There’s a promo piece for Toronto that makes chills run up my spine. “Rise up for … Love … Diversity … Equality … Family … Freedom.… Your pride will know no bounds.” It’s an advertisement for WorldPride week in Toronto. It’s not that I’m gay: I get shivers because I spoke out on this issue 35 years ago; the city has changed so much for the better.

In 1977 after a controversial article was published in the Body Politic, a local paper serving the gay community, police raided the paper’s office and took subscription lists, distribution and advertising records; corporate and financial records including the cheque book; classified ad records and addresses. A week later criminal charges were laid for distribution of obscene material.

Many in the gay community saw the police action as a direct attack on them since police had seized mailing lists unrelated to any charges. They worried police would use the lists to identify, intimidate and harass them — things that often happened to homosexuals at that time. In 1973, city council had endorsed a statement that city employees could not be discriminated against by the city bureaucracy on the basis of sexual orientation, but few other employers had agreed to this progressive action.

Just after I was elected mayor in late 1978, police raided a gay club and arrested 35 men on various charges relating to sexual behaviour — the Body Politic trial was scheduled to start a few weeks later. Was this a new crackdown by police? The gay community saw the raid as nothing short of intimidation relating to the up-coming trial, and those arrested at the bathhouse feared their names would be publicly disclosed and they would be fired.

I met with the deputy police chief and suggested that if police were contemplating charges for activities that had been ongoing for some time — like gay clubs and bathhouses — shouldn’t police give a warning to the offenders? At least those affected would know what constituted criminal behaviour to the police. The deputy chief showed no interest in that kind of approach.

A rally was arranged in early 1979 in advance of the trial and I agreed to speak. I said the seizure of the paper’s mailing list gave the impression that all gays were criminals, which was not true. I cited city council’s policy about sexual orientation and concluded, “It would be an extremely helpful gesture at this point if the provincial government were to amend the Human Rights Code to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. We know it’s not illegal to be gay. We should take the next step and make it clearly legitimate to be gay.”

My speech created a firestorm. I was castigated by the Globe and Mail and the Star; the Toronto Sun virtually called for my resignation. A TV evangelist rebuked me and told viewers to call my city hall phone number. Many calls were vicious, and I received death threats. I was one of the first elected politicians holding a significant position in Canada to speak up on the gay issue and discovered the cost of doing so.

The issue calmed somewhat but then heated up in the 1980 election campaign. The gay speech was an issue, as well as the fact that I had spoken out after Toronto police had killed Albert Johnson, a mentally ill black man, the eighth person killed by Toronto police in a 13-month period. I lost the election to Art Eggleton. Many said my loss was because of my support for the gay community and my criticism of the police. Two months after the election Toronto police raided a number of gay clubs, arresting more than 300 people. Some officers were quoted as saying now that Sewell was gone they could return to their old ways of doing things.

 It was an ugly time, but things have changed. The Ontario Human Rights Code prohibits discrimination because of sexual orientation. Same sex marriage is celebrated in Canada. The Toronto police, as part of WorldPride week, put on a two-day seminar for other police forces on how they have learned to work with and respect the gay, bisexual, lesbian and transgendered communities.

We’re a better city for the change. It’s why I get shivers when I see that promo.

Post City Magazines’ columnist John Sewell is a former mayor of Toronto and the author of a number of urban planning books.