The country's largest cities feature their own gay areas and communities, such as Toronto's Church and Wellesley neighbourhood, Montreal's Gay Village commercial district, Vancouver's Davie Village and Ottawa's Bank Street Gay Village. It was also ranked first (indicating least dangerous) in Asher & Lyric's LGBTQ+ Danger Index in a 2021. Ĭanada was referred to as the most gay-friendly country in the world, when it was ranked first in the Gay Travel Index chart in 2021, and among the five safest in Forbes magazine in 2019. In 2005, Canada was the fourth country in the world, and the first in the Americas, to implement same-sex marriage nationwide.
In a landmark decision in 1995, Egan v Canada, the Supreme Court of Canada held that sexual orientation is constitutionally protected under the equality clause of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Same-sex sexual activity was made lawful in Canada on June 27, 1969, when the Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1968–69 (also known as Bill C-150) was brought into force upon royal assent.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender ( LGBT) rights in Canada are some of the most extensive in the Americas and in the world.
