In the context of the sexual revolution of the 1960s, homosexuality became a topic of public discussion. An omnibus bill, introduced in December 1967 by the Liberal government’s Minister of Justice Pierre E. Trudeau, provided for the decriminalization of same-sex relations between consenting adults 21 years of age or older in the privacy of their homes.  

For many members of the gay and lesbian communities, this legislative change was insufficient. Activists set up numerous organizations, including the Community Homophile Association of Toronto (CHAT), the Gay Alliance Toward Equality (GATE) in Vancouver, and the Front de libération homosexuel (FLH) in Montreal. Inspired by the Stonewall Riots in New York in 1969, members of these groups organized numerous demonstrations in Canada. Some of them went to Ottawa in August 1971 to present a document entitled “We Demand.” The document contained a list of demands, including: the removal of the terms “gross indecency” and “buggery” from the Criminal Code; lowering the age of consent from 21 to the age of majority; equal access to all public service jobs, including enlistment in the Canadian Armed Forces; removal of homosexual acts from the list of legal grounds for divorce; and an end to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police campaign against homosexuals working for the federal government.

In addition to demanding their rights, members of the LGBTQ+ community created organizations that became places of sociability and support for their members. Such was the case with the group Les Gais de l’Outaouais, which also served the Franco-Ontarian community and became the Association of Lesbians and Gays of Ottawa / Association des lesbiennes et des gais de l’Outaouais in 1977. This organization offered information and resources to members of these communities, who were all too often confronted with homophobia, discrimination, and rejection.