June 19, 2012: Today in LGBTQ+ history…
On June 19, 2012, the Ontario government finally passed Bill 33 (named in honour of accomplished trans activist, pianist and jazz musician Toby Dancer), which amended the Ontario Human Rights Code to include gender identity and gender expression. The passage of Toby’s Act made Ontario the first major jurisdiction in North America to provide long-overdue human rights protection for transgendered people.
Toby’s Act was truly a historic achievement for Ontario’s trans community.
It took six years and four separate attempts (2007, 2009, 2010 and 2012) for Ontario New Democrat MPP Cheri DiNovo to get the amendment passed. DiNovo dedicated her work on this issue to Dancer, who had died in 2004.
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