The straight and narrow path
Policy direction and oversight of the gay purges in Canada
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12929804 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Hector Mackenzie (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2022 |
| Volume | 34 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 189-216 |
| Publication date | 2022-09-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | British Journal of Canadian Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1757-8078 • E-ISSN: 0269-9222 |
| Publisher | Liverpool University Press (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.3828/bjcs.2022.10 |
| OpenAlex | W4307164909 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 8 |
The gay purges from the late 1950s to the late 1970s were the only large-scale dismissals from the public service of Canada in its history. As this article demonstrates, this arbitrary action was taken without regard to individual circumstances and without due process or appeal, simply because of the sexuality of those targeted. Presumptions were made – and acted upon – about a supposed link between homosexuality and disloyalty, with a consequently imagined threat to national security. Although the implementation of the purges by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Security Service (RCMPSS) was undoubtedly zealous and harsh, that conduct took place within a framework that was constructed by policy-makers in the Privy Council Office, overseen by senior public servants and ultimately sanctioned by successive Canadian cabinets. As this examination shows, the RCMPSS acted, however severely, with authority granted to it by others who would later try to distance themselves from responsibility and pose as sympathetic to those purged. In fact, this was not the drastic misapplication of a measured policy, as sometimes contended, but a deliberate, malevolent, and ultimately mistaken attempt to deal with an imagined threat
Appeal · Political science · Sociology · Canadian Identity and History · Law
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |