Canada Post showcases influential places in Canada’s LGBTQ history

By David Hartwig

Canada Post recognizes four influential places in Canada’s LGBTQ history with a set of four stamps issued May 30.

“From early meeting spots to safe spaces for community organizing, these spaces were often the backdrop to pivotal demonstrations and hosted events that shaped 2SLGBTQIA+ [Two-Spirit, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and/or Questioning, Intersex, Asexual, Plus] communities across the country – and Canadian society,” Canada Post said in a May 29 press release.

The nondenominated Places of Pride stamps pay the basic domestic letter rate (currently $1.24). Canada Post calls these permanent stamps, and they are identified with the letter “P” inside a symbolic maple leaf.

The stamp designs highlight four locations tied to events that played roles in advancing LGBTQ rights or recognition in Canada. The stamps are available in a booklet eight, with two identical blocks of four stamps in each booklet.

The stamp in the upper left corner of the block highlights Club Carousel, the first gay bar in Calgary, Alberta.

Founded in 1970 by Lois Szabo and activist Jack Loenen, Club Carousel opened as a members-only, non-profit space that offered safety and privacy to a community facing homophobia and intimidation.

Despite early resistance from police, the club persisted to become a vital hub for connection and resistance, growing from 20 to nearly 700 members before closing in the late 1970s.

In 2021, Calgary recognized this history by naming a green space the Lois Szabo Commons, honoring the efforts of those who fought to create space for LGBTQ identity in a time of silence and exclusion.

The stamp in the upper right corner depicts Hanlan’s Point Beach in Toronto, Ontario, and the 1971 Gay Day Picnic held there.

Located on Toronto’s western island shores, Hanlan’s Point is one of Canada’s oldest LGBTQ spaces. Its importance was cemented Aug. 1, 1971, when it hosted the Gay Day Picnic, one of Canada’s first Pride events and a precursor to modern celebrations.

During the first Gay Day Picnic, activists worked to finish the historic “We Demand” letter. The letter called for equal rights and was later delivered to the government. Hanlan’s legacy lives on through continued efforts to protect the space and recognize its role in LGBTQ history.

The stamp in the bottom left of the block shows activists outside of Truxx, a popular Montreal bar where a 1977 police raid and resulting protests led to Canada’s first law prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation.

The October 1977 police raid on Truxx, a key gathering spot in the city’s gay village, sparked a pivotal moment in Quebec’s LGBTQ history. Part of ongoing police crackdowns on the LGBTQ community, the Truxx raid resulted in over 100 arrests.

The mass arrest galvanized the local community, and on the following night around 2,000 protesters took to the streets demanding justice and an end to harassment. The unrest resulted in significant legislative change on Dec. 15, 1977, when Quebec’s government passed a bill to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation.

The stamp in the bottom right of the block illustrates a scene from the 3rd North American Native Gay and Lesbian Gathering in 1990, near Beausejour, Manitoba. It was here that the term “Two-Spirit” was first introduced by Dr. Myra Laramee.

According to an article in Canada Post magazine: “ ‘Two-Spirit’ refers to diverse Indigenous understandings of gender, relationships with the spiritual realm, ancestors, and love and support from family and community members. It can describe someone’s sexual, gender and/or spiritual identity.”

After the 1990 event, many Indigenous leaders began using Two-Spirit instead of Gay and Lesbian for organizational names, according to Elder Albert McLeod, one of the event’s organizers. The Canadian government adopted the addition of “2S” at the front of the 2SLGBTQI+ acronym in 2022.

The Places of Pride stamps were illustrated by Tim Singleton of Toronto, whose body of work can be seen online and on his Instagram page.

“Getting the chance to work on a set of stamps has been a longtime dream of mine (and up until a year and a half ago, a goal I thought would always be a daydream),” Singleton said in a May 30 Instagram post about the stamps, “so seeing these beauties go out into the world is surreal, lovely and deeply meaningful to me.”

Kelly Small designed the stamps. Small is the founder and creative director of the creative agency Intents & Purposes, Inc. and former board member of the ArQuives, one of the largest independent LGBTQ archives in the world.

The stamps were printed by Colour Innovations in a quantity of 120,000 booklets of eight. The Canada Post ordering number for the booklet of eight is 414292111.

Canada Post also produced four official first-day covers in quantities of 4,000 each. The ordering number for the set of four FDCs are 414292131 for Club Carousel canceled in Calgary, Alberta; 414293131 for Hanlan’s Point Beach canceled in Toronto, Ontario; 414295131 for Truxx canceled in Montreal, Quebec; and 414294131 for the 3rd North American Native Gay and Lesbian Gathering, canceled in Beausejour, Manitoba.

The new Places of Pride stamps and FDCs are available from Canada Post’s website. The stamps are also available by mail order from Canada Post Customer Service, Box 90022, 2701 Riverside Drive, Ottawa, ON K1V 1J8 Canada; or by telephone from the United States or Canada at 800-565-4362, and from other countries at 902-863-6550.

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