The LGBT Purge

Gendered violence in the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) did not limit itself to violence against women. In fact, the military has a long history of violence against queer individuals. 

What is known today as the “LGBT Purge” started in the 1940s. The federal government, through the RCMP, began conducting background checks on all civil servants in order to identify “moral failings’ or ‘character weaknesses.” Being gay was one fo those moral failings.

 

These efforts persisted and intensified in the 1950s, during which investigators started using a device that could “objectively” determine homosexuality in individual. That device was known as the “Fruit Machine.” They then innovated and used polygraphs and demeaning interrogation techniques to find and weed out queer individuals out of the public service.

 

In the CAF, those who came out were discharged, sometimes honourably (kept their rank and would receive benefits) or dishonourably (loss of rank, pensions, and veteran status).  

The CAF ended its practice in the early 1990s, when the military settled in the Douglas case. Yet, it does not mean that the anti-LGBTQ+ culture in the ranks ended with these exclusionary measures.  

Those five decades are a history of trauma for LGBT servicemembers, both men and women. 

Gay men suffered from the weight of masochistic masculinity, which resulted in isolation and bullying if they displayed more feminine attributes. They bore the weight of a culture that promoted a view of manhood that rejected them based on sexual orientation. As such, they worked on keeping their military life and their sexual life. When they were outed, a number of them committed suicide. 

Women, due to their existence and presence in the military being viewed as inherently abnormal and problematic, used networks a means of support. That meant that gay women kept their military and sexual life close. They developed means to protect those networks, but such a closeness bore risks. If one gay woman was under investigation, they lost the network in which they belonged. The network had to protect itself and its members from the institution, to the detriment of the targeted servicemember. 

Also, due to the masculinity the CAF’s culture promoted, corrective rape of gay servicewomen occurred. Gender-based violence collided with homophobia, bi-phobia, and transphobia. 

Thanks to the hard work of the LGBT Purge Class Action, the Government of Canada has officially apologized in 2017, and the Department of National Defence has issued personal apologies to 432 victims. Now, the Canadian military celebrates Pride month and we can see servicemembers around the country marching at Pride parades. 

Circumstances are better now: it is no longer legal to target or oust LGBT servicemembers. However, if we were to look at the barriers servicewomen and servicemembers of colour still face to this day, we need to put a question mark on whether or not LGBT members are embraced by the culture.