Bridging divides and doing battle

Decades after becoming one of the first scholars in Canada to write about LGBTQ2S+ rights, at a time when few in legal academia did, University of Toronto law professor Brenda Cossman is reflecting on how her contributions have helped broaden conceptions about equality in the country. 

“I guess a thing that I've always tried to do is kind of bridge the various sides of debate within the LGBT community,” she says. 

“I always try to take a position to say, ‘you know what, guys, it's a little more complicated than that.’”

Ljiljana Stanić also strives to bridge divides, specifically between government policies and the rights of trans youth. A corporate trade lawyer with McCarthy Tétrault in Toronto, she's working with Egale Canada, a leading advocacy organization for 2SLGBTQ+ people and issues, litigating against anti-trans legislation and policies across the country.

“I like to think about issues deeply,” she says.

“I think it's important that whatever you do, you do well.” 

While Cossman’s advocacy is often in the classroom, Stanic’s is predominantly in the courtroom, but both are pushing to advance LGBTQ2S+ rights in Canada. 

They are the 2025 recipients of the CBA's Sexual and Gender Diversity Alliance Section awards—Cossman the Hero Award and Stanić the Ally Award—honouring legal professionals who have advanced the cause of equality for LGBTQ2S+ communities through either a single important action, a series of actions, or a career contribution.

An expert in family law, law and gender and sexuality, feminist and queer legal studies, constitutional law and more, Cossman has been at the forefront of scholarship on the legal regulation of LGBTQ2S+ lives and law.

Dean Jutta Brunnée at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law nominated her for the CBA award, in large part because of her “prolific” scholarly work, which includes nine books, over 70 articles, and numerous government and law commission reports. 

“She has been as a scholar, a kind of pioneer of taking queer theory, or now an LGBTQ2S+ perspective, and applying that to law,” she says. 

“She's not afraid to take a position on controversial issues of the day. She comments on current events through her particular lens.”

Cossman's need to write often comes from a place of frustration. 

“So much of my writing has come from the fact that I got mad about something. Then I write about it,” she says. 

One notable instance of that anger leading to ground-breaking scholarship was Cossman’s multiple chapters in the book Bad Attitude/s on Trial: Pornography, Feminism and the Butler Decision, which critiqued pro-censorship feminist approaches to pornography. 

“It was right after the Supreme Court of Canada had just upheld the obscenity laws in the Criminal Code,” she says, referring to the 1992 case R. v. Butler. The Court ruled that, while pornography was protected by the Charter’s freedom of expression provisions, it fell under the obscenity sections of the Criminal Code if it included violence against, or the degradation of, women, which violated women’s Charter right to equality.

“They did so in the language of feminism, and it was then declared to be this great feminist victory. I, with a few others, though not many, and certainly no feminist legal academics, said, ‘Whoa, wait a minute. This is not a feminist victory. This is actually kind of terrible.’”

Cossman argued that the decision would actually give leeway for authorities to enforce sexual norms, leading to the persecution of sexual minorities. 

Six weeks later, that’s precisely what happened when Toronto Police laid indecency charges against Glad Day bookstore for selling a lesbian magazine.  

“There were a few of us who drew a pretty direct line from upholding this decision, allegedly a big feminist victory, to ‘look at how this gets used.’ Censorship like this is just going to be used against the most marginal of communities,” Cossman says.

It was an isolating stance to take in the feminist legal community at the time. However, years later, views on how censorship laws could have negative ramifications on the lives and dignity of LGBTQ2S+ communities gradually favoured her original take. 

“This was a key intervention in Canada in scholarship and advocacy, and it really shifted the terrain,” she says. 

In addition to her years of boundary-pushing writing, Cossman is also known as an engaged mentor to her students, many of whom have gone on to influential law careers.  

“Her influence has kind of radiated out into the world,” Brunnée says. 

“She is somebody who gives you sound, well-thought-out advice that is honest and grounded in experience that she's accumulated over the years.”

Cossman’s advice for young lawyers entering the fight for LGBTQ2S+ rights?

“Be brave and be careful,” she says. 

“Now you look south of the border, and they're blowing up the rule of law. When they blow up the rule of law, then we get nothing. We have a lot of tools in our tool chest, except they all rely on the rule of law. Young LGBT lawyers and others are just going to have to figure out what is going to work against this.”

Cossman notes the backlash towards trans youth protections in so-called pronoun policies in some provinces. 

“We're seeing provincial governments prepared to use the notwithstanding clause to defend the clawbacks against appropriate treatment. To me, that is one of the places that we absolutely need to stand and defend.”

Stanić is one of the young lawyers doing just that. She’s working alongside Bennett Jensen, Egale Canada’s legal director, in the organization’s fight against Saskatchewan’s pronoun policy, which requires trans students under 16 to have parental consent before schools can use their chosen name or pronouns. 

Jensen, who won the SAGDA Hero Award last year, nominated Stanić this year to recognize her understated work ethic. Her skillfulness at handling the complex background work on the case has made her an invaluable litigation partner. 

“Understanding LJ is to know that she's a brilliant legal thinker, a truly phenomenal drafter and writer,” he says. 

“There are countless nights that she is up in the very wee hours offering another set of edits or a rewrite or analysis on something just to ensure it gets over the finish line.”

Stanić is humble about her contributions behind the scenes, seeing them as key to bringing a legal argument to life. 

“It’s the quieter work. I'm not a quiet person, per se; I'm quite opinionated and very willing to speak my mind. But it's the foundational work in the background that I think is very important.”

In addition to her ongoing litigation work, Stanić has been the 519’s Trans ID Clinic’s lead lawyer since 2021, supervising an associate team and over 50 students in helping hundreds of low-income trans individuals to obtain appropriate legal documents.

“What I value most is how much security she brings in a moment where the trans community in particular is under so much attack,” Jensen says.

“Having an ally who is such a brilliant lawyer but also such a committed human is really invaluable. She helps me breathe easier.”

Jensen says Stanić will take on the burden of difficult and uncomfortable conversations, and the labour of educating and correcting people, calling them to account if there's anything that's not great. 

“That labour, especially for an ally to be doing, is just so important.”

It’s especially vital at a time when governments are enacting anti-trans laws, “targeting a very small group in the population that is already marginalized,” Stanić says.

“I would like that to stop.”

She says that, sadly, there is plenty of work to be done for young lawyers keen to work on these issues.

Her advice to them? “Focus on doing the best job that you can, listen to your clients, centre your clients, work with integrity and do the best work that you can in service of the goal and in service of vindicating people's rights.”