Meet Jim Egan

A solid biography for older elementary students, Meet Jim Egan is part of the “Scholastic Canada Biography” series. Egan was born in Toronto in 1921. He worked as a farm hand and in a medical lab, and then, in 1943, he enlisted in the merchant marines. It was in some cities where his ship docked that he discovered places where gay men gathered and could be themselves without fear of retribution. Until then, he had never met another gay person because most people who were gay kept it a secret. Gay people could be arrested, lose their jobs, have their names printed in the newspaper, and some were even disowned by their families. In 1948, Egan met Jack Nesbit. They began dating and eventually moved in together, but the law prevented them from being married. Egan wrote letters to magazines and newspapers under an assumed name, becoming the first person in Canada to write publicly from a LGBTQ2S+ perspective. He spent the next 15 years involved with gay activism, but progress was slow, and this was starting to take its toll on his and Nesbit’s relationship. The couple moved to British Columbia to live a quieter life. Egan’s interest in gay rights never waned, even after the Canadian government finally changed the laws. He became an environmental activist and was the first openly gay man elected to public office in Canada and was re-elected twice before he retired. Despite the government’s progress on gay rights, gay couples still could not marry, adopt children or have the financial support, such as Old Age Security payments, that other couples had. Egan fought for equal rights all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada, and, though he was unsuccessful in achieving some of his goals, other activists continued his work after his death in 2000. In 2005, the Canadian government finally made same-sex marriage legal, becoming only the fourth country in the world to do so.

The text is well-written and develops logically, making it easy to comprehend. A timeline of Egan’s life and achievements appears at the back of the book. There are a few black and white photographs, but the majority of the illustrations consist of Deas’ cartoonlike mixed media drawings (a combination of digital and traditional media- gouache and watercolour paints and black inkline). The speech bubbles provide some additional information but mostly serve to clarify or reinforce concepts.

Meet Jim Egan is an excellent book about one trailblazer’s fight for equal rights. It has a strong message for inclusiveness and perseverance in order to affect change. Very inspirational!