Jim Egan is often regarded as Canada's first activist for LGBTQ rights. In the 1940s, gay sex was a crime and homosexuality was treated as a scandal by tabloid newspapers. In 1949, Egan began writing letters to the editor challenging these views. He came to prominence again in the late 1980s and early 1990s when he and his life partner Jack Nesbit applied for the spousal allowance benefit covered by Old Age Security and were denied. They took their appeal all the way to the Supreme Court, and while the court dismissed their case, it did acknowledge that the Charter of Rights protects Canadians from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. These photos come from early in Jim Egan's life, in 1946, when the Globe and Mail covered a business he ran, supplying biological material to labs. 1. Jim Egan at a microscope. Globe and Mail Fonds 1266, Item 103363. 2. Jim Egan with Biological Supply Company employees Michael Roberts and Cliff MacFayden. Globe and Mail Fonds 1266, Item...