Pierre Elliott Trudeau and Bill C-150: A Rational Approach to Homosexual Acts, 1968–69

Abstract

Between 1968 and 1969, Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau sparked a controversy surrounding his liberal government's passage of Bill C-150, which not only decriminalized homosexual acts between consenting adults in private, but also polarized supporters of natural law and positive law. What tipped the balance in favor of a more secular analysis of homosexuality? In the post-World War II era, three events were particularly relevant to the successful passage of Bill C-150: the Kinsey (1948) studies, Britain's Wolfenden Report (1957), and the Supreme Court of Canada case Klippert v. The Queen (des Rivieres & Shipley, 1967). However, the Liberals, Conservatives, Social Credit Party, and the Ralliement Créditistes were all influenced by the social construction of inversion, openly expressing a Judeo-Christian natural law bias during Debates of the House of Commons (1968-69). Nonetheless, it was the Liberals that were identified as forces within Canadian politics that could separate legalism from moralism, even while retaining personal moral stances against homosexuals. It is this paradox that is often forgotten when discussing liberal policy in Canada during the late 1960s.

KEYWORDS:

• Pierre Elliott Trudeau
• John Napier Turner
• Bill C-150
• homosexual acts
• consenting adults
• private morality
• sexual orientation
• Wolfenden Report
• Alfred Kinsey
• Klippert v. The Queen

Notes

1. In 1975, California legalized consensual sex between all adults, giving credence to the growing libertarian position on the issue of sodomy statutes. By the end of the year, 15 more states struck down sodomy laws that had been on the books since the Colonial era. By 1977, Wyoming decriminalized gay sexual acts, making it the 19th state to pass such legislation.

2. For a complete overview of the Stonewall Riots, the emergence of the Gay Liberation Front (GLF), and the Gay Activists Alliance (GAA), see Adam, 1987; Clendinen & Nagourney, 1999; D'Emilio, 1983; Duberman, 1993; Marotta, 1981.

3. Overall, 11 conservatives voted for the bill and 44 voted against it.