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Documentary ‘in particular, barbara findlay’ Details Vancouver LGBT Activist’s Fight for Equality

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For the past 30 years, lawyer barbara findlay Q.C has been fighting for the rights and the freedoms of LGBT Canadians.

Not only was barbara findlay one of the first lawyers to practice openly as a lesbian, but she has also broken ground by taking on cases regarding gay adoption, family law, discrimination and in 1995 she represented Kimberley Nixon who was asked to leave the Vancouver Rape Relief organisation because she is trans.

So important has barbara findlay’s work been to Canada’s LGBT community that it has now been presented in a documentary called in particular, barbara findlay.

Directed by Becca Plucer, the documentary also features the likes of Kimberly Nixon, as well as 13-year-old Tru Wilson (who got a Catholic school board to change its policy regarding the gender expression of students) and other activists and writers who are working to fight against oppression.

Moreover, the documentary looks at some of the low points barbara findlay’s life. For example, in the late 1960s, a time when people didn’t necessarily know what a lesbian was, barbara findlay was locked up in a psychiatric ward for admitting her attraction to women.

The lawyer also faced sexism as one of few women who were in law school.

And there are high points as well, including barbara findlay’s meeting of her partner Sheila Gilhooly, who features in the documentary as an interviewee, meeting her thesis advisor Dorothy Smyth and in 1982 when she discovered that LGBT people had been left out of the human rights code.

In particular, barbara findlay aired late last month at The Rio for Queer History Month, and some of those lucky enough to be in attendance called it an ‘important story to tell,’ massively praising the documentary. For those who were unable to attend the showing of the film, however, a post on barbara findlay’s website explains that the documentary will be available online after June 3 via OUTtv.

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If only the world was as “open-minded” as us… Alas, matters of sexual identity and equal love, often cause so much friction in the rest of the world. Here, find an open dialogue on the issues facing our LGBT community.

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