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New France's first-ever criminal trial for the crime of homosexuality took place in September 1648
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In 1859, Canada repatriated its buggery law in the Consolidated Statutes of Canada: "Every person guilty of the abominable crime of Buggery, committed either with mankind or with any animal, shall suffer death as a felon."
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Changes to the Criminal Code in 1948 and 1961 were used to brand gay men as "criminal sexual psychopaths" and "dangerous sexual offenders." These labels provided for indeterminate prison sentences.
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The "fruit machine" was employed in Canada in the 1950s and 1960s during a campaign to eliminate all homosexuals from the civil service, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), and the military. A substantial number of workers did lose their jobs. Although funding for the "fruit machine" project was cut off in the late 1960s, the investigations continued, and the RCMP collected files on over 9,000 "suspected" homosexuals.
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In 1971, Canada's first gay rights march, the We Demand Rally, took place in Ottawa. The Body Politic, Canada's first gay liberation newspaper, was published in Toronto and continued for about 15 years. A short run documentary series, Coming Out, became Canada's first LGBT television series when it aired on Maclean-Hunter cable in Toronto in 1972.
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On February 5, 1981, four gay bathhouses in Toronto were raided by the Toronto Police Service in Operation Soap. The event is now considered one of the crucial turning points in Canadian LGBT history, as an unprecedented community mobilization now regarded as the Canadian equivalent of the 1969 Stonewall riots took place to protest police conduct. One of the protest marches during this mobilization is now generally recognized as the first Toronto Pride event.
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In 1988, New Democratic Party Member of Parliament (MP) Svend Robinson became the first MP to come out, declaring that he is gay to the media outside the House of Commons. In the same year, the United Church of Canada became the first church in Canada to allow the ordination of gays and lesbians.
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In 1992, then-Justice Minister and Attorney General of Canada, Kim Campbell announced that Canada was lifting its ban on homosexuals in the Canadian Forces, allowing them to serve openly and live on-base with their partners. Canada was one of the first modern countries to allow homosexuals in the military
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A court in Ontario ruled that gay and lesbian couples wishing to adopt jointly should be allowed to do so, making Ontario the first province to allow this. Currently, nearly all provinces allow gay and lesbian couples (and single gays and lesbians) to adopt children. The Newfoundland Human Rights Act was amended to include sexual orientation.
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In 1996, sexual orientation was added to the Canadian Human Rights Act, an anti-discrimination law that applies to federally regulated activities throughout Canada. That same year, the Green Party became the first to endorse the legalization of same-sex marriage, becoming the first federally registered party to do so