Originally published in Xtra West on December 21, 2006.

Although 52 is a bit young to be considered a historical artifact, there is no denying that Svend Robinson is a historical figure by virtue of his having come out on the national stage in 1988. The angry reaction of Canada’s political class to his gesture illustrates just why we have had the courts, and not they, back us on our issues.

Svend Robinson was 25 when he was elected to parliament in 1979. He would hold the riding of Burnaby for the NDP until 2004. A rising star of the Canadian left, he came out on The Journal on February 28, 1988. He did so, he stated, to draw attention to gays and lesbians who were coming “increasingly under attack,” and to pressure the Conservative government to fulfill a 1986 promise to ensure that sexual orientation would be a prohibited ground of discrimination at a time when there was “an increase in the level of homophobia surrounding the AIDS crisis.” On March 1st, during an interview on Canada AM, he claimed that there were homosexuals in parliament and in cabinet as he explained the intensely personal nature of the decision to come out in politics, “It’s one that each individual has to make in terms of timing.”

His coming out was news. The Province’s Nicole Parton wrote that his homosexuality had been an open secret in Ottawa, quoting from a 1985 exchange in the House between Robinson and Conservative MP Dan Mackenzie, with the latter shouting “Why aren’t you at Rock Hudson’s funeral?’ The Toronto Star’s Claire Hoy wrote: “ …he’s homosexual and ‘proud’ of it. Really? So ‘proud’ in fact, that he hid it from the public from the time he was first elected…until now.’ Saskatchewan Premier Grant Devine declared: “I hate to think a Member of Parliament can stand and in essence be promoting a lifestyle with young people watching…” Robinson fired back, calling Devine a bigot.

But it was his March 1st comment that truly raised the ire of the Canadian political establishment. Liberal party heavyweight Brian Tobin fired this broadside at him: “For an MP who indicated that his decision was an act of courage and responsibility, these…allegations are an act of irresponsibility and flow from a character that if anything is the opposite of what we normally call courage.” Other politicians likened his statement to slander. On March 3rd, Robinson clarified his earlier statement, saying that he only meant that there were homosexuals in all walks of life.

Already disliked by the Canadian right, after 1988 he became the object of a campaign of vilification by anti-abortion groups and their allies that continues to this day. REAL Women of Canada has this to say about him on their website: “He feels free to attack and to exhibit incredible intolerance to anyone who does not agree with him…In his sojourn in the House of Commons…Mr. Robinson has been unceasing in advancing the homosexual agenda as well as the anti-family, anti-life agenda.” This group and others like it have not forgiven Robinson for getting the House of Commons to pass a law in 2003 to include sexual orientation in the hate propaganda sections of the Criminal Code of Canada: “On December 7, 1999, MP Svend Robinson seized a sign on which were written quotes from Catholic teaching on the homosexual issue. The sign was held by a Catholic priest, Father Anthony Van Hee, who protests outside Parliament on a daily basis. Mr. Robinson broke the sign and threw it over the wall, claiming it was “hateful,” even though the sign merely quoted Catholic teachings….There is well-justified concern that those who may wish to challenge homosexual conduct as unhealthy, immoral or sinful, would be obliged to answer to a hate crime charge…[and] one can imagine the eagerness with which Mr. Robinson would attempt to bring a prosecution under the Criminal Code to silence anyone else who might disagree with him.”

Despite his example of marrying a gay identity with a successful political career, only a handful in both Houses have followed him. Clearly, tradition dies hard in political circles.