06/18/2026
It’s THROWBACK THURSDAY!
Born and raised in Toronto, Ontario, James Egan (1921-2000) realized he was gay at a young age. He met John Norris “Jack” Nesbit, his lifelong partner, in 1948.
Egan publicly challenged a culture of rampant homophobia in the press starting in the late 1940s, when it was dangerous to speak out.
In 1948, decades before the first Canadian Pride Parade, homosexuality in Canada was still a crime. But despite the dangers of speaking out, gay activist Jim Egan paved the way for groundbreaking legal protections — and thus many years later, he and his longtime partner Jack Nesbit became the subject of Canada’s first LGBTQ “Heritage Minute”.
For years, Egan wrote opinion columns that aimed to correct false stereotypes about the LGBTQ community, and eventually became one of the first openly gay politicians in Canada.
But his most lasting legacy is a lawsuit he launched against the government, which didn’t allow him to claim a spousal pension under the Old Age Security Act — despite the fact that he and Nesbit were together for decades.
They lost that case in 1995 but it sparked another wave of activism that eventually led to a Supreme Court ruling that enshrined LGBTQ rights in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Thank you Jim and Jack for never backing down and for all you did for our 2S/LGBTQIA+ community across Canada. 🏳️🌈🇨🇦🏳️⚧️
