Brenda Cossman recognized by Canadian Bar Association

Professor Brenda Cossman, Goodman-Schipper Chair and Associate Dean, Research, has received the 2025 Hero Award presented by the Sexual and Gender Diversity Alliance Section of the Canadian Bar Association (CBA).

The award recognizes excellence within the Canadian legal profession in advancing the cause of equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and two-spirit people.

Cossman has written extensively on the legal issues affecting the LGBT community. She has authored eight books including, Sexual Citizens: The Legal and Cultural Regulation of Sex and Belonging (SUP, 2007), The New Sex Wars: Sexual Harm in the #MeToo Era (NYU, 2021) and the co-edited, Enticements: Queer Legal Studies (NYU Press, 2024). For nearly a decade she served as director of U of T’s Mark S. Bonham Centre for Sexual Diversity Studies.

“Brenda’s commitment to advancing justice, equality and visibility for the LGBTQ2+ communities is exemplified also through her extensive body of scholarship,” said University Professor and Dean Jutta Brunnée, James Marshall Tory Dean’s Chair. “We congratulate her on this well-deserved recognition from the Canadian Bar Association.”

Cossman was recognized during the CBA Awards of Excellence in Ottawa on June 4.