Stonewall Riots activist brings personal stories of gay fightback to Edmonton
A man who pushed back against "bullying" while participating in the Stonewall Riots in the United States spoke about his experiences at Edmonton City Hall Wednesday.
"I did fight," Martin Boyce told a crowd of a few dozen people.
The riots began on June 28, 1969 after police raided a New York City gay bar, an event that is considered a major catalyst for the LGBTQ2S+ liberation movement.
The raid sparked demonstrations and violence, but Boyce said many of the participants had simply had enough.
"Young people know the pain of bullying, a lot of victims, still," he explained.
"This was codified. This was institutionalized. Bullying was the order of the day when you were a gay person, and you expected it from the day you were born until the day you die."
Boyce said gay-rights effort are now more organzised and well-funded than ever before, and people like him will continue to fight back against descrimination.
The event was free and hosted by Pride@theCity. Other events in Edmonton were hosted by the Pride Centre of Edmonton and Evolution Wonderlounge. Boyce is speaking in six Canadian cities.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Trudeau to announce temporary GST relief on select items heading into holidays
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will announce a two-month GST relief on select items heading into holidays to address affordability issues, sources confirm to CTV News.
'Ding-dong-ditch' prank leads to kidnapping, assault charges for Que. couple
A Saint-Sauveur couple was back in court on Wednesday, accused of attacking a teenager over a prank.
Border agency detained dozens of 'forced labour' cargo shipments. Now it's being sued
Canada's border agency says it has detained about 50 shipments of cargo over suspicions they were products of forced labour under rules introduced in 2020 — but only one was eventually determined to be in breach of the ban.
DEVELOPING International Criminal Court issues arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Hamas officials
The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants on Thursday for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his former defense minister and Hamas officials, accusing them of war crimes and crimes against humanity over the war in Gaza and the October 2023 attacks that triggered Israel’s offensive in the Palestinian territory.
Genetic evidence backs up COVID-19 origin theory that pandemic started in seafood market
A group of researchers say they have more evidence to suggest the COVID-19 pandemic started in a Chinese seafood market where it spread from infected animals to humans. The evidence is laid out in a recent study published in Cell, a scientific journal, nearly five years after the first known COVID-19 outbreak.
2 boys drowned and a deception that gripped the nation: Why the Susan Smith case is still intensely felt 30 years later
Inside Susan Smith’s car pulled from the bottom of a South Carolina lake in 1994 were the bodies of her two young boys, still strapped in their car seats, along with her wedding dress and photo album. Here's how the case unfolded.
REVIEW 'Gladiator II' review: Come see a man fight a monkey; stay for Denzel's devious villain
CTV film critic Richard Crouse says the follow-up to Best Picture Oscar winner 'Gladiator' is long on spectacle, but short on soul.
Donald Trump picks former U.S. congressman Pete Hoekstra as ambassador to Canada
U.S. president-elect Donald Trump has nominated former diplomat and U.S. congressman Pete Hoekstra to be the American ambassador to Canada.
'It changed my life': Montreal-area woman learning how to walk after being hit by stray bullet
A 24-year-old woman is learning how to walk again after being shot while lying in her bed in Repentigny, Que.