LGBT In Government

This is almost a year late but better late than never! ;)

In Canada we have 10 Provinces and 3 Territories. Each has a Premier which is the Head of Government in their respective province. For the first time in history Prince Edward Island has it's first openly gay Premier, Wade MacLauchlan. It's a huge deal in PEI since he stepped in for Robert Ghiz who had to... step down before election lol
The first openly gay Premier in Canada was Kathleen Wynne who is the Premier in Ontario.

Wade

Kathleen

Do you guys have any thoughts? Do you guys have a member of government who is openly gay?

I think it's positive there are openly gay people in governments. It means the gradual shift to equality between LGBT and non-LGBT people is continuing.
As far as I know there are no openly gay politicians here in the Netherlands, not in high places anyway. But to be fair, I don't really follow politics all that much, so there's a decent change I'm mistaken.

Quote by Frozenlily

Do you guys have any thoughts? Do you guys have a member of government who is openly gay?

It's not exactly what you're asking, but, the Chairwoman of the Women and Equalities Committee in the UK is a Tory MP by the name of Maria Miller. Surprisingly enough (from a Tory), she's leading the campaign to have the UK adopt gender-neutral passports.

Like I said, it's not exactly what we're talking about, but, it's a start (especially for those of us that are intersex).

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-35303398

While the US has made some impressive strides recently it still has a bit of way to go....

As of 2015 however, all 50 states have been served by openly LGBT elected politicians in some capacity.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_first_LGBT_holders_of_political_offices_in_the_United_States

I do kind of agree that I don't think it's necessary, but, I disagree that non-normative (written for brevity's sake) people have a "moral obligation" to come out.

We have a small number of openly gay/lesbian members that I know of in the national parliament of South Africa. I think, in contrast to North America, sexual orientation rarely makes the news in politics here. We've had non-discrimination laws for 20 years and marriage equality for 10 years, so legislatively and politically the equality battle has been won.

As for representation in government, yes I think that's very important for any minority group. Our biggest problem at the moment is addressing homophobia/transphobia in traditional, rural and disadvantaged communities where violence towards LGBT people still occurs on a daily basis. In this regard, I think representation of LGBT people from these communities in local government is very important.

Quote by xochild

It's not exactly what you're asking, but, the Chairwoman of the Women and Equalities Committee in the UK is a Tory MP by the name of Maria Miller. Surprisingly enough (from a Tory), she's leading the campaign to have the UK adopt gender-neutral passports.

Like I said, it's not exactly what we're talking about, but, it's a start (especially for those of us that are intersex).

why Surprisingly enough (from a Tory)?  the party that has given the UK its second female prime minister and party that has a lesbian kickboxer as leader of the party in scotland https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruth_Davidson 

the tory party has always been about ability, gender and who you sleep with has never been a factor in the party, almost every member i know is a gay

Mark i could speak at length on the tory party and their attitudes to LGBT people but honestly i dont fancy arguing here. Suffice to say i honestly think you are really simplifying things alot.

Oh do go on....  FIGHT FIGHT - handbags at dawn :0)