Barbara findlay

Last updated
barbara findlay
KC
NationalityCanadian
Education
OccupationLawyer
Known forLGBT rights activism
Website www.barbarafindlay.com

barbara findlay [a] KC is a Canadian lawyer and a longtime LGBT rights activist. She is the subject of the documentary In particular, barbara findlay.

Contents

Early life

Findlay has a BA from Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario. She later studied at the University of British Columbia, obtaining both a Master of Arts in sociology and an LLB. [2] [3]

In the 1960s, findlay was admitted to a psychiatric ward against her will during her first year of university for admitting she was attracted to women. [4] [5]

Career

Findlay was called to the bar in 1977. [3] She began practicing law soon after Canada's decriminalization of homosexuality. [6]

Findlay is a founding member of the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Conference (SOGIC), a queer lawyer group that is part of the Canadian Bar Association, and the December 9 Coalition. She is also a member of Alliance of Women Against Racism Etc. (AWARE). [7]

Findlay has a law practice in British Columbia specializing in family law for LGBT and child custody cases. [2] She has been involved in many cases centring around trans rights, including Kimberley Nixon v. Vancouver Rape Relief Society. [7] [8] The Transgender Archives at the University of Victoria holds copies of Finding Our Place: "Transgendered Law Reform Project" (findlay et al., 1996), The Trans Biography Project: Stories from the Lives of Eleven Trans People in BC (Cross, 2001), Trans Inclusion Policy Manual For Women's Organizations (Darke and Cope, 2002), and Trans People in the Criminal Justice System: A Guide for Criminal Justice Personnel(Goldberg, 2003). [9]

Findlay's life and career are chronicled in the documentary In particular, barbara findlay. [2] [4] The film was directed by Becca Plucer. [10]

Findlay has also led workshops at Room Magazine's literary festival, Growing Room. [11] She is featured in Making Room: Forty Years of Room Magazine in the photo essay "The Cancer Year" (with Dorothy Elias). [12]

Personal life

Findlay lives with her partner, Sheila Gilhooly, in British Columbia. [4] She describes herself as "a white, cisgender, lesbian, activist lawyer with physical disabilities". [13] [14]

Awards

In 2001, findlay was appointed to the Queen's Counsel. [15] In 2005, she was given an award of merit from the Sexual Diversity Studies Department at the University of Toronto. [16] In 2013, findlay was awarded a Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal. [7]

Notes

  1. ↑ Her name is stylized without capitals. [1]

References

  1. ↑ "About Me". barbara findlay Q.C. Retrieved 2020-07-12. My name is spelled without capital letters. People make many assumptions about why that is. Here is the story. I have always signed my name without capital letters.
  2. 1 2 3 "Lawyer barbara findlay shares the personal roots of her advocacy". CBC. 2016-06-07. Retrieved 2020-07-14.
  3. 1 2 "barbara findlay". www.uvic.ca. Retrieved 2020-07-14.
  4. 1 2 3 Takeuchi, Craig (2016-04-25). "Documentary about Vancouver's LGBT rights pioneer barbara findlay retells Canadian queer history". The Georgia Straight. Retrieved 2020-07-14.
  5. ↑ Martinson, Donna (2016). "On the Front Cover: barbara findlay, Q. C." (PDF). The Advocate. Vol. 74. p. 177. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2022-01-27. Retrieved 2020-07-14.
  6. ↑ Martinson, Donna (2016). "On the Front Cover: barbara findlay, Q. C." (PDF). The Advocate. Vol. 74. p. 179. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2022-01-27. Retrieved 2020-07-14.
  7. 1 2 3 Lewis, Shauna (2013-01-30). "Trailblazing lesbian lawyer awarded Queen's Medal". Xtra Magazine. Retrieved 2020-07-14.
  8. ↑ "LSTW and LGBT Film Series: "In Particular, barbara findlay"". Never Apart. Retrieved 2020-07-14.
  9. ↑ "barbara findlay - University of Victoria". UVic.ca. Retrieved 2025-07-18.
  10. ↑ Siemens, Liam (2016-08-23). "Review: In Particular, barbara findlay at VQFF". SAD Mag. Retrieved 2020-07-14.
  11. ↑ Hirose, Alyssa (2018-02-26). "This Feminist Literary Festival is for Everyone". Vancouver Magazine. Retrieved 2020-07-14.
  12. ↑ Reeve, Phyllis (2017-08-09). "The making of Making Room". bcbooklook.com. Retrieved 2020-07-14.
  13. ↑ "CASHRA - ACCCDP National Human Rights Conference - Speaker's biographies | CDPDJ". www.cdpdj.qc.ca. Retrieved 2020-07-14.
  14. ↑ "Contributors". Making Room: Forty Years of Room Magazine. Caitlin Press Inc. 2017. p. 407. ISBN   978-1-987915-40-2. barbara findlay QC is a fat old white cisgender feminist lawyer with disabilities, raised working class and Christian who has been fighting for queer legal rights, organizing unlearning oppression workshops, and writing, for forty-plus years.
  15. ↑ Ministry of Attorney General (2001-12-20). "26 B.C. LAWYERS NAMED QUEEN'S COUNSEL". archive.news.gov.bc.ca. Retrieved 2020-07-14.
  16. ↑ Rundle, Lisa (2005-03-15). "Trudeau Foundation Names Mentors: Authors Irshad Manji and Ken Wiwa will promote public discussion of human rights". University of Toronto Magazine. Retrieved 2020-07-14.
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