Wild videos show deadly Philippines earthquake shaking skyscrapers so hard it knocks the water out of their rooftop swimming pools
Rosie Perper and Alexandra Ma

Video shows the moment a rooftop pool in the Philippines shook violently

 during a series of aftershocks on Tuesday. Screenshot/Michael Rivo/Facebook

The Philippines was struck by a powerful 6.1-magnitude earthquake on Monday, and several aftershocks were felt around the region.

Multiple videos show how the earthquake shook city skyscrapers so hard that water poured down their sides.

One video shows water cascading off a penthouse pool at a high-rise in Manila, the Philippines capital.

At least 11 people were killed and dozens more are missing from Monday's earthquake.


A powerful earthquake struck the Philippines on Monday, shaking city skyscrapers so hard that water from their rooftop pools cascaded off them onto the streets below.

The northern Philippines was struck by a powerful 6.1-magnitude earthquake on Monday evening local time, and was followed by several powerful aftershocks that were felt in surrounding regions including the capital city of Manila.

At least 11 people were killed and dozens more remain missing. Rescuers worked overnight to pull bodies out from the rubble of a collapsed supermarket in Porac, a municipality northwest of Manila, The Associated Press reported.


Social media footage shows water shooting down the sides of multiple buildings in and around Manila.


Videos posted by local resident Michael Rivo show water dramatically shooting off a high-rise in the Binodo district. The building was identified by Gizmodo as the Anchor Suites, which opened in 2015 and is one of the tallest buildings in the area.

In a Facebook post, Rivo said the water spilled from the building's penthouse swimming pool. The Manila Bulletin said the deluge came from a broken water tank at the penthouse pool.

This video compilation posted by the Manila Bulletin shows the water spilling off the high-rise from different angles.



The footage below, also posted by Rivo, show people running from the water in the streets below the building.


This dramatic scene was not confined to Manila.


The video compilation below, also from the Manila Bulletin Online, shows water cascading off a high-rise in Bonifacio Global City, a district in Taguig, some 11 km (6.8 miles) from Manila's city center, and in Quezon City, which is 9 km (6 miles) northeast of Manila's center.

Watch from the 1:53 mark.


The below video, posted by a Twitter user located in Quezon City, also shows water cascading off an approximately 30-storey building. The name and exact location of the building are not immediately clear.

—Pat Teves #42KabataanPartylist (@patriciativs) April 22, 2019

The Philippines was hit by another magnitude 6.4 earthquake on Tuesday afternoon, originating 13 kilometers (8 miles) east from Tutubigan in the country's central region.

Leaders warned Navy SEALs that reporting alleged war crimes could cost them their careers
Ryan Pickrell

Chief Special Warfare Operator Edward "Eddie" Gallagher Courtesy photo

Chief Special Warfare Operator Edward "Eddie" Gallagher is accused of killing an unarmed ISIS fighter with a hunting knife, killing civilians, and obstructing justice by intimidating his teammates, even threatening to kill them.
A Navy criminal investigation report obtained by The New York Times reveals that the seven Navy SEALs who came forward with information about Gallagher's actions were discouraged from doing so by senior officers.
It was implied that while they were free to report what they allegedly saw, it could cost them their SEAL careers.
Gallagher's defense team argues that the Navy's investigation report is incomplete, insisting that there are hundreds of additional pages that exonerate their client.
Seven Navy SEALs were warned that reporting the alleged war crimes of their teammates and calling for a formal investigation could jeopardize their careers, a Navy criminal investigation report revealed.
Chief Special Warfare Operator Edward "Eddie" Gallagher has been accused of killing an unarmed ISIS fighter with a hunting knife and firing on civilians with a sniper rifle while deployed in Iraq, as well as obstructing justice by attempting to intimidate his fellow SEALs. He allegedly threatened to kill teammates that spoke to authorities about his alleged actions

Read More: Navy SEAL charged with war crimes accused of threatening to kill teammates if they talked, court documents show
Gallagher was arrested in September 2018 following allegations of intimidating witnesses and obstruction of justice, and he was detained at San Diego's Naval Consolidated Brig Miramar. He was officially charged in January with premeditated murder, among other crimes.
In late March, after a tweet by President Trump, Gallagher was moved from the brig at Miramar to a facility at Balboa Naval Medical Center, where he is presently awaiting trial.
His direct superior, Lt. Jacob Portier, is accused of failing to report Gallagher's alleged crimes and burying/destroying evidence. Portier has pleaded not guilty.
Gallagher, a decorated SEAL who earned a Bronze Star for valor, has pleaded not guilty, and his defense is denying all charges.
When his teammates, members of SEAL Team 7's Alpha Platoon, met privately with their troop commander at Naval Base Coronado in March 2018 to discuss Gallagher's alleged crimes, they were encouraged to keep quiet. The message was "stop talking about it," one SEAL told investigators, according to The New York Times, which obtained a copy of the 439-page report.
Their commander, Lt. Cmdr. Robert Breisch, reportedly told the SEALs that the Navy "will pull your birds," a reference to the eagle-and-trident badges the SEALs wear to represent their hard-earned status as elite warfighters.
His aide, Master Chief Petty Officer Brian Alazzawi, told them that the "frag radius" or the area of impact for an investigation into alleged war crimes could be particularly large and damaging to a number of SEALs, The New York Times reported.
The accusers ignored the warning and came forward with their concerns. Now, Gallagher is facing a court-martial trial, which is currently scheduled for May 28.
Gallagher's defense attorney Tim Parlatore told The New York Times that the Navy's investigation report is incomplete, arguing that there are hundreds of additional pages that are sealed. He insists that these documents include testimony stating that Gallagher did not commit the crimes of which he is charged.

States with legal medical marijuana have seen a drop in workplace deaths
Andy Kiersz
Apr. 20, 2019

A recent study suggests that states that adopt medical marijuana laws see a decline in workplace fatalities among young adult workers.

The study's authors suggest this could happen because young adults in those states use marijuana instead of more dangerous drugs like alcohol and opioids.

The widespread adoption of medical marijuana laws may be having an unexpected effect: making workplaces safer.

Several states have adopted medical marijuana laws in the last several years. A recent study seems to suggest that states with such laws saw a subsequent drop in the number of workplace fatalitiesamong young adult workers.

The study, by economists Mark Anderson of Montana State University, Daniel Rees of the University of Colorado, and Erdal Tekin of American University in the October 2018 issue of the International Journal of Drug Policy, looked at how fatal workplace injuries changed after states adopted medical marijuana laws.

The biggest result that they found was a 19.5% decrease in fatal work injuries among 25- to 44-year-old workers in states that adopted medical marijuana laws, after controlling for various demographic and economic factors. While the analysis found a smaller reduction in fatalities for older and younger workers (and for the entire pool of workers overall), after the adoption of medical marijuana, those results fell below the standard of statistical significance.

The authors suggested that a possible reason for the decline in fatal work injuries for young adult workers could be a result of medical marijuana use as a substitute for more dangerous drugs like alcohol and opioids. They wrote, "because the use of alcohol at work is associated with a substantial increase in the risk of injury, and because non-habitual opioid use slows reflexes and impairs cognitive functioning, the enactment of MMLs [medical marijuana laws] could, in theory, make workplaces safer."

The researchers used rates of fatal work injuries in each state and DC between 1992 and 2015 from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries program, which produces yearly figures on the total number of people who die in the course of doing their jobs in the US.

Anderson and his peers looked at how workplace death rates changed after states adopted medical marijuana laws, while also comparing states that legalized medical marijuana to states that did not.

They used a statistical technique called difference in differences, which, assuming certain conditions hold, allows researchers to detect the effects of a specific action — in this case, a state passing a medical marijuana law — while controlling for both other factors specific to each state and for overall national trends in fatal work injuries over time.

The idea that legalizing medical marijuana could reduce workplace fatalities because workers are substituting marijuana for more dangerous drugs would be consistent with other research on drug use in the US. A recent study from Quest Diagnostics showed that marijuana use among US workers has increased in the last several years, but that drug tests for opioids have declined dramatically from their 2015 peak.

Anderson and his colleagues note that there are some limitations and caveats. They note that the Bureau of Labor Statistics data on workplace fatalities is only given at a state-by-state level, so by using that data set, it's impossible to know the exact circumstances of any particular individual incident.

Another complication, as with just about any social science study, is that correlation does not always mean causation. While they saw a drop in workplace fatality rates in states that legalized medical marijuana, there could be some other mechanism not directly related to the change in drug policy that caused that decline.

CRIMINAL CAPITALISM BIG PHARMA OPIOID PUSHERS

Rochester Drug Cooperative fined $20 million in first US criminal case against a major drug distributor over opioids

Jonathan Stempel, Nate Raymond,
Reuters

Laurence Doud III, former CEO of Rochester Drug Co-Operative, exits the Manhattan Federal Courthouse in New York, April 23, 2019. Brendan McDermid/Reuters


The US filed its first criminal charges against a major drug distributor and company executives over their alleged roles in fueling the nation's opioid epidemic by putting profits ahead of patients' safety.

Rochester Drug Co-operative, one of the 10 largest US drug distributors, agreed to pay a $20 million fine and enter a five-year deferred prosecution agreement to resolve the charges.

Two former RDC executives were also charged, including Laurence Doud, who had been its CEO for more than 25 years.
Doud was accused of conspiring to distribute illegal narcotics and conspiring to defraud the US.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The US government on Tuesday filed its first criminal charges against a major drug distributor and company executives over their alleged roles in fueling the nation's opioid epidemic by putting profits ahead of patients' safety.

Rochester Drug Co-operative, one of the 10 largest US drug distributors, agreed to pay a $20 million fine and enter a five-year deferred prosecution agreement to resolve charges it turned a blind eye to thousands of suspicious orders for opioids.

"We made mistakes," RDC spokesman Jeff Eller said in a statement. "We accept responsibility for those mistakes."


Two former RDC executives were also charged, including Laurence Doud, who had been its chief executive for more than 25 years. He was accused of conspiring to distribute illegal narcotics, and conspiring to defraud the United States.

Doud, 75, of New Smyrna, Florida, pleaded not guilty at an afternoon hearing in Manhattan federal court and was released on $500,000 bail.

His lawyer, Derrelle Janey, said Doud "is not the culprit here. We intend to fully defend against these charges."

Former compliance chief William Pietruszewski, 53, of Oak Ridge, New Jersey, separately pleaded guilty to three criminal counts and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors.


The case marks a new US effort to curtail the growing number of people addicted to opioids, including oxycodone and other prescription painkillers.

Opioids, including prescription painkillers and heroin, played a role in a record 47,600 US overdose deaths in 2017, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"This country is in the midst of a prescription drug abuse epidemic," US Attorney Geoffrey Berman said at a Manhattan news conference. "This epidemic has been driven by greed. As alleged, Doud cared more about profits than the laws intended to protect human life."

OxyContin pills. Associated Press
'Red flags' allegedly ignored

Hundreds of lawsuits by state and local governments accuse drugmakers such as Purdue Pharma of deceptively marketing opioids, and distributors such as AmerisourceBergen Corp, Cardinal Health Inc and McKesson Corp of ignoring that they were being diverted for improper uses.


These defendants, as well as RDC, were among those named last month in a lawsuit by New York Attorney General Letitia James alleging widespread fraud.

In Tuesday's settlement, RDC admitted to violating narcotics laws from January 2012 to March 2017 by distributing oxycodone, fentanyl and other controlled substances to pharmacy customers despite internal "red flags" that they would be used improperly.

Berman said the red flags included dramatic increases in order sizes, pharmacy customers paying in cash and prescriptions filled by doctors under investigation by law enforcement or on an RDC "watch list."

Prosecutors said RDC identified about 8,300 potentially suspicious "orders of interest," including for oxycodone, from 2012 to 2016, but reported just four to the federal Drug Enforcement Administration.


Berman said this lax oversight enabled RDC to boost sales of oxycodone tablets more than 800 percent and fentanyl dosages roughly 2,000 percent over that period, while Doud's pay more than doubled, to more than $1.5 million.

"RDC was, in Doud's own words, the knight in shining armor for pharmacies that had been cut off by other distributors," Berman said.

The deferred prosecution agreement allows RDC to keep operating, subject to three years of independent compliance monitoring, and avoid prosecution if it complies with the terms.

Doud led RDC from September 1991 through April 2017, according to court papers.


He faces a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison on the drug conspiracy charge. His next hearing is scheduled for May 8.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York and Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Richard Chang, Tom Brown and Cynthia Osterman)

A FIRST PERSON ACCOUNT OF THE 

GERMAN REVOLUTION OF 1919

PRIMARY DOCUMENTS PUBLISHED 1922

https://archive.org/details/germanrevolution00str/page/4

CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE

 I. GERMAN SOCIALISM IN THE WORLD WAR 7 The Causes of Voting the War Credits — The Nationalist Policy of the Majority — The Struggle against the War Policy of the Party Majority.

 II. THE FALL OF THE OLD REGIME - - 37 The Military Collapse—The Portents of the Revolution—The Naval Rebellion — The 9th November. 

III. THE BEGINNING OF INTERNECINE STRIFE 68 The Proletariat in the Seat of Power — Conflicting Conceptions of the Revolutionary Tasks—Early Inter-revolutionary Struggles—The Independents Leave the Government. 

IV. THE FIRST PHASE OF THE CIVIL WAR - I05 The Left Prepares for Action—The Crushing of Spartacist—The Murder of Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg. 

V. BLOODY WEEKS IN BERLIN AND MUNICH I31 Growing Resentment among the Working Class—The March Massacres in Berlin — The Munich Soviet Republic. 

VI. THE DIFFICULTIES OF HOME POLITICS AND FOREIGN POLICY - - - 167 The Yoke of the Entente Peace—The New Constitution—Financial Policy and Socialization. vi 

VII. THE REVOLUTIONIZING OF THE PROLETARIAN MASSES - - - - ig6 Dictatorship or Democracy—The Soviet System—The Struggle for the Works Councils. 

VIII. THE CRISIS IN THE REPUBLIC - - 217 The Massacre before the Reichstag—The Kapp Putsch—Rocks Ahead. 

IX. TWO YEARS LATER - - - - 246 Fresh Socialist Disagreements—Two Years of Compromise—Reparations and Taxes. 

X. THE LATEST PHASE - - - - 289 The Economic Disintegration—The Strengthening of Reaction—German Finances and the Reparation Problem.

SOCIALISATION IN THEORY AN PRACTICE 

TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. 

The author of this book occupies a peculiar position in the German Socialist movement. As a representative of the Independent Social Democratic Party, he was appointed Finance Minister in the Prussian Revolutionary Government, which came into existence in November 1918. Subsequently, he was alienated from the Independent Socialists by reason of their fanaticism, and the partiality they exhibited towards Bolshevist doctrines. On the other hand, Herr Strobel was unable to sympathise with the wartime policy of the German Majority Socialists, and found much to condemn in their methods of handling the internal troubles which broke out in Germany soon after the Revolution. 
This Revolution had brought political power to German Socialism, with a suddenness and completeness which took many Social Democrats by surprise, and this fact largely accounts for their moral inadequacy and practical unreadiness when confronted with the problem of Socialisation. 
Herr Strobel's candid temperament and detachment enabled him to write the most satisfactory and in- formative account of the German Revolution, as a whole, that has yet been published, and the same qualities were even more necessary in the writing of Sozialisierung-Ihre Wege und Voraussetzungen, of which an English translation is now submitted to the public with the title Socialisation in Theory and Practice. 
As the Socialist Parties in Western Europe approach nearer to the goal of political power, the question of Socialisation will be forced more and more into the arena of political contention. The British Labour Party, which has made significant progress within recent months, draws its inspiration from the economic doctrines of Socialism. 
Alike to friend and opponent of Socialist developments, it is of urgent importance to be conscious of the full meaning and the various social implications of a policy directed to the socialisation of vital industries. The Russian experiment in the application of Communistic principles has passed through strange vicissitudes during the past four years, and the section devoted to this subject by Herr Strobel emphasises the salient features of Communist policy, and describes the social and economic consequences which have flowed from it. 
The political and economic history of Germany during the two years which followed the Armistice, comprising a protracted civil war and violent political agitations all clustering round the question of the economic transformation of society, has not received from the members of the British Labour Movement a quarter of the attention that has been bestowed upon the Russian experiment. Yet the experiences of industrial Germany are more relevant to the immediate aspirations of British Socialism than the dissimilar economic structure of Russia. Herr Strobel has described the scope and the con- sequences of the recent experiments in Socialisation undertaken in three European countries, and has related the practical details of these endeavours to the general principles of Socialism.

https://archive.org/details/socialisationint00struoft/page/6

CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER. PAGE 

I. THE OBJECT: SOCIALISATION i What does Socialism aim at ? ... ... ... i 

The Absence of a Socialisation Scheme ... ... 6 

The Necessity of Socialisation 17

 Socialism and Increased Production 25

 II. COMMUNISTIC SETTLEMENTS 52

III. THE BOLSHEVIST EXPERIMENT 66 The Social Formation of Russia 66

 Socialisation by Compulsion 75 

The Economic Organisation of Bolshevism ... 85 

The Resort to Despotism ... ... ... ... 93

 Industrial Unions as Administrative Organs ... 101

 The Organisation of Distribution 109

 Communism and the Peasant 117 

Financial Policy ... ... ... ... ... 127 

The Upshot of Bolshevism ... ... ... 137 

IV. THE EPISODE OF THE HUNGARIAN DICTATORSHIP ... 149

 V. THE SOCIALISATION PROBLEM AFTER THE NOVEMBER REVOLUTION 170 

VI. THE ECONOMIC SCHEME OF WISSELL AND MOLLEN- DORFF 190 

VII. THE SOCIALISATION OF THE MINES 209 The Control of the Mines by Joint Management 209 

Owners' Profits and Workers' Wages 218

The Influence of Workers' and Consumers' Representatives ... ... ... ... ... 226 

Socialisation on Horizontal Lines 234 

The Function of the Employer 241

 Socialisation and Personal Initiative ... ... 248 

The Proposals of the Socialisation Commission... 255

 The Present Position of the Socialisation Question 264 

VIII. HORTEN'S SOCIALISATION SCHEME 273 

IX. GUILD SOCIALISM 297

 X. THE PATH TO SOCIALISATION 316

HAGBARD CELINE HAD A SUBMARINE

An American bitcoin trader built a floating house off Thailand's coast in an attempt to gain independence. Authorities destroyed his home and he now faces the death penalty.

EVERY PICTURE TELLS A STORY 

POLITIKAL TAROT

1969-2019 LGBTQ IN CANADA

CLIMATE AND ENVIRONMENT 

Global Warming Is Making The Arctic Fall Apart

André Blair — April 23, 2019






It is no secret that global warming is slowly destroying our planet, despite the fact that many choose to refuse the truth, A recent scientific survey brings even more evidence and it focuses on the impact of global warming in the Arctic.


Everything is affected, from the climate to the landscape. Coastal erosion is accelerated by the rising glacial melt. Tundra is also affected and its growing seasons have shifted. And these are just a couple of things from the list. Researchers are very concerned and claim that the Arctic is in a state they have never seen before.


“Combined with unusual storm systems, you can get these off-the-charts changes in the Bering Sea. Last year, with no sea ice and no pool of deep, cold water, pollock were found in the north Bering Sea where they don’t usually go. The question was if they will spawn in the new location or not, and it doesn’t seem that they did. When this happens two years in a row, it becomes really important. The Bering Sea is now in a state we’ve never seen before,” explained co-author Jim Overland from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Global Warming Is Making The Arctic Fall Apart


While these changes will have long term effects on our planet they also affect the indigenous communities in the Arctic right now.


“Almost all of the changes described in the paper, including warming air temperatures, thawing permafrost, retreating sea ice, increased river discharge, and changes in the arrival of migratory species have direct impacts on the residents of Arctic communities, particularly those near the coast,” explained Andy Mahoney from the University of Alaska Fairbanks.


In the Arctic live many” indigenous peoples, recent transplants, hunters and herders, and city dwellers,” which are directly affected by these changes.

Canada unveils LGBTQ loonie — but some gay rights advocates are not impressed

By Katie Dangerfield National Online Journalist, Breaking News Global News

Canada unveiled its new commemorative loonie Tuesday, paying tribute to the 50-year anniversary of the decriminalization of homosexuality across the country.

But the coin is also drawing controversy.

READ MORE: LGBTQ Canadians disproportionately affected by violence according to StatCan survey

Some LGBTQ activists and historians are calling into question the message behind the loonie, saying it mistakenly suggests equality has been reached and that it was done so largely by the Canadian government — specifically by former prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau.

In 1967, then-justice minister Trudeau began calling for reforms to decriminalize homosexuality in Canada’s Criminal Code, which passed two years later.

“There were many gains gained by the gay community before this, but this coin gives all the credit to Pierre Trudeau and 1969. It should be about our community, not the federal government,” York University historian Tom Hooper said.

WATCH: Tracking the history of LGBTQ rights in Canada

The Royal Canadian Mint “could have consulted people who have knowledge of this history, but they didn’t,” Hooper said, adding that he hopes the agency will do so in the future.

Finance Minister Bill Morneau unveiled the loonie in Toronto, saying: “The equality coin encourages all of us to build a better, more inclusive Canada because like the coin itself, the more equality we have in Canada, the richer we all are.”

The coin, which starts circulating Tuesday, combines the words “Equality-Égalité” with the work of Vancouver-based artist Joe Average.


View image on Twitter



Bill Morneau
✔@Bill_Morneau

Hey Canada, keep your eyes peeled for the new Equality $1 coin. This is an opportunity for us all to reflect on the years of progress towards equality for LGBTQ2 Canadians, and importantly, to think about the work still to do.


Protesters were also at the event, arguing that LGBTQ people continued to face criminalization over the decades that followed the legal changes in 1969.

“There are people here who are protesting here,” Morneau said. “There is still more work we need to do. We are not at the end of this path.”

The Anti-69 Network was one of the groups silently protesting, challenging the “mythology that the 1969 Criminal Code reform decriminalized homosexuality.”





Protesters at an event unveiling the new LGBTQ2 loonie in Toronto on Tuesday, April 23, 2019.

THE CANADIAN PRESS/Tijana Martin

“Despite the important gains won by our movements and organizing, equality has still not been established in 2019,” the network stated.

“The continuing struggles are against the blood donation bans, HIV and sex worker criminalization, anti-black racism, which impacts many in our communities, racist and heterosexist and anti-trans policing, the continuing criminalization of consensual homosexual activities, the treatment of LGBTQ2S+ refugees and much more.”
What did the 1969 amendment do?

From confederation in 1867, homosexuality was punishable under Canada’s criminal law.

In 1967, Trudeau proposed amendments to decriminalize homosexuality in Canada’s Criminal Code.
“I think the view we take here is that there’s no place for the state in the bedrooms of the nation,” Trudeau famously said.
In 1969, the amendments passed into the Criminal Code, decriminalizing homosexuality in Canada.

READ MORE: Petition to ban conversion therapy across Canada gains steam, survivor says it’s ‘long overdue’

The clause stated: “(1) Sections 147 and 149 do not apply to any act committed in private between (a) a husband and his wife or (b) any two persons, each of whom is 21 years or more of age, both of whom consent to the commission of the act. (2) For the purposes of subsection (1), (a) an act shall be deemed not to have been committed in private if it is committed in a public place or if more than two persons take part or are present.”

But Hooper argued this act didn’t repeal the law, it only reformed it.

“A lot of people think a law was removed. It wasn’t. Gay sex was still illegal after 1969,” he said. “It only allowed people to have sex in their bedroom, but everywhere else it was a crime, including in a car or in a gay bathhouse.”

He added that the changes also did not apply to many other people in the community, such as lesbians, the trans community and two-spirit people.

WATCH: LGBTQ advocates cheer NDP bill banning conversion therapy

After 1969, he said the gay community was still repressed and had to fight for equal rights in Canada. For example, cohabiting same-sex couples could not claim tax benefits, homosexuality was seen as a mental illness and gay marriage was illegal.

“We are prevented from donating blood still to this day,” he said.

There were also many bathhouse raids in the 1980s, which marked a turning point for the gay community as many protests that followed advocated the end of police violence against LGBTQ people.




Toronto Bathhouse raids, Feb. 5, 1981.Frank Lennon/Toronto Star via Getty Images





Gay rights supporters march on Dundas Street in Toronto on their way to 52 Division police station from Queen’s Park. Originally published on Feb. 21, 1981.Tibor Kolley / The Globe and Mail
‘A lot more still needs to be done’

Liberal MP Rob Oliphant, who was at the loonie’s unveiling, spoke about the controversy surrounding the coin.

“I was 13 years (old) when (Pierre) Trudeau issued those words and I was proud. It did not make me equal, but it gave me a fighting chance,” he said.

“I knew I was different, but just those words gave me a fighting chance and a sense I could have meaning. I wasn’t equal at that point and I’m not sure if I am yet equal, but this coin recognizes the journey. This coin is a small token of a huge effort that has happened and made Canada a better place,” Oliphant said.

READ MORE: B.C. Christian university loses Supreme Court battle over LGBTQ case

The MP argued the equality coin also acts as a “beacon” to the rest of the world, where homosexuality is punishable by death.

Gay rights activist Rev. Brent Hawkes, who was also at the event, said he does not want to back away from celebrating 1969.

“It was not perfect and a lot more needs to be done, and we’re still working on that, but in 1969, this government passed a bill that said certain laws can no longer exist to criminalize gays and lesbians. That is significant,” he argued. “While it’s not perfect, we should not diminish this part of it.”

Hooper said as a historian, he hoped more LBGTQ activists were represented in the new coin.

He gave the example of the first national gay and lesbian protest held on Parliament Hill in 1971.

“It was against the 1969 reform and called on actual decriminalization of homosexuality. It also called on employment rights and human rights protections. That would represent our community instead of representing Pierre Trudeau,” Hooper said.

— With files from the Canadian Press