Gerald Hannon

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Gerald Hannon (July 10, 1944 – May 9, 2022) was a Canadian journalist known for work in major magazines and newspapers. He was born in Bathurst, New Brunswick, and moved with his family to Marathon, Ontario, when he was three. He later moved to Toronto and finished high school at St. Michael’s College.

In 1972, Hannon joined The Body Politic, a Toronto LGBT magazine, and became one of its most prolific writers. In November 1977, he published Men Loving Boys Loving Men, a profile of men who had sexual relationships with underage boys. The piece sparked a strong backlash and the magazine was raided by police. The Body Politic and Hannon were charged, but they were acquitted in 1979, and again on appeal in 1982. The magazine ceased publication in 1987, and Hannon became a freelance journalist. He won 13 National Magazine Awards, including profiles of Tomson Highway and John Bentley Mays, and a Toronto Life piece titled The Alchemy of Pork Fat.

Hannon also worked as a sex worker at times and taught journalism part-time at Ryerson University.

In 1995, The Globe and Mail published Hannon’s investigative piece The Kiddie Porn Ring That Wasn't, about Project Guardian, a police operation led by Julian Fantino in London, Ontario. The operation claimed to target child pornography but, in fact, involved no children; many men were charged with prostitution or drugs rather than child crimes. The piece led to controversy, and the Ontario Press Council ruled that it should have been labeled as an opinion piece. Later that year, the Toronto Sun reported that Hannon occasionally worked as a prostitute. Ryerson University suspended him briefly, then reinstated him with a reprimand and did not renew his contract at the end of the year.

Hannon defended freedom of expression and discussed pedophilia as a philosophical topic rather than an endorsement. He continued to write and speak about these issues, and in 1996 a profile in Toronto Life noted that he spoke about pedophilia in a philosophical context.

He died on May 9, 2022, by medical assistance in dying after being diagnosed with atypical Parkinson’s disease. He left a memoir, Immoral, Indecent & Scurrilous: The Making of an Unrepentant Sex Radical, which was completed before his death and planned for publication in 2022.