Video

Svend Robinson on being Canada’s first out gay MP

A new biography about Robinson was released last year

By Xtra Editor • January 6, 2014 11:50 am EDT
Svend Robinson talks about his experiences as Canada’s first out member of Parliament.

Seven-term MP Svend Robinson recently spoke to Xtra about the new authorized biography Svend Robinson: A Life in Politics and the challenges of coming out as gay in the late 1980s.

“It was not always easy, I got incredible volumes of hate mail, death threats. The day after the Toronto Star ran a front page story saying that I was going to be coming out . . . my office was destroyed.”

Robinson, who now lives in Switzerland, was in Toronto as a the keynote speaker at Awards for Action, a benefit for the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network.

Read more about Robinson and his new biography here.

Read More About:
Politics, Health, Power, Video, News, HIV/AIDS, Ottawa, Toronto, Canada, Arts, Vancouver

Keep Reading

Social Media

New report details online anti-trans hate following Tumbler Ridge shooting

The Canadian Anti-Hate Network analyzed the wave of anti-LGBTQ2S+ social media posts following the tragedy in Tumbler Ridge
A trans flag is waved in front of the U.S. Supreme Court
Sports

U.S. Supreme Court upholds bans on trans women and girls in women’s sports

The 6-3 decision sets a new precedent for Title IX and legislation restricting trans people in sports
Two photos by lesbian photographer Phyllis Christopher. On the left, lesbians at a pride event in San Francisco. On the right, a lesbian tattoo.
We've Been Here

Parties and protests: The photographs of Phyllis Christopher

The iconic photographer captured textured, erotic and political images of San Francisco lesbians as they were
Business

LGBTQ2S+ customers buy less from brands that roll back inclusion: Report

New research from the Human Rights Campaign Foundation found that LGBTQ2S+ consumers represent more than US $3.9 trillion globally in purchasing power
Advertisement