Aaron Gunn, Andrew Lawton among controversial MPs headed to Ottawa

ANALYSIS: The 2025 federal election winners include multiple people with concerning pasts around LGBTQ2S+ issues

Canada has a new slate of 343 new members of Parliament after this week’s federal election, which results in Mark Carney’s Liberal Party winning the most seats to form a minority government. 

But when it comes to LGBTQ2S+ rights, there are some big question marks headed to Ottawa that we might want to keep an eye out for, including controversial right-wing media personalities, incumbent MPs who voted against the conversion therapy ban and U.S. vice-president JD Vance’s bestie. 

Senior editor Mel Wood breaks down what you need to know about the anti-LGBTQ2S+ pasts of some of Canada’s newly elected MPs.

Senior editor Mel Woods is an English-speaking Vancouver-based writer, editor and audio producer and a former associate editor with HuffPost Canada. A proud prairie queer and ranch dressing expert, their work has also appeared in Vice, Slate, the Tyee, the CBC, the Globe and Mail and the Walrus.

Keep Reading

Girlguiding patches

Trans girls banned from U.K. Girl Guides following Supreme Court ruling

The U.K. Women’s Institute also announced it will ban trans women from membership

Why is everyone obsessed with this gay Canadian hockey TV show?

“Heated Rivalry” has been a breakout hit. What’s the special sauce that’s making everyone so excited?
Stills from Somebody Somewhere, Clean Slate, and Mid-Century Modern - shows with queer characters that were cancelled or ended.

Nearly half of all queer characters on TV will disappear next year

An uptick in series endings and cancellations is bad news for queer and trans representation
On the left, a black and white still from Flaming Creatures featuring a person sniffing a bouquet of flowers. On the right, an illustrated poster for the film.

‘Flaming Creatures’ and the censorship of queer art

Jack Smith’s 1963 film “Flaming Creatures” was deemed legally obscene by the U.S. Supreme Court