More than 75 countries have outlawed homosexuality and at least five countries have laws that allow homosexual acts to be punished by death. Because of the physical and emotional abuse that some people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) receive from their communities – coupled with the ongoing threat to their well-being – a number have fled to Canada in search of a safe haven. LGBTQ History Month is a month-long annual observance of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender history, and the history of the gay rights and related civil rights movements. IN 2015 WE PROUDLY COMMEMORATE THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY of the first organized civil rights demonstrations, the Gay Pioneers who staged them and the half century of progress we’ve made toward full LGBT equality.