It was 1976 - A British Columbia Court dismisses the appeal of the Vancouver Sun against a decision of the Canadian Human Rights Commission's board of inquiry that found the paper discriminated by not publishing an ad from Gay rights group GATE.

The ad that the Vancouver Sun thought would offend its readers was...

“Subscription to Gay Tide, gay lib paper. $1.00 for 6 issues. 2146 Yew St., Vancouver."

The group would not have been successful were it not for a change in the BC Human Rights Code, made by the NDP government led by Premier Dave Barrett.   

"The legislation would set a new standard in Canadian human rights law with a new section prohibiting discrimination on the basis of “reasonable cause." Other human rights laws banned discrimination on the basis of certain grounds, such as race. However, the 1974 British Columbia Human Rights Code banned all forms of discrimination unless the action could be justified on the basis of reasonable grounds. This new legislation would open the door to precedents in areas such as sexual harassment, pregnancy, and sexual orientation." - Canada's Human Rights History