[LINK] "Why Canada Needs to Elect More LGBTQ politicians"

[rfmcdonald]

Torontoist's Erica Lenti writes, in the wake of a federal election that saw many LGBTQ incumbents displaced, about the need for greater representation.

In late September, I attended Toronto’s only leaders debate that addressed LGBTQ issues precluding the federal election. The event felt underwhelming: the openly gay Conservative candidate who was slated to attend did not show up (thanks to lack of instruction from CPC HQ), and in his absence, merely one of three of the other candidates on stage self-identified as LGBTQ. In a room full of queer people eager to have their issues addressed, three white, cisgender men (two of whom were straight) spewed campaign policy at the crowd for a few hours.

The gay MP hopeful who did show up, NDP incumbent Craig Scott, was not re-elected on October 19. In the crimson tide that overtook this year’s election, Scott and two other LGBTQ-identifying incumbents—former Gaspésie-Îles-de-la-Madeleine NDP MP Philip Toone and former Chicoutimi-Le Fjord NDP MP Dany Morin, both from Quebec—lost their seats. In their place, one new NDP candidate (Sheri Benson of Saskatoon West) and two Liberal candidates (Randy Boissonnault of Edmonton Centre and Seamus O’Regan of St. John’s-Mount Pearl) who identify as LGBTQ have been elected. That three LGBTQ incumbent losses were matched by three new LGBTQ candidates could be a cause for celebration.

But with Scott out of the picture, downtown Toronto is no longer represented federally by an openly queer MP.

More troubling is the fact that only six LGBTQ-identifying MPs have been elected this year, accounting for just 1.7 per cent in Parliament. If those numbers seem low, it’s because they are. In fact, those numbers have been unchanging since 2006—just one year after gay marriage was legalized across Canada. Only one of the elected MPs this year was a woman. Just 20 candidates across all four major parties were openly LGBTQ this election.

What gives?