The Purge - Print Options

If you'd asked me what my future plans were when I was 16 I would've told you, I'm going to join the Air force and get an education, and go into medicine. But as I got older I started to realize I had an attraction to other boys and even though I hadn't come to terms with that, I knew I couldn't join the military. At the time LGBT people were not allowed to serve and if you were found out, you would be arrested, put in military prison, court marshalled, and dishonourably discharged. Between 1955 and 1996 this happened to over 2000 military, RCMP, and government workers and they had to live with that black mark on their records until 2019. The Prime Minister finally issued an apology in 2017 and the class action lawsuit that was filed against the Canadian government was settled in 2018. It's all very little, very late.

If you google search LGBTQ purge, under fruitmachine you will find a documentary about the purge. 

I wasn't personally effected by the Purge but I did have a relationship with someone who was and he is the inspiration for this piece. When I met Shane, I was 22 and he was 23 and he had already been arrested, imprisoned, court marshalled, and dishonourably disharged from the navy. He has a fantastic life now with a wonderful husband, but I know he struggled a lot because of what happened to him.