30 Clay Banks (Toronto) 17 Baker, William 66 Comet, The 50 Barr, J,lmt'~. See fugdte, James "Coming Out in a 'old Climate: A Bearn,;ville, Ont. 61, 64-65, 69, 79, 94 History of Cay Men in Toronto Berton, PiL'ne 8-1, 85, 114n5 during the 19505" (Churchill) 12 Berube, Allan 31 C"I/lin" Ol/t UmJa f-ire: The History "r Gay Bessborough, Lad) (pseud., go~slp Nlen alld WOl/leJl in World War Two columnist) 50 (Berube) 31 go~sip Bettina (pseud., columnist) 50 Community Homophile Association of Body Politic, The] 2 Toronto (CHAT) 70 BVl/'~ OWl/ AlilluaL The 18 Comox-Strathcona (B.C.), Regional Britisb Columbia, Ministry oj the District of 97 [n\"ironment 97 Connaught Laburatories (Toronto) 26, British Clllumbia Human Rights 107nA Commissinn 104 Corners, the. See Municlpdl Hotel Burbidge, MUtTdY 86 (Toronto) and Union House Hotel Burns, lV[rs, (neighbourl 23-24 (Toronto) Burn';,john Horne3l Con'l1l'143-+l Cory, Donald V\iebster. See Sagarin, Call, Harold (Hal) 58, Illn.26 E.dward Callada. Bill C-150 105n3 CDrl/dol/ (Cide) 58 Canada. Bill of Rights 78 C()tswold Court Apartments (Toronto) 38 of Canada. Charter Rights and Fret'dums Court Challenges Program 100,10 I \1,100,101, \02 Courtenay, B.C. 97, 104 Canada. Criminal Code 1\,57,82, 10511.3 Canada. Federal Court 100-101. t02 Danforth Creamerv (1oronto) 15 F~'deral Cll1ada. Court of Appeal tOl Daniels, Philip H. 53-54,56-57, 110nn.18, Clll

Dunlop, Sara Ellen 86 Alex Bakali~ 77-78; writes "Civil Liberties and the Homo~exual" 78; Ea,tern Kigh Schocll of Commerce ilJ1d Sidney Katz 79-83, 84, 85, 89; (Toronto) 23 and "The Homosexual Next Door" Egan, Charle~ (brother) 15, 16,22,24,36, 79-83,84,89; ,eparation from jack 107n.1 Nesbit 85-8b, 90-91, 94; at the Music Egan, james (father) 15, '17, 22 Room 86,88-89,91; and discussion Egan, james (lim): parents of. Set' Egan. group with Dr. William I-1ogg 89-90; James; Egan, Nellie (Josephine); moves to British Columbia with .lack brother Charles. Sfe Egan, Charle~; Nesbit 94, 95; at Duncan, B.C. 95; at childhood of 15-24; reading habib of Chemainus, S.c. 95; environmental ]7··\ '1,22,23-24,25, 57-58; sexual activism of 95, 97; at Mervil1e, B.C. awakening of 1'1-21 ; intere~t in natufd.l 97,48; elected to public office 97; at history of 19, 25; religious beliefs of 22, Courtenay, B_C. '17, 104; and the 66,68; schooling of 22·25; love of farm Island Gay Society 97, 99; and North work of 24, 61-64; attempts to join the island AIDSCoaJition 99; £gl111 alld Army 2.5; works at the Department of Nesbit 1', Callada99-102, 104; and Zoology, University of Toronto 25-26; "lim Loves lack" 102,104; as grand works at Connaugllt Laboratories 26, marshal in Pride parades 103; I07n.4; ,111d Dr. Raymond Parker 26, awards and honours of 104. See also I07n.4; in the rnerchdnt navy 27-32, l\:esbit, john I\orri,; (Jack) sexual experiences during World War Egan, Nellie (Josephine) (mother) 15, 16, Two 29, 30-32; torillS the Ontario Bio­ ]7-18,22,38,61,63 logical Supply Company 32; in post­ EgOJll1lzd Nesbit 1'. Callada 99-102, 104 waf Toronto 33, 36-39; meets jack Ellis, HaveJock 51, 57 Nesbit 37-38; at Oak Ridges, Onto 3'1­ Engle, Leo (p.,eud. of Jim Egan) 51 41,51,61, write, letters to protest ublishing en Hook("r 66; and Jim Kepner 66; and Rt. Gt'IIl, The 18 Rev, Angus J. MacQueen 66, 68; writes George W. Henry Foundation 50 "Homosexual Marriage ,.. Fact or Geraldine (Corners hustler) 72-73 Fancy'" 67; and Ceorge Hislop 70; and Gerber, Henry 58-59, 61, 1'I1n,28 INDEX 155

Cide, Andre 58 King Cole Room, Park Plaza Hotel Cielgud, Sir John 5.f, '111n.22 (Townto) 3J, 37-38 Globe nlld Mnil (Toronto}4.f, 46, 52 King Edward Hotel (Toronto) 48 Gral/' Alllltol1lY 22 Kinsey,AlfrE'd 10,-B,4-l,51, 109n.3 Creenslade, Theo LJ 51 Kinsman, Cary 12, 105n.1 Cross, Alfred A. 50 KOil:

Halliburton, Richard 25 Ladder, The (San Francbco) 57 l'lannon, Cerald 12 Ladies' Home fOlJrIll7/44 Harvey, john 89 Lambda Foundation for Excellence 104 High Park (Toronto) 42, 108n.2 Lambert, William. Sec Legg, W. Dorr Hirschfeld, Magnus 51, 57 Legg, \V Don 58, 66, 88, IIIn.27 H.islop, Ceorge 70,11 On:1 '1,113n.1 Ldros Tavern (Toront0) 48 Hogg, William 89-90, J14n,9 "Life b Worth Living" (Sheen) 112n.33 Holy Name School (Toronto) 22 Linden, .Iustice Allen 101 "Homosexual Concepts" (Egan) 53-56 London (England) 31 HO/lwsl'xunl ill Al1lerica. Tile (Corv) 50, 68 LO"k 65 "Homosexual Marriage __ . Fact or Fancy?' (Egan) 67 M.l'. H. 116n.5 "Homosexual Next Door, The" (Katz) Kli. i'"laclcan's 79, bl1, b2, 83, 84, 89 82,83,84,89 McLeod, Philip 11-12,13 Honey Dew Coffee Shop (1oronto) 42 MacQueen, Rt. Rev. Angus J, 66, 68, Hookt'r, Evelyn 66, 112n,3'1 ]] 2n,32 Housman, AE 18 Madame Butterfly (Savarin Hfltel Hunter, Corde 95 customer) 76 Hush Free Pres> ll, 33,42, -15, 48 M.aSJ1<'1, Till' 18 Major, Ralph ]-1.,.11'.43-44 "1 Am ,1 Homosexual" (Engle, pseud. of Maloney's Art Calleries (Toronto).f8 Egan) 51 Marshall, Peter 70 If It Oil! (Cide) 58 Martin, .Ilbtice Leonard 100-101 Internationa I Cay and Lesbian Archives Masque (p~eud., gossip columni~t) 50 111 n.29 Ma/lnchim' Rn,iell', Tile (San Francisco) 57, Island Cay Society 97,99 11\ nn.25, 26 Italy 27, 29, 32 rVlattachine Society, The (Los Angeles) 10, 5-1,58,60 .Iamack Biological Supply Compirny 95 Melodv Room (Toronto) 87, 114nn.8, 10 jeffries, Miss (Corners customer) 73 MerviJIe, B,C 97, 98 Jewison, Maggie 24 Mel/IVds (~rTis'lJe ClJlture (parker) 26 .lewison, Wilbur 24 Metropolitan Toront(l Reference Library filii Egan: Canada':; I'ion,'er Gnl/ Actil'lst 13 (Champagne) 12 Montagu of Beaulieu, Lord 54, Illn.22 "Jim Loves]ack: The James Egan Story" tvlore Poel/;, (Housman) 19 (Adkin) 12, 102, 104 "~tore TCllerance NeE'ded Toward juan IV Seguine (ship) 30 Homos" (Egan) 52 lusticc Weekil! 11,33,42,45,49,5],53-57, Mother COOSt' (pseud" gossip columnist) 108n.2, ] lOn.l8, '1'11n.25 50 Municipal Hotel (Toron\()) 53, 72-75, 79­ Katz, Sidney 79-83, 84, 85, 89, 113n.], 80,1IOn,19 114n.1O Music Room (Toronto) 86-89, 91 Kepner, lim 57, 66,llln.29 Kerr, Rick 86 156 C.Hi\. L LE J\JGl NG THE CONSPI RAN CY OI~ SI LEi'\! CE

Nature Shop! The (Beanlsvillej ()nt.) 64-65 Proust, lvfarcel 58

Nelson j I)ick 37 Nesbit, A.gnes (nl0ther of Jack) 38 QuatrtfOll (Barr) 58 Nesbit! John Norris (Jack) 1'1, parents of Queering the Nation (conference) 104 See Nesbi l, A.gnes; Nesbit, vVilliarn S., rneets Jinl Egan 37-38; V\,orks as a Rainbc)\v Corners (London, England) 31 hairstylist 39; at Oak Rjdges, Ont. 39·· <1Reader Defends H01l10S, Says The~/re 41! SIr 61; at Chesley! ()nt. 61-64; at Inverts" (Egan) 45 Beanlsville, ()nt. 64-65,69,79,94; Red Lion Room, VVestbury liotel

attends Midvvinter Institute of ()NEj (Toronto) 81, 83 Incorporated, vvith Jim Egan 66; and Redbook 44 "The l-!cnnosexual Next Door" 83; l\cgulation (~f Desire, The (Kinsnldn) 12 ~eparation from Jin1 Egan 85-86, 9(l· Rio Theatre (Toronto) 42 91, 94; moves to British COluDlbia Riordon, lVlichael 12 \vith Jiln Egan 94, 95; at Duncan, B.C Rites 12 95; at Cheu1a.inus, B.C. 95; at Rocket, The 50 Merville, B.C. 97, 98; V\/orks as a ROlllan Catholic Church 22, 68, 112n.33 counsellor 97; at Courtenay, B.C. 97, 1<..0111an Sauna Baths Cforonto) 114n.10 "j 04; and the Island C-al" Societ)' 97, Roser/herg v. Canada 1] 6n.5 99; Egan and l\.lesbit v. Canada 99-102, Rotary International 104 104; and JlJin1 Loves Jack" 102, 104; as Roulston, JimlTI.Y 72, 113n.3 grand marshal in Pride parades 103. Rovvdon, L,arry 37 See abo Egan, Janles (Jim) Rov,re! Chelsea 23 Nesbit; WilLianl S. (father of Jack) 38 "Nevv' Moral Menace to C)-ur Youth" Sagarin, Edvvard 50/ 57,68 (i\1ajor) 43-.:l4 St Laurent! Louis 52 Nile Roonl, Letros 'Tavern (Toronto) 48 Saturday j\jight 65/ 91 8~ Norrnandin l Joseph 77-78 Saul (friend of Jim Egan) North Island AIDS Coalition 99 Savarin Hotel (Toronto) 33-36! 37, 76 Save Our Straits Committee 97 ()ak Ridges, Onto 39-41 / 44,51,61 Seal Bay Park (B.C.) 97 ONE, Incorporated 58, 66, 88 Seven! Toni. See Burbidge, Murray L;lvE Magazine 54, 57, 58, 67, 68, 111n.25 Sexual Beluruior in the Human lv1ale

()ntario Biological Supply Co.mpany 32 (Kinsey) 10 1 43! 44,54,57, l09n.3 Out Our VVfly: Gay and Lesbian L{Fe in the Shearer! Ron 70 COUll try (Riordon) 12 Sheen, Bishop Fulton 68, 112n.33 Shropshire Lad, A (Housman) 19 (ilPansies' Bloom in Cocktail Bar!' 48 Sir! (Ne\v York) 50-51 Parents' lvlagazine 44 Sisters of St. Joseph (Toronto) 22 Park Plaza Hotel (Toronto) 33, 37-38/ 51 "Society and the Homosexual" (Poulton)

Parker! Rayn10nd 26-27! 106 n.1 t 107n.-l­ 85 Parkside Tavern (Toronto) 94 Society for HUll1EU1 Rights (Chicago) 58 Pedersen, Lyn. See Kepner, Jim Society for the Prev'ention of Peterborough, ()nt. 24,25 Environmental Collapse (SPEC) 95 Peters! Fritz (Arthur l\.nderson) 58 Sopinka, Justice John 102 Peterson, Cynthia 102 IiStud.y in Lavender, An (column) 50 Philosopher's vValk (Toronto) 42 Suddoll, Alan 11 Piccadilly Circus (London, England) 31 Syn1onds! John Addington 57 Picture (~f Dorian Gray, The (Wilde) 19 Police entrapment of gay lneH (Toronto) Tab 50 42, 107-] 08n.1 Tea Pot l)ome Tea Roolns (Toronto) 33 Poulton/ Ron 85 Thetis Island, B.C. 95 IN DEX 157

Tinlf 44 Tinles Square Room! King Edvv'drd Hotel (Toron to) 48 Ibronto Dai(l! Star 65-66! 91 W[oronto Fairy-Co-Round" (Bettina) 50 Toronto Telegram 85 Troyer! Mr. (of ()ak Ridges! ()nL) 39 True l\[ews TinlCS (TNT) 1],45,47,50,51 / 52, 54 Trurnan, Art 76 liTruth About 1"'l(nTIosexuab; The" (Carleton) 50 Two (Toronto) 93, rl4n.l0

Union House Hotel CIoronto) 53, 77, 79-80, 110n.19 United Church of Canada 66! 68, 112n.32 University of Toronto. Departnlent of Zoology 25-26 University of Toronto J'-lomophile Association 10-11 ilUnparalleled Orgies of Perversion Exposed by Intrepid Flash Reporter" 45

Vennen (Copenhagen) 57 Vickers, David 100, 101 Victoria Daily Colonist 95 Victoria Times-Colon ist 97 Vidal, Core 37,43/ 58

Wardl Mr. (teacher) 23 Westbury Hotel (Toronto) 81 / 83 Westlake Avenue (Toronto) 15 "What Is a f-Ionlosexual?.'I (Churchill) 43 vVhitman, Walt 18 Wilde, Oscar 19,20,58

\rViUianls 1 Eugene D. 44 Wilson, Fred "Scotty/! 76 W'ithro\v Park (Toronto) 2'1-22 \!Vright Buster "19 Wright, Ethelbert 19

A Note on the Author and the Compiler

rim Egan lives in Courtenay, B.C., with Jack Nesbit, his parhler of fifty years.

Don McLeod is the author or compiler of five books, including Lesbian and Gay Liberation in Canada: A Selected Annotated Chrol1ology, 1964-] 975 (ECW Press/Homewood Books, 1996). He is a longtime volunteer at the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives in Toronto.

159 /I

I t Ii m

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