Coming out in politics

Former NDP MP Svend Robinson says he still feels the pain he experienced after becoming the first openly gay Canadian MP back on Feb. 29, 1988. He was kicked out of his Ottawa apartment building, received death threats at his constituency office, and was shunned. But he blazed the trail for others today. Politicians talk about what it's like being gay in public life in the documentary, Coming Out in Politics, premiering on OUTtv on April 20.

Svend Robinson pushed for equal rights for the LGBT community by trying to get sexual orientation included in the Charter of Rights. His motion was defeated in 1981, but four years later was included in the Canadian Human Rights Act, which was amended in 1996 to include sexual orientation as a prohibited basis of discrimination.The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

Feature

BY CHRISTOPHER GULY

April 17, 2023

It takes courage to enter politics.

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