{"id":44,"date":"2015-03-08T17:23:12","date_gmt":"2015-03-08T17:23:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/abealfreader4\/?post_type=chapter&p=44"},"modified":"2022-07-22T20:16:30","modified_gmt":"2022-07-22T20:16:30","slug":"the-story-of-jim-egan","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/abealfreader4\/chapter\/the-story-of-jim-egan\/","title":{"raw":"The Story of Jim Egan","rendered":"The Story of Jim Egan"},"content":{"raw":"

Click play on the following audio player to listen along as you read this section.<\/p>\r\nhttps:\/\/media.bccampus.ca\/id\/0_ysgaayi4?width=608&height=70&playerId=23449753\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_173\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"400\"]\".\"<\/a> Rainbow flag[\/caption]\r\n\r\nAt one time, the word \"[pb_glossary id=\"416\"]queer[\/pb_glossary]\"<\/strong> was an insult. Today, it is a word many people proudly use to describe themselves. The road to pride began with Jim Egan.\r\n\r\nJim was born in Toronto in 1921. As a young man, he began visiting bars quietly known to be gay meeting places. He had to be careful. The police in Toronto often went to\u00a0these places. They would trick\u00a0gay men by pretending to be gay, too. Then they would arrest them. The men\u2019s names would be printed in newspapers. They often lost their jobs, their family, and their friends. Landlords would not rent to them. Being gay meant being left out by the world. Jim met a man named Jack in one of those bars. They fell in love. The world seemed like a less lonely place.\r\n\r\nJim loved to read. He noticed [pb_glossary id=\"416\"]queer[\/pb_glossary]<\/strong> people were being written about a lot more in the newspapers. But queer people were always talked about as being sick and immoral. This upset Jim. He could not stay silent. So, in 1949, he began writing letters to the newspapers. He protested the way they talked about gay people. He called for equal rights under the law. This was at a time when no one else was speaking up. Over the next 10 years, his letters appeared in many places, including TIME<\/em> magazine.\u00a0In 1963, a reporter from Maclean\u2019s<\/em> magazine wrote a story about Jim. It was the first positive report about [pb_glossary id=\"416\"]queer[\/pb_glossary]<\/strong> people by a major Canadian news company. Jim used a fake name to avoid arrest.\r\n\r\nJack was uncomfortable with Jim\u2019s [pb_glossary id=\"382\"]activism[\/pb_glossary]<\/strong>. He was worried that one day they might be thrown in jail. So Jim agreed to give up his [pb_glossary id=\"382\"]activism[\/pb_glossary]<\/strong>. They moved across the country to Vancouver Island and started a new life.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_172\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"400\"]\"Marchers_at_Toronto_Pride_2014\"<\/a> Activism[\/caption]\r\n\r\nIn 1969, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau finally got rid of the law that made [pb_glossary id=\"416\"]queer[\/pb_glossary]<\/strong> relationships illegal. Trudeau said, \u201cThere\u2019s no place for the [pb_glossary id=\"425\"]state[\/pb_glossary]<\/strong> in the bedrooms of the nation.\u201d Jim and Jack no longer had to worry about being put in prison.\r\n\r\nIn the 1980s, AIDS began taking the lives of gay men. Gay men whose partners died of AIDS did not have the same rights as everyone else whose partners were sick or had passed away. Jim returned to [pb_glossary id=\"416\"]queer[\/pb_glossary]<\/strong> activism -- and this time, Jack was right by his side. They helped run an AIDS organization. They also ran a drop-in group out of their home\u00a0for [pb_glossary id=\"416\"]queer[\/pb_glossary]<\/strong> people.\r\n\r\nJim retired in 1987. The government would not give him and Jack\u00a0the same amount of money\u00a0that married men and women get when they retire. Jim and Jack had been together for over 40 years. They took the government to court. It took eight years, but the courts made it illegal to [pb_glossary id=\"394\"]discriminate[\/pb_glossary]<\/strong> based on who people are in love with. This was the first time [pb_glossary id=\"416\"]queer[\/pb_glossary]<\/strong> people in Canada had human rights.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_174\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"325\"]\"a<\/a> Wedding[\/caption]\r\n\r\nIn 2005, Canada became the fourth country in the world to make\u00a0same gender marriage legal. Canada became a worldwide leader in [pb_glossary id=\"416\"]queer[\/pb_glossary]<\/strong> rights. Just think - it all began with one man who decided to write a letter!\r\n

See The Story of Jim Egan<\/a>\u00a0in BC Reads: Adult Literacy Fundamental English - Course Pack 4<\/a>.<\/div>\r\n ","rendered":"

Click play on the following audio player to listen along as you read this section.<\/p>\n