Pink Blood: Homophobic Violence in Canada

Despite Canada’s reputation as a beacon for equality in the international struggle for gay rights, homophobia and homophobic violence remain major problems in the country. Since 1990, hundreds of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered people have been assaulted or murdered in Canada, but so far there has been little mention of the phenomenon in Canadian criminology textbooks or other publications.

Pink Blood is the first book to analyze homophobic violence on a national scale. Douglas Victor Janoff uses social theory, legal analysis, descriptive case studies, and interviews with victims, activists, and police officers from thirty cities to convey the shattering impact this violence has had on queer Canadians and on the communities they inhabit. Janoff critically examines the concept of homophobia, the homosexual panic defence, the ignorance and brutality of some Canadian police officers, and hate crime legislation and policies that, despite good intentions, are often powerless to counteract this complex and troubling social problem.

Drawing from a wide range of scholarship-law, criminology, sociology, psychology, philosophy, and social work-Pink Blood is an important addition to the literature on queer life in Canada from a respected researcher and community activist.