06/01/2026
🌈 This Pride Month, we at the Diefenbunker are highlighting an important, often overlooked, and difficult chapter of Canada's Cold War history: the LGBT Purge and the resistance of those who ended discriminatory policies.
Canada's LGBT Purge was a decades-long campaign that targeted Canadian civil servants, RCMP employees, and Canadian Armed Forces personnel who were perceived or discovered to be 2SLGBTQ+. It was driven by Cold War fears that 2SLGBTQ+ Canadians were vulnerable to blackmail and therefore posed a security risk — a claim that was unfounded. Between the 1950s and mid-1990s, thousands of 2SLGBTQ+ Canadians were investigated, surveilled, denied opportunities, or forced from their jobs.
The poster pictured here is one example of the materials used during this period, which employed dog whistle terms such as “sexual promiscuity” and “sexual deviance” to stigmatize and target members of the 2SLGBTQ+ community.
A significant turning point in the history of the LGBT Purge is the story of Michelle Douglas, which is shared in our “Canada and the Cold War” exhibition. Michelle's experience reflects a broader pattern of discrimination faced by many 2SLGBTQ+ members of the Canadian Armed Forces. In 1989, despite being a top-performing officer, Douglas was discharged because of her sexuality. She went on to launch a landmark legal challenge that contributed to the military ending its discriminatory policy against 2SLGBTQ+ service member in 1992. 🏳️🌈
We were grateful for Michelle Douglas sharing her story with audiences as part of our 2022 Cold War Speaker series. By recognizing Douglas, alongside the many others affected by the Purge, we can better understand the human impact of Cold War policies and ensure these histories are not forgotten.
