# Chris Bearchell

Christine (Chris) Bearchell (1953–2007) was a Canadian gay liberation activist and right to privacy advocate. Between 1976 and 1987, she was a regular contributor to The Body Politic. During her time living in Toronto from 1975 to 1995, she co-founded or was a leading member of several organizations, including Canadian Lesbian and Gay Rights of Ontario and Maggie's. She also participated in the protests against Operation Soap.

## Early life

Bearchell was born in Edmonton, Alberta in 1953. She was the eldest daughter of Julia Battersby and Ben Bearchell, and had one younger brother and two younger sisters. Bearchell attended Jasper Place High School. As a teenager, she participated in the anti-Vietnam War movement and the Campaign to Defend Dr. Henry Morgentaler. She moved to Toronto, Ontario in 1975.

## Death

In 1995, Bearchell moved from Toronto to Lasqueti Island in British Colombia. Two years later, in 1997, Bearchell was diagnosed with breast cancer. After a ten-year illness, she died in hospital in Vancouver on March 18, 2007. She was 53 years old at the time of her death. Bearchell's death was marked by obituaries in Xtra!, Now Magazine, and The Globe and Mail, with other prominent Canadian LGBT activists sharing their recollections of her. A memorial service was held at The 519 in Toronto, and was attended by "a veritable who's who of queer activism" in the city.

## Activism

Bearchell was involved in organizing for multiple causes in Toronto between 1975 and 1995. Her causes included gay liberation, lesbian rights, sex workers' rights, privacy rights, opposition to censorship, AIDS advocacy, and abortion rights. Bearchell was also a member of the League for Socialist Action, a Trotskyist organization.

### Gay liberation

Chris Bearchell was a towering figure in the Gay Liberation movement in Canada. She spoke about their goals, saying "Discrimination became a reality as gay people emerged from the closet in larger numbers. We wanted to organize people in opposition to that discrimination, in part to bring them out in even greater numbers, knowing that that was a necessary precondition for the creation of a gay community and a gay political movement."

#### Coalition for Lesbian and Gay Rights of Ontario

In the year 1975, Chris Bearchell co-founded the Coalition for Lesbian and Gay Rights of Ontario. She helped prepare "The Ontario Human Rights Omission" and the brief was presented to the Ontario MPPs which included detailed incidents in discrimination for housing and employment against gays and lesbians.

#### Operation Soap

   They think that when they pick on us that they’re picking on the weakest. Well, they made a mistake this time. We’re going to show them just how strong we are. They can’t get away with this shit anymore. No more shit!
Bearchell participated in the Feb. 6, 1981 protest against the mass arrests conducted by Toronto Police the previous night during Operation Soap. Bearchell gave a speech to the gathered protesters at the corner of Yonge and Wellesley in Toronto's Gay Village, and was reportedly the one to start the chant "No more shit!", which became a prominent slogan in the community response to Operation Soap.

### Sex workers' rights

Beginning in the 1980s, Bearchell began organizing in the sex workers' rights movement. In 1983, she was a founding member of the Canadian Organization for the Rights of Prostitutes (CORP). This organization advocated for the decriminalization of prostitution, spoke out against the prosecution of those involved in sex work, and provided advice and support to sex workers facing criminal charges. After Bill C-49 was passed in December 1985, CORP organized to challenge the constitutionality of the law. During the period of 1986 to 1991, Bearchell was one of the activists "at the helm of CORP's efforts for decriminalization".
In 1986, Bearchell helped found Maggie's, a drop-in and advocacy organization for sex workers. In 1990, Bearchell became the organization's coordinator after the previous coordinator, her close friend and collaborator Danny Cockerline, stepped down.

#### The Body Politic

Bearchell began writing for The Body Politic in 1976. She had a column called "Dykes" and wrote about lesbian issues. In 1978, she helped lead a campaign to defend the paper against criminal indecency charges. In 1979, she joined the paper's collective, becoming the collective's only woman member.