Pink Blood: Homophobic Violence in Canada
In 2005, Douglas Janoff published Pink Blood: Homophobic Violence in Canada (University of Toronto Press, 2005). He began to research this topic in 1992 after a gay man was savagely attacked in Vancouver. To deepen his knowledge of the subject, he pursued graduate studies in criminology at Simon Fraser University under the supervision of the late Dr. Karlene Faith, a renowned expert on women in the criminal justice system.
He expanded his thesis into a book, the first to examine homophobic and transphobic violence in Canada. He analyzed more than 300 assaults and 100 homicides that occurred in Canada between 1990 and 2000 – crimes that had received scant mention in Canadian criminology textbooks or other publications. He used 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 Canada’s LGBT communities. The book critically examined how the “homosexual panic defence” has played out in the Canadian courtroom, the persistence of homophobia in Canadian police departments, and the failure of crime statistics and hate crime legislation to address homophobic and transphobic violence in Canada.
In a review of Pink Blood, Barry Adam, the eminent social movement theorist, wrote: “Based on an immense amount of research, Pink Blood is both a landmark study and a highly readable book. Janoff’s background in journalism has been used to good effect, resulting in a book that goes beyond official reports and statistics. There is next to nothing on homophobic violence in Canada that is currently in print; this will be the standard reference in the area.”
In 2005, the author did a book tour across Canada, visiting more than thirty universities and colleges from Victoria to Cape Breton Island. He also met with LGBT community organizations and police organizations. Although the paperback version of the book is now out of print, used paperbacks and new hardcover versions are available on-line.
Pink Blood: La violence homophobe au Canada
In 2007, les Éditions Triptyque, based in Montréal, published a French translation of Pink Blood. Under the direction of Diane Archambault, the book was translated by a team of committed volunteers. A French-language book tour took place in 2007 in bookstores, community centres and university classrooms across Québec and in Paris, Lyon, Geneva, Tours, Brussels, and Lille. Second-hand paperback copies are available on-line. Reviewer Benoit Migneault wrote:
Évidemment, il est parfois difficile d’en faire lecture et de voir ainsi étaler tant de manifestations de haine. Il ne fait aucun doute que la société a changé, mais on réalise également qu’il reste encore un travail considérable à faire… Bref, un ouvrage fascinant, parfois complexe, mais qui se lit presque comme un roman. (Fugues, September 25, 2007)
