Members of 2SLGBTQ+ community 'floored' at being turned away from monument launch

Members of 2SLGBTQ+ community 'floored' at being turned away from monument launch

Site size meant Thunderhead monument unveiling was invite-only, say organizers

Some members of the 2SLGBTQ+ community say they're upset they weren't allowed to attend the opening ceremony for a new monument in Ottawa dedicated to the discrimination they faced in the public service.

Retired civil servant Sharon McGunigal said she and her partner of 35 years, Susan Scott, went to the unveiling of the new Thunderhead monument on Aug. 21.

But once there, they were told by security there that the event was invite-only.

McGunigal said about 100 others were also turned away, some of whom stood outside a fence afterwards to watch the opening ceremonies from a distance.

National 2SLGBTQ+ monument in Ottawa draws on themes of destruction and renewal

Those who were allowed to attend included Governor General Louise Arbour and former prime minister Justin Trudeau, who in 2017 delivered an apology to the community for enduring decades of discrimination and injustice.

"People were just absolutely floored that there were officials there, but the very people for whom this monument were built were not allowed to attend," McGunigal said.

"The ceremony to celebrate the opening of this monument should have been our celebration. It should have been [for] those members of the community that the monument stands for."

The roughly nine-metre-tall white and silver tower is meant to recognize the discrimination faced by the 2SLGBTQ+ community during a decades-long campaign by the Canadian government known as the LGBT purge.

The purge refers to a period from the 1950s to the mid-1990s when the federal government investigated and expelled thousands of employees from the RCMP, the Canadian Armed Forces and the federal public service due to their sexuality.

Funding for the monument came from a class-action lawsuit against the federal government.

McGunigal said she didn't face discrimination personally, but knew people who did — including Michelle Douglas, who was discharged from the Armed Forces in 1989 and is now head of the LGBT Purge Fund, which organized Friday's unveiling.

"When somebody from your community is discriminated against, it also impacts on you — if not immediately or directly, at least indirectly," McGunigal said.

Site has limited capacity, says organizers

In a statement, the LGBT Purge Fund said the event was invite-only because of the site's limited capacity, with security measures in place to "help keep the love in and the hate out."

The invites "prioritized those who contributed directly to this historic project, along with survivors and long-time leaders in queer and trans rights," the statement said. It also said the site will be fully open to the public this week.

But McGunigal said she doesn't accept that rationale.

"They kept the the love out, quite frankly," she said.

The monument's rollout is also upsetting others in Ottawa who faced discrimination like Paul Leger, who spent his 15 years of military service living in the closet.

Leger wasn't among those who tried to attend Friday, but he said he's still dismayed by what happened.

"We should have been able to attend. We should have been able to mingle just to be there to celebrate this event because it was a great event in our community," he said.

"But no, we were shunned again."

McGunigal said even though she's been left disappointed, she'll still visit the monument once it's fully opened to the public.

"I want to see the panels that they have set up setting out the history. It matters. And so yes, I will be back," she said. "But I'll walk away feeling one more time discriminated against and feeling hurt."

Nathan Fung is a reporter with CBC Ottawa, with a strong interest in covering municipal issues. He has previously worked as a reporter in Hamilton and Edmonton. You can reach him at nathan.fung@cbc.ca