Gay Igloo Recipient (January 2009)

The Rev. Brent Hawkes, CM, D.Min born in Bath, New Brunswick is a gay Canadian clergyman. Since 1977, he has served as senior pastor of the Metropolitian Community Church of Canada for LGBT parishoners, and is one of Canada's leading gay activists. On June 29, 2007, Governor General Michaelle Jean appointed Brent Hawkes as a member of the Order of Canada. Hawkes has a BSc (1972) and BEd (1973) degrees from Mount Allison University (Sackville, New Brunswick) and a Master of Divinity (1986) and Doctor or Ministry (2001) degrees from Trinity College, University of Toronto. Each Christmas Eve his church holds a Christmas Eve service at Roy Thompson Hall in Toronto with over 5000 in attendance making it one of the largest Christmas services in the country.

January 14, 2001, Hawkes gained national attention by performing a wedding ceremony for two same-sex couples. Although Toronto city clerks would not issue marriage licenses Hawkes employed the alternative provided in Ontario law for regular church attendees to publish official banns for three consecutive weeks, and thereby conducted a legal marriage without requiring prior government permission. In the spirit of the banns as a public opportunity for interested parties to raise legal objections, the church also issued a press release in late 2000 announcing its intentions. The government of Jean Chretien did not endorse the marriages, although Governor General Adrienne Clarkson sent a personal letter of support. The city clerk refused to register the record of marriage, leading to a court battle. On July 12, 2002 the Ontario Superior Court of Justice ruled that the marriages performed by Hawkes in January 2001 were legal, but stayed its decision pending a possible appeal, and on June 10, 2003, the Court Appeal for Ontario affirmed this, and striking down all barriers against same-sex marriage in the province of Ontario, with immediate effect.