Fonds F0022 - Tim McCaskell fonds

Gay activist, educator and writer, Tim McCaskell has been politically active since the late 1960s. McCaskell has been involved in countless grassroots movements and has advocated for LGBTQ2+ rights, the rights of people living with HIV/AIDS, and anti-oppressive change within Toronto’s education system and beyond.

McCaskell has been a founding member or contributor to numerous groups including but not limited to, The Body Politic, the Right to Privacy Committee, the Simon Nkodi Anti-Apartheid Committee, the International Gay Association, AIDS Action Now!, and Queers Against Israeli Apartheid. Additionally, McCaskell has spent over twenty years with the Toronto District School Board’s Equal Opportunity Office. In 1996, he received the City of Toronto Award of Merit for human rights work.

McCaskell was born in 1951 in Beaverton, Ontario. His political involvement began in high school with the 1968 Federal Election. McCaskell established a small Action Trudeau group of youth and doorknocked for the local Liberal candidate. McCaskell quickly became disillusioned with the party after the election and penned a letter denouncing the Liberal Party which was sent to the party headquarters.

McCaskell was enrolled at Brock District High School during the height of the Vietnam War. While attending a Phil Oakes concert in Toronto he picked up an anti-war leaflet, returning to Beaverton he requested more leaflets, which he distributed to fellow students.

In 1969, McCaskell began his Undergraduate Studies at Carleton University immersing himself in left wing anti-war politics. He was involved with the Young Socialist Club, protested the Vietnam War, and called for lower tuition. After a year of enrollment, McCaskell dropped out and purchased a $200 plane ticket to Europe. His trip eventually ended in India. During his travels, he continually encountered anti-imperialist politics wherever he went.

McCaskell then returned to Toronto and for a short time, sold Guerilla newspapers on the street corner, until he started writing for the publication.

A friend’s father offered McCaskell a job at Quaker Oats in Columbia. Enroute McCaskell and his friend stopped in Miami coinciding with the Republican Convention to renominate President Richard Nixon. McCaskell was tear gassed during a protest against the renomination. McCaskell went on to work in Columbia for a year, then spent another year hitchhiking across South America, where he became committed to Marxism.

In 1974, McCaskell returned to Canada. He began working at the Centre for Spanish Speaking People as a bilingual legal secretary, preparing and translating documents for the legal staff.
That same year, McCaskell came out after attending a gay liberation rally in Riverdale Park. Shortly after coming out, he began volunteering with The Body Politic and was listed as a contributor in the 1974 September/October Issue 15. He was a collective member of The Body Politic for 12 years, working on international news for most of that time.

McCaskell joined the Marxist Institute in 1974, where he focused on the intersection between gay liberation and marxism. In 1975, McCaskell met his long term partner, Richard Fung at the Institute.

In 1976, Fung, John Manweering, David Gibson, McCaskell and his sister Lisa rented out a 5 bedroom house at 188 1/2 Seaton Street in Cabbagetown.

In 1979, McCaskell started working at the Riverdale Intercultural Council where he began doing anti-racist work in education. His role was created largely to respond to the racism towards the growing South Asian population in Riverdale. McCaskell organized education programmes in the community and at local schools, producing audiovisual resources on immigration and racism. In 1980 McCaskell left the Riverdale Intercultural Council to complete his Bachelor of Arts at the University of Toronto. However he quickly returned to anti-racist activism , when the Ku Klux Klan opened an office in Riverdale. McCaskell along with other activists established the Riverdale Action Committee Against Racism which canvassed a petition against the KKK and organized a protest starting in Riverdale Park. Shortly after the protest, the Toronto KKK relocated to Parkdale before disbanding.

McCaskell got a job with the Cross Cultural Communications Centre where he researched, scripted, and produced a half hour video tape on Toronto’s Latin American community.

In 1982, McCaskell received his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Toronto.

In the early 1980s, the Toronto District School Board hired its first advisor on race relations, Tony Souza. Souza worked to implement new policies challenging racism within the education system. One initiative was a race relations camp for high school students and in 1981 McCaskell was hired as a camp facilitator. In September 1983, he was offered a part time contract as a Student Programme Worker at the Toronto District School Board’s Equal Opportunity Office. McCaskell developed and delivered programs for students and teachers on equity issues related to racism, sexism, homophobia, disability, class, immigration and more. He organized student and teacher workshops on anti-racism, ESL and Latin American camps, worked with student groups, provided training for teachers, and developed resource materials. McCaskell also co-facilitated a weekly LGBTQ student support group. McCaskell left the Toronto District School Board in April 2001 and documented his and his coworker’s work in his first book Race to Equity, published in 2005.

Through his work in education reform, McCaskell was also involved with the Organization of Gays and Lesbians for Education and Education Against Homophobia.

From 1981 to 1983, McCaskell was involved with the Right to Privacy Committee. The RTPC led the legal fight against the police raids on several Toronto bathhouses. The RTPC organized demonstrations, raised thousands of dollars for legal aid and financial assistance for those arrested in the raids, and established the Gay Street Patrol to address the queerbashing that had increased following the raids. McCaskell served as the Chairperson for the RTPC Public Action Committee, which was formed to leverage and direct the outrage inspired by the raids. As the PAC chairperson, McCaskell helped organize many protests and played an integral role in coordinating the national fundraising campaign to purchase a full page advertisement in The Globe and Mail. During this time, the Seaton Street House became the central site for RTPC organizing, until McCaskell and his housemates were evicted by their landlord without notice. The RTPC operations relocated to Jearld Moldenhauer’s house down the block at 139 Seaton Street. This house was a hub for gay organizing and became the new unofficial headquarters for the RTPC.

In 1986, McCaskell was involved as a founding member of the Simon Nkodi Anti-Apartheid Committee. The Committee was responsible for organizing anti-apartheid solidarity work and the Simon Nkodi North American Tour. Prior to hearing about Simon Nkodi, McCaskell, Fung, and Lisa McCaskell were already involved with the Toronto Committee for Liberation of Southern Africa. They had supported the growing boycott movement and McCaskell had helped organize demonstrations.

That same year, McCaskell left The Body Politic collective. At the time, he was enrolled in the Master of Education Program at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, was working full time with the Board of Education, and working towards his black belt.

Under the direction of gay activist Michael Lynch, AIDS Action Now! was established in 1988. McCaskell, along with other activists and healthcare workers, were founding members of the Toronto based group. AAN! fought for the improvement of treatment, care, and support for people living with HIV/AIDS. McCaskell served as an AAN! chairperson from 1988 to 1990, and sat on the steering committee for many years.

In 1996, McCaskell received the City of Toronto Award of Merit for his human rights work.

In 2009, McCaskell was asked by Queers Against Israeli Apartheid (QuAIA) to give an address on his experience with the Simon Nkodi Anti-Apartheid Committee. QuAIA sought to highlight and challenge to the pinkwashing of Israel and their use of LGBT rights to distract from their violation of Palestinian human rights. In McCaskell’s address, he stressed the importance of solidarity with groups fighting for human rights and social justice. The event was emceed by the 2009 Pride Grand Marshall El Farouk-Khaki. Although the event went well, there was blowback against QuAIA, Khaki, and McCaskell from groups such as the B’nai Brith and politicians. McCaskell and Fung continued their involvement with QuAIA.

In 2016, McCaskell’s Queer Progress: From Homophobia to Homonationalism was published.