Roger Thibault, one half of first same-sex civil union in Quebec, dies at 77
Posted August 13, 2023 12:54 pm.
Last Updated August 14, 2023 10:52 am.
A member of the first same-sex couple to be legally joined in a civil union in North America has died.
Roger Thibault, 77, died Friday in the arms of the man he shared his life with for 50 years.
His husband, Theo Wouters, says Thibault suffered from Parkinson’s disease and his conditioned had worsened.
The couple was united in a civil union in July 2002 after the Quebec government created the new form of legal partnership, distinguished from marriage only by its name, which was open to same sex couples.
Quebec would legalize same sex marriage in 2004, while the federal government would follow in 2005.
Wouters, 81, says he hopes future generations will remember the couple’s fight against homophobia.
