Earlier today, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau formally apologized to LGBTQ Canadians for the way the government treated the LGBTQ public servants and members of the military during the last half of the twentieth century. You may watch his address here:
In his address to the Canadian House of Commons, Trudeau said (in both English and French),
“Imagine, if you will, being told that the very country you had willingly laid down your life to defend doesn’t want you, doesn’t accept you, sees you as defective, sees you as a threat to our national security,” Trudeau said Tuesday. .
“Not because you can’t do the job or because you lack patriotism or courage, no, but because of who you are as a person and because of who your sexual partners are.”
Trudeau’s apology is for how the Canadian government subjected public servants and members of the military to humiliating tests and interrogation techniques designed to discover one’s sexuality. Many Canadians were purged from the government and military with these techniques from the 1950’s through early 1990’s.
