christopher.lyons [at] mcgill.ca (Christopher Lyons), Head, Rare Books and Special Collections
Image by My Nguyen, McGill University.
When: 13 March 2019 Location: Rare Books and Special Collections, 4th Floor McLennan Library Building, 3459 rue McTavish, Montreal, QC, H3A 0C9, CA
Description
Prof. Brian Lewis, McGill Department of History and Classical Studies.
2019 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the passage of the Omnibus Act in Canada, which partially decriminalized homosexuality, and the Stonewall Riots in New York City, a milestone for gay liberation in the US. This engaging talk given by Brian Lewis, examined the twin histories of these events and asks how far we have come in the last half century—and how far we still have to go. Beginning with the circumstances and legislative changes that led up to the gay liberation movement in the UK, the US, and Canada, Prof. Lewis laid out the legislative struggles that occurred as the cultural perception of homosexuality began to shift. Using the character of the rather miserable footman become butler Thomas Barrow from the popular series Downtown Abbey, Lewis asked the question "How do we make Thomas happy?" Watch the lecture on Youtube.
Materials can be consulted in the Rare Books and Archives Reading room Monday to Friday, 10 AM to 6 PM. Contact rarebooks.library [at] mcgill.ca for reference guidance.
