Michael Lynch

Dr. Michael Lynch was a Canadian-American university professor, activist, writer, scholar, and father. He taught modern poetry, fiction, and writing at St. Michael's College in the University of Toronto from 1971 to 1990. He was one of the first advocates for lesbian and gay studies by teaching one of the first courses with gay themes offered at a Canadian university. He hosted conferences on Walt Whitman and his paper, Here is Adhesiveness: From Friendship to Homosexuality, and was awarded the first Crompton-Noll Award from the Lesbian and Gay Caucus of the Modern Language Association in 1981. He served as an early editor of that organization's newsletter from 1981 to 1990. Dr Lynch was founder or early organizer of numerous gay organizations in Toronto: The Gay Alliance Towards Equality, the (Toronto) Gay Academic Union, and Gay Fathers of Toronto. He was a member of the editorial collective that published The Body Politic. When AIDS came to public attention in 1981, Dr. Lynch was one of the first leaders in Toronto to respond to the crisis. Dr. Lynch was a co-founder of the AIDS Committee of Toronto and served as chairperson in 1984. He originated the idea of Toronto's AIDS Awareness Week in 1983 and helped to found AIDS Action Now! In 1988, he was organizer of the Toronto AIDS Memorial and the founder of the Toronto Centre for Lesbian and Gay Studies. He was struck down by AIDS in 1991.