In the 1960s, reforming politicians in many Western countries faced an unconscionable fact: the criminal law was still being used to punish consensual relations between two consenting adults of the same sex.

The process of reform in the United Kingdom began with the 1957 Wolfenden Report calling on Parliament to decriminalize consenting relationships between two men (lesbianism was never a criminal offence in Britain). Ten years later the law was amended.

Also in 1967, Canada’s Justice Minister Pierre Trudeau proposed a similar reform to the Criminal Code. He famously said that "the state has no place in the bedrooms of the nation". Two years later, when Trudeau was Prime Minister, Justice Minister John Napier Turner piloted the change through Parliament.

The arguments for "gay rights" in the 1960s and 1970s focused on privacy. By the 1980s this had become too limited and confining an approach. A cultural revolution of candour and openness led to demands for full equality, not simply a protection of personal privacy.

The first step was to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in human rights statutes. Then came the campaign to ensure that spousal benefits and rights under insurance plans and collective agreements applied to same-sex relationships.

By the 1990s same-sex couples were entitled to many of the same benefits as common-law heterosexual couples. Equal rights to marriage were recognized in the next decade. The courts led the way, empowered by the Charter; many politicians were still too afraid to get too far ahead of public opinion.

Throughout this period social and political attitudes changed dramatically in Canada and throughout much of the world. Canada’s attention has now shifted to leading the global fight against the remnants of discrimination and homophobia.

This transformation required enormous determination and courage. The persistence of bullying and harassment, and recent debates over sex education, show that this fight is never over.

But to those who say that "public opinion doesn’t change", Canadians can point to this issue as evidence that it can.

And it does.

As is often the case, politicians found themselves following opinion rather than leading it and the courts were called upon to reform the laws. But that doesn’t diminish the importance or value of equality for LGBTQ people in Canada and around the world.