Sask. residents reflect on 30th anniversary of legal protections for sexual orientation

Saskatchewan residents are reflecting on the 30th anniversary of a law to prevent discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

"The last 30 years have been a period of incredible societal change. It's day and night how attitudes have changed. When I was a student on campus back then, it was scary to come out. It was frightening to come out to your employer or your family. You could lose your job," Saskatoon lawyer Scott Bell said.

"Broadly speaking, there's been a major shift in attitudes."

In 1993, the Saskatchewan government passed Bill38,a bill to protect human rights on the basis of sexual orientation. To that point, there were no specific legal protections for LGBTQ people. It followed a 20-year fight by activists.

Bell said the legal changes were a step in the right direction.

"The big thing is to change societal attitudes. That's where you want to go. [Bill 38]did lead the way to a change in attitudes," he said.

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University of Saskatchewan professor Cheryl Loadman, who fought alongside Bell and others for the changes, saidshe can't believe it's been 30 years.

"It was a hard fight during those years, during that period of time. So it was really exciting. It was almost euphoric because suddenly, we had rights. We were protected. We were free to be who we were without fear. And that's a real big feeling," Loadman said.

Bell and Loadman say things have come a long way, but there's still a lot of work to do. They pointed to hundreds of pieces of legislation in the United Statesaimed at rolling back those rights, as well as a small but vocal backlash in Canada.