Changing perceptions of homosexuality in cold war Canada: how? why?

effects & consequences

Period after the World War II was a time of transition for the world, the geopolitical
fault lines were shifting throughout the globe, while on one side the colonial powers were
losing their grip; on the other side from smoke and rubble two new powers were emerging.
These two powers were the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics(USSR) and the United States of
America (USA); these two being polar opposites in ideology caused for decades to come a clash
of very different beliefs ie. capitalism versus communism. With both sides holding on to their
beliefs with extreme conviction they formed the basis of an international power struggle with
both sides vying for dominance, exploiting every opportunity for influence or expansion
anywhere in the world. This tension came to be known as the Cold War, this conflict also
affected the states involved internally, as they became more cautious and distrusting. The Cold
War not only affected the states directly involved(ie. Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the
United States of America) but also allies such as Canada; additionally the Cold War affected not
only foreign policy of these allies but at times also internal policies.1 A close look at the trends
in attitudes and policy towards homosexuality in Canada during the Cold war would reveal that
though subconsciously they closely followed those of the United States of America. 2
Court records demonstrate initial male homosexuality criminalization during the Cold
War era in Canada, psychiatric and mental health texts from this era contain discourse and

Granatstein,J.(2011).GouzenkotoGorbachev:CanadasColdWar.Retrievedfrom
http://www.journal.forces.gc.ca/vol12/no1/41granatsteineng.asp
2
Kinsman,G.,&Gentile,P.(2010).2.TheCanadianwaronqueers:Nationalsecurityassexualregulation.
Vancouver,B.C.:UBCPress.

rhetoric surrounding male homosexuality.3 Historians that study the Cold War in Canada in light
of topics like demonization of homosexuality provide a key reminder of the context that gave
rise to the extensive surveillance of suspected homosexuals in Canada by Royal Canadian
Mounted Police(RCMP). In the wake of 1945 defection of the Soviet clerk Igor Gouzenko and
his claims of Soviet spy rings operating in Canada, through not only Communists, but also civil
servants and intellectuals. In light of Gouzenkos testimony Soviet spies were seen as the latest
threat to Canadian democracy, a sentiment that also echoes with American leadership.4
Although the Canadian leadership was more cautious in jumping to conclusions than their
American counterparts, the Canadian civil service did set the ball rolling on an intensive search
for subversiveness within its ranks. How the RCMP went from investigating spies to
investigation character weaknesses and from that to an open anti-homosexual campaign was
the result of an interesting set of events that followed.
Canadian government's internal security system founded as a result of Gouzenkos
testimony; unknowingly and slowly but steadily internal security system institutionalized
procedures that provided the rationale and means for a long drawn anti homosexual campaign
in the near future. The government already has some concerns over employees' character
weaknesses and how they could turn into security weakness for the nation; this along with the
dominant role played by the RCMP in the vetting process catalyzed by the importance of

Foucault,M.,&Senellart,M.(2007).Security,territory,population:LecturesattheCollgedeFrance,
197778.Basingstoke:PalgraveMacmillan:.
4
Knight,A.(2005).HowtheColdWarbegan:TheIgorGouzenkoAffairandthehuntforSovietspies.New
York:Carroll&Graf.

appeasing American security establishment played a strong role in setting wheels in motion in
the direction of an anti homosexual campaign.5
The government of the day had fears that civil servants were exposing themselves to
blackmail, this deviation from political subversives as targets to sexual subversives as target can
be understood in light of the misconceptions of the era about homosexuality. Homosexuality
was perceived as a danger to the nation and the family structure. Chenier very aptly describes
what was happening as follows
"the sex offender is a construction: grounded in pre-Second World War studies of
homosexuality, tainted as they were by midcentury heterosexist ideas about what constituted
maturity and normalcy, and what constituted danger and harm."6
The state security apparatus was using bewildering arguments to justify the
criminalization of homosexuality such as: homosexual acts were criminal leaving homosexuals
exposed to blackmail by an enemy nation. Because they could be blackmailed and were
resultantly a possible security risk, homosexuality was deemed as a sexual psychopathy and
also criminal.7
RCMP and the Department of National Defence (DND) also acted as rallying forces
behind a policy of ostracization of homosexuals. The position of RCMP and DND stemmed
largely from their own policy of discharging any known homosexual employees.8

Kinsman,G.(1995)."CharacterWeaknesses"and"FruitMachines":TowardsanAnalysisofThe
AntiHomosexualSecurityCampaignintheCanadianCivilService.
6
Chenier,E.(2008).StrangersinourmidstsexualdeviancyinpostwarOntario(p.113).Toronto:University
ofTorontoPress.
7
Kinsman,G.,&Gentile,P.(2010).TheCanadianwaronqueers:Nationalsecurityassexualregulation.
Vancouver,B.C.:UBCPress.
8
Cavell,R.(2004).Love,hate,andfearinCanada'sColdWar.Toronto,Ont.:UniversityofTorontoPress.

Some characteristics of American efforts to weed out homosexuals from federal

positions were replicated by Canada and were an influence on Canadian policy; American
influences helped transition the Canadian vetting process from finding security weaknesses to
finding character weaknesses, reliance of Dr Wake on the American Psychiatric community
for homosexual-detection methods points to one such influence.9
Despite these three very strong forces pushing for an anti-homosexual campaign not
everyone in the establishment shared these prejudices, resultantly the debate over the
homosexual security issues was a complex and deeply contentious one. In fact the early
directive in regard to handling such cases was that such matters be dealt on the basis of
'personal unsuitability10 . This stance can also be seen in the advice given by RCMP Assistant
Commissioner L.H. Nicholson's to the secretary of the Security Panel in a matter concerning one
unreliable employee:
Before precipitating a complaint and publicity the departmental head should exhaust
all means of releasing the employee without letting him become aware that his loyalty is
suspect. Should The employee voice his suspicions as to the real grounds for his removal then
every effort should be made to dispel that suspicion. Depending on circumstances it, is at times
possible to effectively camouflage the reason for action.11
The general publics view remained that homosexuality was abnormal and possibly
needed to be cured. Leading dailies of the time such as Globe and Mail and the Toronto Daily

Kinsman,G.(1995)."CharacterWeaknesses"and"FruitMachines":TowardsanAnalysisofThe
AntiHomosexualSecurityCampaignintheCanadianCivilService.
10
Whitaker,R.(1984).OriginsoftheCanadianGovernment'sInternalSecuritySystem,19461952.
CanadianHistoricalReview,162162.
11
Robinson,D.,&Kimmel,D.(n.d.).TheQueerCareerOfHomosexualSecurityVettingInColdWar
Canada.CanadianHistoricalReview,324324.

Star printed stories that reflect common perceptions of homosexuality. Films and plays were
regularly censored for homosexual content.12
Articles projected homosexuality as sexual immaturity and suggested psychiatric care
over imprisonment as a cure for sexual deviation.13 Reports of court cases noted the emotional
instability of homosexuals, such reports provide insight into popular opinions as well as the
debates experts engaged in over the implications of psychiatry and crime in relation to
homosexual acts. The more such a line was debated the more the demand for a cure to
homosexuality grew.
Demand for a cure for homosexuality also resonated with the government strategy
since in order to cure a disease it must be diagnosed first and the government needed a way to
diagnose homosexuality in the supposed interest of national security. Research on the
detection of homosexuals was mandated and in doing so there was an almost absolute
assumption that gay men and lesbians were psychologically 'abnormal' or suffered from a
'disorder'. Professor F.R. Wake of Carleton University was designated the task to go to the US to
research and study detection tests for homosexuals. Wake had previously been a researcher for
the Royal Commission on the Criminal Law Relating to Criminal Sexual Psychopaths. The report
he compiled and released in 1962 formed the foundation of research and development of a
fruit machine which was to be used to detect homosexuality.14

12

Cavell,R.(2004).Love,hate,andfearinCanada'sColdWar(pp.135158).Toronto,Ont.:Universityof
TorontoPress.
13
DoctorSaysHorror,FearofHomosexualityBlockAchievingSexualMaturity.(1961,February6).Globe
andMail.
14
McCormick,C.(2005).CrimeanddevianceinCanadahistoricalperspectives.Toronto:Canadian
Scholars'Press.

Wake's report referred to Allan Seltzers experiments with the Hess-Polt apparatus
which studied the "stimuli were slides made of pictures from physical culture magazines (some
of which were near pornographic)"15. Such techniques were already mainstream in gay aversion
efforts in the United States. It was argued that in theory the apparatus could help distinguish
the homosexual subject when the results of all pictures were compared based on not just the
pupil dilation but also the direction in which the subject was looking when exposed to such
slides. Wake with substantial conviction said the following two things about his approach.
"Perhaps the most important incidental finding in this experiment was the confession of
a homosexual subject who reported that he had done his best to defeat the machine but knew
he had failed."
"Here, then, is a most promising instrument for detection, not only of homosexuals but
of homosexual potentiality." 16
Despite Wakes confidence getting the machine to work effectively was a challenge to
say the least, this becomes very evident in a memo sent to J.R.M. Bordeleau(secretary of the
Security Panel) by RCMP Assistant Commissioner, and Director of Security and Intelligence
"We are in the process of contacting known male homosexuals in this area and soliciting
their co-operation in the proposed tests, however we are not yet in a position to determine how
many will volunteer for the project." 17
But finding willing volunteers as it turned out was to be least of RCMPs problem in
implementing the fruit machine. The Directorate of Security and Intelligence(DSi) Annual

15

Wake,F.(1962).ReportonSpecialProject.
Wake,F.(1962).ReportonSpecialProject.
17
Kinsman,G.,&Gentile,P.(2010).TheCanadianwaronqueers:Nationalsecurityassexualregulation.
Vancouver,B.C.:UBCPress.
16

Report of 1966 reflected on other major issues with perfecting the technology itself to deal
with variations such as heights, pupil sizes and distance between eyeballs. As it would the fruit
machine never became fully operational and the project was abandoned in 1967.
With the demise of the fruit machine project and the political climate changing the
United States and once again influencing policy in Canada. Canada following the liberal
leadership in USA relaxed its own security provisions for character weaknesses. This was also
compounded by the fact that a lot people in the administration had come to realize that all this
witch hunting was essentially counter productive. Despite the relaxation in policy RCMP kept up
its investigation into homosexuals for years to come.18
This long drawn campaign of ostracizing homosexual males from government service led
to destruction of numerous lives and careers, RCMP at one time had files on up to 9000 people
only one third of whom were in government service. This campaign even had deadly
consequences for people like Canadian diplomat Herbert Norman who committed suicide in
1957 when the United States Senate reopened an investigation his political loyalty. Normans
death came to be known as death by slander and demonstrated the deadly consequences
such a witch hunt could lead to. The campaign also deeply stigmatized a whole generation of
homosexual men who had difficulty coming to terms with their sexuality and saw their sexuality
through a state created prism of mistrust and homophobia based on a notion from a previous
era. To understand the complete effect on the victims of the campaign there need to be more
first hand accounts from those who directly affected.

18

KIMMEL,D.,&ROBINSON,D.(n.d.).TheQueerCareerofHomosexualSecurityVettinginColdWar
Canada.

Although we have come a long way in how our society perceives homosexuality today,
the incidents of 1950s and 1960s are a blot on the ever progressive Canadian society. As far we
have come as a society there still exists a deeply rooted heterosexism in Canadian state
institutions shaped by the legacy of homosexual security vetting during the cold war.

Bibliography
Granatstein, J. (2011). Gouzenko to Gorbachev: Canadas Cold War. Retrieved from
http://www.journal.forces.gc.ca/vol12/no1/41-granatstein-eng.asp
Kinsman, G., & Gentile, P. (2010). 2. The Canadian war on queers: National security as sexual
regulation. Vancouver, B.C.: UBC Press.
Foucault, M., & Senellart, M. (2007). Security, territory, population: Lectures at the Collge de
France, 1977-78. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan :.
Knight, A. (2005). How the Cold War began: The Igor Gouzenko Affair and the hunt for Soviet
spies. New York: Carroll & Graf ;.
Chenier, E. (2008). Strangers in our midst sexual deviancy in postwar Ontario (p. 113).
Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Cavell, R. (2004). Love, hate, and fear in Canada's Cold War. Toronto, Ont.: University of
Toronto Press.
Whitaker, R. (1984). Origins of the Canadian Government's Internal Security System,
19461952. Canadian Historical Review, 162-162.
Robinson, D., & Kimmel, D. (n.d.). The Queer Career Of Homosexual Security Vetting In Cold
War Canada. Canadian Historical Review, 324-324.
Doctor Says Horror, Fear of Homosexuality Block Achieving Sexual Maturity. (1961, February
6). Globe and Mail.
McCormick, C. (2005). Crime and deviance in Canada historical perspectives. Toronto:
Canadian Scholars' Press.
Wake, F. (1962). Report on Special Project.

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