Construction is underway on a new monument honouring the discrimination generations of 2SLGBTQ+ Canadians faced at the hands of the federal government, but one queer historian says the plans are problematic.
The Thunderhead Monument, which has been under construction in the nation’s capital since May 2024, is designed to recognize the abuse, exclusion and criminalization faced by 2SLGBTQ+ people in Canada at the hands of the federal government, during what is known as the LGBT Purge or the Anti-Queer Purge.
This period of time, ranging from the 1950s to the 1990s, saw queer members of the Canadian Armed Forces, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and the federal public service experience systemic discrimination and harassment, with queer people being followed, interrogated, fired and traumatized by the federal government.
Then, in 2016, many survivors of the Purge banded together to launch a nationwide class action lawsuit against the federal government. Following this, a federal apology was issued by then Prime Minister Justin Trudeau back in 2017, addressing the many atrocities faced by 2SLGBTQ+ people working for the federal government, and a $24-million settlement was reached in June of 2018.
Following this, The LGBT Purge Fund was created to manage the money from the settlement, which is dedicated to both compensating the plaintiffs in the case and reconciliation efforts.
Dr. Patrizia Gentile is a queer historian and professor at Carleton University’s Feminist Institute of Social Transformation and Human Rights and Social Justice program. She’s also co-author of The Canadian War on Queers, a 2015 book that documents the suffering of queer Canadians impacted by the Purge.
While writing the book, Gentile and co-author Gary Kinsman uncovered many horrific details of the Purge, including the creation of The Fruit Machine, which was used “to detect” homosexuality. In addition to various documents accessed through freedom of information requests, the authors also spoke to more than 50 people impacted by the purge to document their stories.
“This campaign was a campaign that was interested in basically demoting queers that were in the civil service and military, getting them fired, removing them, [as] they were seen as having what’s called, at the time, ‘character weaknesses’ and therefore they were blackmailable,” Gentile told Queer & Now.
She explained that in the context of the Cold War, the idea of loyalty to the country was a particularly important component of society and culture at the time.
“People who were on the left, people who were political dissidents, people who were queer, were considered subversives and disloyal just because they were queer.”
But Gentile says the idea of people being subversive and therefore disloyal is an ongoing issue experienced by many communities, including transgender people, with several anti-trans policies that are happening in various provinces, and not being shut down by the government.
A MONUMENT HONOURING VICTIMS OF THE PURGE
The Fund is run by a board of members which includes LGBT Purge survivors, class action plaintiffs and a representative of the legal team that challenged the Canadian government, such as Executive Director Michelle Douglas, who served in Canada’s military from 1986 to 1989 before being honourably discharged during The Purge.
Douglas went on to launch a landmark legal challenge against the Armed Forces’ policies that allowed for discrimination against 2SLGBTQ+ members. According to the organization’s website, this lawsuit led to the end of many of Canada’s discriminatory policies in 1992.
The monument was designed by a group that included visual artists Shawna Dempsey and Lorri Millan, Indigenous and Two-Spirited People expert and advisor Albert McLeod, and architecture company Public City Inc. (Courtesy: The Canadian government)
“It was a witch hunt against us. We were investigated, interrogated, fired, and [subjected to] any number of other, odious and oppressive treatments against us simply because of who we are,” Douglas told Queer & Now, adding that the settlement brought justice to hundreds of people who experienced the Purge.
“[It] is symbolically representative of the people who never lived long enough to see their day, to see justice, to apply for some funds and to get an apology from Canada for the injustice that they endured,” she continued, adding that they are mandated to use the funds for reconciliation and memorialization efforts.
This includes the construction of the Thunderhead Monument, which is currently underway on the edge of the Ottawa River in the capital’s downtown, in the shadow of Parliament Hill.
“This monument will be what we like to call 110 per cent queer,” Douglas shared.
At completion, it will be a spherical monument lined with glass mirrored tiles and lighting that create a disco ball aura, and a stage. The space will feature a small fruit orchard, a healing circle with stones collected by 2SLGBTQ+ Indigenous community members from each of the 13 Canadian provinces and territories, and an interpretive wall meant to ground visitors in the history of the Purge.
Douglas says visibility, education and inspiration are key, adding that Thunderhead is not uniquely a LGBT Purge monument, but a marker for all 2SLGBTQI+ people in Canada, representing a story of oppression, discrimination, resilience, resistance and protest.
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“The goal is… also to create a public space where people can come together and learn about the journey,” the executive director shared. “So, there are many goals, but the fact is that we will have a national 2SLGBTQI+ monument, the only national such monument anywhere in the world for the queer community.”
She shared that the name comes from the thunderhead cloud, intending to invoke the idea of the power of the erupting thunderhead cloud.
“It’s also in Indigenous tradition, the home of the thunderers, where the endless possibility of renewal through rain [and] through the eruption of power. So, these are the kind of ideas behind the name Thunderhead; it’s quite a powerful description,” she explained, adding that the inside of the structure is actually the hollowed-out image of the Thunderhead cloud.
Douglas explained that the monument is completely backed by The LGBT Purge Fund.
“We have a court order that mandates this, and it’s been the dream of many to ensure there is a marker for all time for the queer community. It is a national beacon of hope for many,” she explained.
IT’S NOT ENOUGH
Gentile says that while the 2017 apology was powerful, it allows the government to absolve itself socially and culturally from its responsibility for the campaign.
“It allows the state to [depict itself] as now being in partnership with the survivors, where in fact, they were the ones who created the misery,” Gentile explained, comparing the 2017 apology to the apology to those impacted by Canada’s residential school system.
“The apology and monument create the process of complicity now, in the sense that once the state funds [this] and it now becomes seen as protecting your human rights, when there is an entire book and a set of huge research that shows that they did everything but protect.”
She says it also creates a sense that there are 2SLGBTQ+ that get accepted by the state, those who are seen as getting access to money, rights, politicians, and the inner circle, and then there’s everyone else.
“It’s not that I’m against [the monument], per se, but what I am is very vigilant about what the implications are going forward, as we know, since we know that, purges continue,” she explained.
Gentile says that throughout the decades that The Purge continued, Canadian officials continued to change their discussions on why 2SLGBTQ+ people were a threat to society. In the 50s and 60s, when queer identities were less socially acceptable, they called it a character weakness. But by the 70s and 80s, when more people were visibly out, they began to say they were after gay activists who were disrupting society. She says this is still happening.
“So, now the government says ‘We’re supporting queers,’ but now these queers over here are not good, right? So, we can still go after them. But look, we have a monument, and we gave $24 million, so we’re good. It’s just that these players are not behaving correctly, so we still have to go after them.”
WORK TO SUPPORT QUEER COMMUNITIES MUST CONTINUE
Douglas agrees that the work must continue to ensure there are proper resources for the 2SLGBTQ+ community, adding that The LGBT Purge Fund is part of that call to action. The Fund has also worked with experts to develop a report for the Canadian government to help make federal workspaces more inclusive, diverse and equitable environments for queer people.
“We also agree that there are many needs for the queer community, and that should not erase the need for a marker for people to mark our history and create a public gathering space. So it’s not an exclusive, either/or, and many hundreds and thousands of people have fought for this public marker.”
Additionally, The Fund is also responsible for initiatives like a large-scale exhibit in the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, and has distributed over a million dollars in grants to the queer community and beyond, to establish scholarships, grants, and for projects like oral history records of The Purge.
“We’re still helping people who we know of who are not having an easy time in the federal work environment, so we continue to do that work in big and small ways,” Douglas continued, adding this includes things like taking dinner and food to veterans who have experienced so much trauma they’re now unable to work, and experiencing poverty.
Gentile says that while this outreach work is important, it’s unclear how the decisions about what to fund are made. The LGBT Purge Fund’s financial statements can be found on its website.
Gentile also believes that the money going to the monument could be better spent elsewhere.
“I really believe that throwing money to a monument when we could use that money… to actually house trans youth who are kicked out of their homes because they’re trans and meant to live in the streets, just as an example, is highly problematic. That’s not an act of resistance.”
