2025 Places of Pride: Hanlan’s Point Beach – Official First Day Cover cancelled in Toronto, Ontario.

Places of Pride takes us to sites across Canada that 2SLGBTQIA+ people fought to make their own: places of celebration and freedom to be fully oneself, and spaces that nurtured a sense of solidarity that became a catalyst for change.

This issue proudly celebrates the spaces and places across the country that in some way shaped the present and can inspire the future. It highlights the resilience, courage and achievements of 2SLGBTQIA+ communities that have contributed to Canada’s ongoing journey toward inclusivity and equality.

Good to know

The 2025 Places of Pride stamp issue also includes a booklet of 8 Permanent™ domestic rate stamps, including two of each of the four designs in the set.
Official First Day Covers for each design in the issue are also available.
The Hanlan’s Point Beach Official First Day Cover is cancelled in Toronto, Ontario.

About Hanlan’s Point Beach

Places of Pride takes us to sites across Canada that 2SLGBTQIA+ people fought to make their own – places of celebration and freedom such as Toronto’s Hanlan’s Point Beach, which hosted the pivotal 1971 Gay Day Picnic.

Located on the west side of Toronto Island Park, Hanlan’s Point Beach is thought to be one of the oldest continuously queer spaces in Toronto and Canada. In the early 20th century, it became the locus of a supportive community and a refuge for gay people to retreat from persecution. On August 1, 1971, the beach was the site of the Gay Day Picnic, believed to be the first major gathering of queer people in Canada. Aimed at advancing queer rights and celebrating queer identity, the picnic was an early example of what we now know as Pride. The event was also a staging ground for the We Demand rally, a transformative gay rights demonstration held later that month in Ottawa. Hanlan’s Point Beach was recognized as a Historically Queer Space by the City of Toronto in 2023.

About the design

This issue, designed by Kelly Small at Intents & Purposes Inc. and illustrated by Tim Singleton, captures four landmark locations in rich colour illustration.

Each OFDC in this issue is designed and illustrated in a style reminiscent of travel postcards.

The cancel mark depicts balloons, reminiscent of those seen in archival photographs from Gay Day Picnics held at Hanlan’s Point Beach in the 1970s and 80s.

Product # 414293131

2025 Places of Pride: Hanlan’s Point Beach – Official First Day Cover