Thirty-two years ago today, a court acquitted The Body Politic and the officers of Pink Triangle Press on a charge of publishing immoral, indecent and scurrilous material.
Later that year, the delegates to the annual meeting of the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Rights Coalition unanimously passed this resolution celebrating the acquittal:
We recognize the importance of making known our history, so much of which has been lost or stolen, and particularly, of commemorating the victories of lesbians and gay men. Given the historic importance of the acquittal of the officers of Prink Triangle Press as the first major legal victory for the Canadian lesbian and gay rights movement, and given the fortuitous date of that victory, we propose a yearly celebration to mark the day.
We realize that this date, Feb 14, has traditionally been celebrated as St Valentine’s Day and dedicated to the expression of heterosexual affection. We take this opportunity to challenge what Christopher Isherwood has called the “heterosexual dictatorship” by affirming for ourselves and for the world the existence, the strength and the beauty of gay love.
A central symbol of the St Valentine’s Day celebration has been the figure of Cupid, derived from the ancient Greek Eros. We intend to make this day a celebration of the liberation of Eros, both as a reality in our personal lives since coming out and as a political goal to be achieved.
We therefore proclaim Feb 14 as an annual Canadian gay holiday, to be known as “Pink Triangle Day.”
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