Gens Hellquist

Hellquist died on September 28, 2013, just days before his 67th birthday. He had just recently been diagnosed with cancer, although no source has formally confirmed whether that was his cause of death.

In 2005, the Saskatchewan Human Rights Tribunal relied on expert testimony from Hellquist in finding that four pamphlets which had been publicly distributed in Regina and Saskatoon breached the hate publication provision of the Saskatchewan Human Rights Code. Hellquist had been called as an expert witness by the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission on the impact of the pamphlets on the gay community. In Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission v Whatcott, the Supreme Court of Canada ultimately upheld the Tribunal's ruling with respect to two of the pamphlets.

Hellquist was awarded the Saskatchewan Centennial Medal in June 2005 for his activist work. In 2010, he was inducted into the Q Hall of Fame Canada, and was presented with the Peter Corren Award for Outstanding Achievement by the University of Saskatchewan.

In 1983, Hellquist established the city's LGBT magazine Perceptions, serving as its first publisher and editor. He was also a contributor to other LGBT and activist publications, including The Body Politic, Xtra! and Briarpatch.

In a 1973 interview with The Body Politic, Hellquist said that "I really believe that Gay Lib will be won in the smaller centres of Canada. In a small city they can't ignore you as easily."

He soon received two responses, and the three men soon established a Saskatoon chapter of the Gay Liberation Front. As membership increased, the group expanded its activities to include both political lobbying and social activities. In 1972 the group formally incorporated as the Zodiac Friendship Society, an umbrella organization which was parent to the Gemini Club for social events and Saskatoon Gay Action for the political work. The social events raised funds toward the creation of a gay community centre in the city, which was established in 1973 as only the second such institution in all of Canada.

Born in North Battleford and raised in Saskatoon, he was working in social services in Saskatoon in 1971. With no visible LGBT community in the city, in that year he placed a classified advertisement in the Vancouver newspaper The Georgia Straight seeking other people interested in forming a gay group.

Gens Douglas Hellquist (October 12, 1946 - September 28, 2013) was a Canadian activist and publisher, noted for his prominent role in founding and developing the organized LGBT community in the province of Saskatchewan.