Raymond Taavel (June 9, 1962 – April 17, 2012) was a Canadian

LGBTQ LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, Gay men, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning (sexuality and gender), questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, Asexuality, asexual, ...

rights activist who was attacked and killed by Andre Noel Denny on April 17, 2012 outside Menz Bar, Gottingen Street while protecting another person. He was thereafter posthumously awarded the

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. He played a key role in the

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(HRM)’s first ever Pride Week publication. He worked toward having the

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raised at

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. During his lifetime he also engaged in endeavors to legitimize equal marriage and transgender rights in

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’s Human Rights Act. In 2017, the Department of Heritage and Culture Committee of the

Halifax Regional Council Halifax Regional Council () is the governing body of Halifax, known as the Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM). Halifax is governed by a mayor-council system, where councillors are elected from sixteen geographic districts though a first-past-th ...

selected Taavel as one of 30 Nova Scotians from the last century-and-a-half to be celebrated in the Vanguard exhibition at the

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for his “innovation and change in the face of diversity.” In 2019 Inglis Street Park was renamed the Raymond Taavel Park in his honor.

References

1962 births 2012 deaths Canadian LGBTQ rights activists Deaths by beating Canadian LGBTQ journalists Murdered Canadian journalists 21st-century Canadian LGBTQ people {{Canada-activist-stub