1969

• Completed BA at Carleton University; awarded Woodrow Wilson Fellowship for graduate studies

1974

• Appointed to a tenure-track position in the Department of Political Economy

1975

• Completion Ph.D. thesis at the University of Michigan, on language-group divisions in Canada and Belgium, under the supervision of Robert Putnam

1976

• Appointed Chair of the European Studies Committee, Centre for International Studies; began active period of generating interest in the interdisciplinary study of Europe within the U of T and across Canada

1977

• First of four major journal articles published out of my Ph.D. thesis on language conflict (77-78)

1979

• Promoted, with tenure, to Associate Professor, Dept. of Political Science
• Began volunteering for The Body Politic (gay/lesbian magazine), focusing on fundraising; joined collective in 1983.

1980

• Research Associate, Center for European Studies, Harvard University

1981

• Cross-appointed to University College
• Selected for the Board of Directors of the Canadian Political Science Association (2 years); appointed to Board Committee on the Status of Women
• Volunteered for Right to Privacy Committee, after police raids on gay bathhouses; became administrative head of legal defense fund, and then Secretary of RTPC.

1982

• Appointed Coordinator, Canadian Studies Program, University College
• Joined Citizens’ Independent Review of Police Activities; secretary in 1983.

1984

• Presented first paper on lesbian/gay politics to Canadian Political Science Association meeting, possible first such paper at those annual conference meetings

1985

• Joined Ad Hoc Committee on the Status of Women, University of Toronto

1986

• Coordinated successful campaign to pressure Ontario government and counter religious right opposition on adding sexual orientation to the provincial human rights code

1988

• Published my first gay-related article, on the Ontario struggle over lesbian/gay human rights, in Studies in Political Economy, followed by second in same year, with Scott Bowler, on public opinion

1989

• Founder and coordinator of Committee on Homophobia, University of Toronto
• Co-founder of Men’s Forum at U of T, a group formed to address violence against women in the wake of the murder of 14 women at Montreal’s Ecole Polytechnique; joined committee to organize first university teach-in on sexism and violence against women.

1991

• Small Town in Modern Times, my first book, published by McGill-Queen’s University Press
• Prepared legal affidavit in support of Michelle Douglas’ successful challenge (Douglas v. The Queen) to the Canadian military ban on lesbians and gays serving, my brief critically analysing the military’s public opinion argument

1992

• Published on homophobia in England in Canadian Journal of Political Science, first lesbian/gay related article in that journal
• Published trio of articles and chapters, with Evert Lindquist, on the politics of AIDS in Canada.

1993

• Promoted to full Professor; appointed Vice-Principal of University College (four year term)
• Founding coordinator of Sexualities Studies Caucus, to address curricular silence on sexual diversity

1994

• Founding committee, Canadian Lesbian and Gay Studies Association

1995

• Named to Committee on the Status of Lesbians and Gays in the Profession, American Political Science Association; drafted (with Martha Ackelsberg) the Committee’s report to the Council of the APSA, which was then published in the Association’s journal PS.
• Founding co-chair of Positive Space campaign, first of its kind in North America

1996

• Presented a paper on LGBT activism and the state at a conference sponsored by the Center for Lesbian and Gays Studies of the City University of New York, on a panel shared with Urvashi Vaid and Larry Kramer; approached afterwards by Cornell University Press editor about publishing my first book on the subject

1998

• On the Fringe: Gays and Lesbians in Politics, my first book on sexual diversity, published by Cornell University Press
• Co-founded Sexual Diversity Studies Program at University College; began work on fundraising to support a program that in its early years had no ongoing financial support from the university

1999

• Selected as Council Member, American Political Science Association
• Published first article on labour response to sexual diversity, in Laboring for Rights, edited by Gerald Hunt

2000

• Prepared affidavit for challenge to marriage discrimination (Halpern, et al. v. A.G. Canada) analysing patterns of political avoidance of LGBT issues; eventually became lead affidavit at Supreme Court of Canada.

2001

• Appointed Acting Principal of University College (6 months)
• Awarded Ludwik and Estelle Jus Memorial Human Rights Prize, University of Toronto

2002

• Appointed Graduate Director and Associate Chair, Department of Political Science (3 years)

2004

• Appointed Director, Centre for Sexual Diversity Studies (4 years)

2006

• Mark Bonham dramatically expands his generosity to SDS, and the Centre is named in honour of his contributions to its growth.

2007

• Equity, Diversity, and Canadian Labour, co-edited with Gerald Hunt, published by University of Toronto Press
• First of a series of talks on the architecture and history of University College, soon illustrated by digital images of 1850s architectural drawings obtained from the Ontario and U of T archives.

2008

• Queer Inclusions, Continental Divisions: Public Recognition of Sexual Diversity in Canada and the United States, published by University of Toronto Press
• Gala reception at Integral House, hosted by its owner and creator Jim Stewart, raises over $100,000 for the David Rayside Graduate Fund, to provide support for students enrolled in the new Sexual Diversity Studies collaborative graduate program. A matching grant creates a permanent endowment of $200,000

2009

• Created the Community Relations Committee in the Department of Political Science; began sustained involvement in fundraising, particularly for departmental scholarships.
• Terry Buckland Award for Diversity and Equity in Education, University of Toronto

2011

• Faith, Politics, and Sexual Diversity in Canada and the United States, co-edited with Clyde Wilcox, published by UBC Press.
• Published first journal article on Muslim response to sexual diversity, in Contemporary Islam

2012

• Appointed Acting Director, Bonham Centre for Sexual Diversity Studies (6 months)

2013

• Bonham Centre sponsored symposium in honour of my retirement; David Rayside undergraduate scholarships created at the Centre, through a generous endowment created by Frank Peers.
• Conservatism in Canada, co-edited with James Farney, published by University of Toronto Press

2014

• Awarded the inaugural “Scholar Award” by the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered, Queer, and Allies Caucus of the International Studies Association.
• Published overview of the extent of school recognition of sexual diversity in Canada for the Journal of Canadian Studies
• Served on organizing committee of the World Pride Human Rights Conference, sponsored by the Bonham Centre.
• Elected as Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.

2015-16

• Published an overview of queer advocacy in Ontario for a collection edited by Manon Tremblay, and a chapter on Canadian LGBTQ politics for a mostly-U.S. collection on post-marriage queer politics, edited by Carlos Ball.

2017

• Religion and Canadian Party Politics, co-authored with Paul Thomas and Gerald Sabin, published by UBC Press

2018-

• Published overview articles for encyclopedias or research handbooks on “Parenting Rights in North America” (Global Encyclopedia of LGBT and Queer History, 2019), “Early Advocacy for the Public Recognition of Sexual Diversity” (Oxford Handbook of Global LGBT and Sexual Diversity Politics, 2020), “Canada’s LGBT Movement” (Oxford Encylcopedia of LGBT Politics and Policy, 2020), and “Muslims and Sexual Diversity in North America” (Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Religion, 2021)
• “Edith Catherine Rayside,” Dictionary of Canadian Biography, 2022 (a biography of one of two matrons-in-chief of Canadian military nurses in the First World War, and subsequently superintendant of nurses at Hamilton General Hospital.