Nicole White (L) and Jai Richards (R) got married 19 years ago after suing the province to legalize same-sex marriage. (Submitted)

By CJME

Pride Month

Sask. couple reflects on 20 years of legalized same-sex marriage

Jun 20, 2024 | 9:43 AM

Twenty years ago, Jai Richards and Nicole White fought the province to legalize same-sex marriage. This year, the couple will celebrate their 19th wedding anniversary.

“The legislation passed in November of 2004, so then we had to make plans, (so) we got married in 2005,” said Richards.

Earlier this week, the Western Development Museum hosted Spark Your Pride, a free event to teach people in Saskatoon about the queer history of Saskatchewan.

Jai Richards, one of the speakers at the event, shared their journey to get married here.

Richards first met White at Gay and Lesbian Health Services, now called OUT Saskatoon, where Richards was working. Richards was immediately in awe of White. During that time there was a protest against same-sex marriage, so White created a counter-protest that Richards joined in hopes of getting to know White better.

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“And the rest is history,” said Richards.

Jai Richards, guest speaker at Spark Your Pride, shared the history of same-sex marriage in Saskatchewan. (Payton Zillich/650CKOM)

Later the couple got engaged and realized that Saskatchewan was where they wanted to get married.

“People asked why don’t you just go to Ontario to get married — because I am actually from Ontario — but that just didn’t feel right. We live here and this is our community, and so we wanted the legislation to just be changed,” said Richards.

“But that didn’t happen, so of course then it came down to filing a (lawsuit) against the government at the time in order to make access for anybody who wanted it to be legal.”

Richards and White officially got married a year later.

When asked about what Richards wants to see for the province and queer community today, Richards expressed that it is more than acceptance.

“Love is love no matter who your partner and family is, but pride is about all sorts of sexual orientations and gender identities,” said Richards. “For me, it is about one person’s rights don’t come at the expense of somebody else’s and we’re much better when we are all together.”

Cheryl Loadmen, the chair of the Spark Your Pride event, shared that it is crucial Saskatoon understands the history of the LGBTQIA2S+ community in Saskatchewan. That’s why this year’s theme explored how the changes to the legislation happened 20 years ago.

Five couples participated in taking the Saskatchewan Government to court in October of 2004. Justice Donna Wilson heard them in November and the next day she ruled in favour of same-sex marriage in Saskatchewan.

“She just followed what was happening across the country, that this in fact was unconstitutional to deny them the right to marry,” explained Loadmen.

While the right to marry was a huge step for the queer community in this province, Richards expressed that there is more that can be done to accept the queer community.

“Diversity has allowed us as a species to evolve and so we should actually celebrate that diversity, (and) not try to stick people into little boxes.”

Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to correct a misspelled name.