Gay Pride Week battle left to linger – TheSpec.com

A landmark Ontario Human Rights decision in March 1995 found Mayor Bob Morrow discriminated against homosexuals by refusing to proclaim Gay Pride Week in Hamilton in 1991.

Morrow was ordered to pay $5,000 to the complainant in the case, Joe Oliver. The 26-page decision released on March 2, 1995, said Morrow contravened the Ontario Human Rights Act by discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation. Morrow was ordered to proclaim Gay Pride Week the following year if it was requested, but instead council passed a ban of all proclamations to avoid issuing the Gay Pride edict.

The fallout from the issue continues to this day.

Hamilton still doesn’t issue proclamations about Gay Pride Week or anything else. Members of the governance review subcommittee reviewed the issue in 2016 and decided to stick with the 1995 decision. Committee members heard that a full-time employee would have to be hired to manage research and administrative work involved in issuing proclamations.

Municipalities that don’t issue proclamations include the regions of Niagara, Halton and Waterloo, and the cities of London and Mississauga. But other cities, such as Brampton, Toronto, Oakville, Burlington and Ottawa, have created guidelines on how to issue proclamations.