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40 Osgoode Hall L.J. 223 (2002)
Lesbians, Gay Men, and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms

handle is hein.journals/ohlj40 and id is 233 raw text is: LESBIANS, GAY MEN,
AND THE CANADIAN CHARTER
OF RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS©
BY BRENDA COSSMAN

The legacy of the first twenty years of the Charter
for lesbians and gay men is a contradictory one of
victories and defeats. At the level of doctrine, strategy,
and politics, both the victories and defeats have been
precarious and contradictory. While gaining formal
equality rights, lesbians and gay men have not been able
to secure rights to sexual freedom. And while formal
equality has displaced the heteronormativity that denied
legal recognition and subjectivity to lesbians and gay
men, this formal equality has come at a cost. Lesbians
and gay men are being reconstituted in law: some are
being newly constituted as legal citizens while others are
being re-inscribed as outlaws. The first twenty years of
the  Charter is a   legacy  of transgression  and
normalization; these new legal subjects are both
challenging dominant modes of legal subjectivity and its
insistence of heterosexuality, while being absorbed into
them.

Dans les vingt premiires ann6es suivant son entr6e
en vigueur, la Charte a laiss6 un patrimoine marqu6 de
victoires et d'6checs pour les lesbiennes et les homme
homosexuels. Les victoires et les 6checs ont 6t6 pr~caires
et contradictoires au niveau de la doctrine, de la strat6gie
et de la politique. Malgr6 la reconnaissance formelle
1'6galit6, les lesbiennes et les hommes homosexuels n'ont
pas pu obtiendre le droit A ]a libert6 sexuelle. Tandis que
I'Ngalit formelle a d~plac6 la h~tdronormativit6 qui
privait les hommes homosexuels et les lesbiennes d'une
reconnaissance juridique  et d'une  subjectivit6,
lobtention de cette dgalitd formelle n'a pas 6t6 sans
cofit. Les lesbiennes et les hommes homosexuels sont
reconstitu~s en droit: certains sont nouvellement
d~sign6s comme 6tant des citoyensjuridiques tandis que
d'autres sont red6finis comme 6tant des hors-la-loi.
Vingt ans apr~s son entr6e en vigueur, la Charte a laiss6
un patrimoine de transgression et de normalisation; ces
nouveaux sujets juridiques contestent les principaux
modes de la subjectivit6 juridique ainsi que 'accent mis
sur la h&t6rosexualit6, tout en &ant absorb6s par ceux-ci.

I.    INTRODU   CTION   ................................................  224
II.   THE EARLY CASES: MOSSOP AND EGAN ......................... 225
III.  THE TURNING POINT: VRIEND .................................. 231
IV.   THE HIGH WATER MARK:
SAME-SEX RELATIONSHIP EQUALITY .......................... 233
V.    WHAT ABOUT SEX AND EXPRESSION?
LI7TLE SISTERS BOOKSTORE ................................... 239
VI.   CONFLICTING RIGHTS: RELIGION VERSUS SEXUALITY ......... 243
VII. VICTORIES, DEFEATS, AND NEW LEGAL SUBJECTS ............. 246

©2002, B. Cossman.
Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Toronto. With thanks to Bruce Ryder for his comments
and Joe-Anne Pickel for her excellent research assistance.

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