On October 8th, 2005 Canada lost one of its key activists, George Hislop, after a prolonged struggle with cancer, Parkinson’s, and diabetes. He was 78.
I first met George in 1980 when he attended the 8th National Conference of Lesbians and Gay Men, sponsored by Gay Information and Resources Calgary (GIRC) and held at the University of Calgary. He was then in his prime. I met him again at Egale’s Consultation on Bawdy House Laws in December 2004, held at the University of Toronto. Despite being wracked by cancer and having suffered at least five heart attacks in the previous few years, he was as bright and insightful as ever.
George was well-known in Toronto and a legend amongst queer activists across Canada. He was more than just “a character” and his accomplishments during his almost eight decades on earth reach beyond legendary and almost into the mythic.
During the now notorious Toronto bathhouse raids (circa 1978-1981) he made a name for himself by vehemently condemning the police action and speaking out about the right of gay men to have sex with whoever we damn-well pleased, wherever we damn-well pleased. It won him many friends in the queer community and pissed off many others. George didn’t care.
Those raids were more than just a political action for him. As part owner of The Barracks in Toronto he was directly affected by the raids and the subsequent Criminal Code charges of conspiring to keep a common bawdy house. George was instrumental to the groundswell of opposition against the raids and the Crown eventually dropped all charges.
George’s activism, and his commitment to being unapologetically gay, sprang from a strong sense of self. As he became aware of his orientation as a young man he was outraged at the attitudes of the society in which he lived. It never occurred to him there was anything “wrong” with himself; it was the world that was wrong and he set out to change it.
He perfected his political skills by organizing unions. His natural flair for theatrics were inextricably tied up with his talent as an actor. He became an articulate and engaging public speaker after spending several years during his youth as an actor in England. When he returned to Canada, and Toronto, he did some live acting with CBC Television. George was always the quintessential Canadian.
In 1958, during a period when being homosexual could land you in prison or a psychiatric ward (or both), George was on a ferry traveling to Hanlan’s Point, a well-known gay destination even in 1958, when he felt a hand on his rump. The hand belonged to Ron Shearer, with whom George then spent 28 years until Ron died in 1986. This left George with an emotional devastation he never fully recovered from.
The two were inseparable yet so different. George was openly and decidedly sexual, loving gloryholes, steambaths, and parks. Ron kept his adventures to himself. Ron was also a partner in Alderbrooke Industries, one of Canada’s largest suppliers of Christmas decorations which afforded the couple a comfortable lifestyle. Ron told George his income would be enough for them both, and George should concentrate on his political and activist activities.
And George did. His accomplishments were legion and far too many to list here.
Amongst them was founding the Community Homophile Association of Toronto (CHAT) in 1970 to supply a community meeting place and an avenue for advocacy. He also launched “Gay Day” which eventually evolved into Toronto’s Pride Week, one of the largest Pride celebrations in North America.
In 1973 he founded Toronto’s Hassle-Free Clinic, one of the first ‘gay-friendly’ services in the country. He served as the Clinic’s president from 1973 until his death – thirty-two years! He tried to resign after his health started failing and he could no longer hold a pen to sign paperwork. The Board and clinic staff refused to accept his resignation and the Board moved to give signing authority to other board members thereby allowing George to continue on as president.
Toronto city councilor, Kyle Rae, arranged to have George appointed to the city’s Planning Commission and after his term there expired, to the Committee of Adjustment. George took the appointments and his varied committee work seriously, never missing a meeting.
As George became progressively more ill in recent years he was forced to miss the odd meeting, and worried he was letting people down by doing so. Even as he lay in a hospital bed at St. Michael’s in Toronto, shortly before being moved to Grace Hospice, he wanted to be released so he could attend a meeting.
Yes, George could be stubborn and outspoken but he never backed down from a good fight.
His good friend Peter Bochove, owner of the Spa Excess in Toronto (and one of the defendants during the Toronto bath raids), tells the story that during the days the St. Charles Tavern and the Parkside were in business, the straight owners made a ‘deal’ with the police whereby the cops used peepholes in the washrooms in order to spy on and arrest men for ‘gross indecency’. The owners of the Oak Leaf Baths and the International Baths permitted the police to arrest their clientele in return for being allowed to stay in business. George found such tactics reprehensible - an attack on his community - and threatened the owners with a boycott. He was none too thrilled with the Toronto Police Service either, and said so publicly and often.
In 1980, the year I first met him, George ran for city council in Ward 6 beating his closest competitor, a young political rookie by the name of Jack Layton, but ultimately losing the Ward after a vicious anti-gay smear campaign was launched against him and his political ally John Sewell, who had run for mayor. Layton and George became close friends, with Layton being one of the few individuals granted access to George in his last few days.
But perhaps George is best known across Canada as the “poster boy” in the fight for pension benefits for widows in same-sex relationships.
The federal government agreed gay men and lesbians should be able to access their deceased partner’s Canada Pension Plan (CPP) benefits but stipulated benefits prior to 1998 were not accessible. George’s lifepartner Ron Shearer died in 1986, so George was deemed ineligible for CPP benefits, leaving him in poverty. There were apparently days when George had to choose between buying an orange or a newspaper; he couldn’t afford to do both. He usually opted for the newspaper.
George wasn’t about to tolerate being consigned to what he described as ‘genteel poverty’ and joined other surviving same-sex partners who lost their partners before 1998 in a class action suit against the federal government. Represented by lawyer Douglas Elliot, they fought to have the retroactive application pushed back to April 1985, when the Charter of Rights and Freedoms’ equality guarantees came into effect.
They won at both provincial Superior Court level and at the Ontario Court of Appeal. The government continually attempted to thwart any attempts to do the honourable thing and ensure same-sex widowers and widows could access the pension plan their now deceased partners spent a lifetime paying into. The case is now slated to be heard by the Supreme Court of Canada sometime in 2006.
Bowing to popular demand, or perhaps some form of collective guilt, the federal government did issue cheques in August 2005, pending a final decision from the Supreme Court. It was on the condition that if the Supreme Court found in favour of the government, the recipients would have to pay back the money. George was thrilled to receive his cheque and originally thought it was for $1,400-odd dollars. It took him a while to realize the cheque was actually for $140,000.00-odd dollars. George had hoped to go on a cruise with some of the money, spend some of it on “boys and booze”, and relax for the few remaining years he thought he might have. He never did. His Parkinson’s Disease grew worse and cancer was devastating his body.
In memory of his contributions and a life well-lived and fought, Egale Canada and Peter Bochove have nominated George for the Governor General’s Meritorious Service Cross. Unlike the Order of Canada (for which he did not live to accept the pending nomination), the GGMSC can be awarded posthumously.
We have lost a truly wonderful man, elder brother, and friend. We are all the poorer for it yet we are all the richer and better for having had George Hislop storming the barricades.
Rest in peace, brother.
(written with files from Peter Bochove, Gilles Marchildon, and Eleanor Brown)
Stephen Lock is the Vice-President and Regional Co-Director for Egale Canada and also the producer and host of a semi-monthly glbtq radio show, Speak Sebastian, airing at 9pm on the 1st and 3rd Wednesday of the month on CJSW FM 90.9 http://www.cjsw.com.
