Federal Parliament
House of Commons
Canada got its first openly gay MP in February 1988 when Svend Robinson, an NDP MP first elected in 1979 representing the then mostly blue-collared riding of Burnaby, came out publicly. Despite facing much abuse after the announcement, he went on to become one of the longest serving MPs with 25 years in parliament. In the following 16 years until Robinson stepped down in 2004, three other sitting MPs came out while in office - Réal Ménard of the Bloc, Robinson's close ally and fellow BC NDP MP Libby Davies, and Nova Scotia Progressive Conservative MP Scott Brison who crossed the floor to the Liberals a year after coming out and went on to become the first openly LGBT cabinet minister, serving in the cabinet of both Paul Martin and Justin Trudeau.
The 2004 general election returned the first two MPs who were openly gay when first elected: Robinson's aide and successor Bill Siksay and Ontario Liberal MP Mario Silva, and brought the number of openly LGBTQ sitting MPs to five.
The 2021 general election returned nine openly LGBTQ MPs, the high watermark for LGBT representation in parliament and with representation from the three main national parties (four Liberals, three NDPs, and two Conservatives). Three of those MPs served in cabinet concurrently between 2021 and 2024, the highest number of LGBTQ cabinet members to date.
By 2025 however, all three ministers have stepped down from cabinet and opted not to seek re-election. The 2025 election also saw the defeat or standing down of all three NDP MPs, reducing the rank of LGBTQ MPs to four (two Liberal and two Conservatives).
It is also noteworthy that of the three most established LGBTQ enclaves in Canada's three largest cities (Church and Wellesley in Toronto, Le Village gai in Montreal, and the Davie Village in Vancouver), not one have been represented by openly LGBTQ MPs.
Term: Year without specific date indicates at general election held that year
Party affiliation: █ Liberal █ Conservative █ Progressive Conservative █ New Democratic █ Bloc Québécois
MPs currently in office
| Member | Province (electoral district) | First elected | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hon. Rob Oliphant | Ontario (Don Valley West) | 2008 (out of office 2011-15) | Privy Counsellor (since 2021) Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs (since 2019) | ||
| Eric Duncan | Ontario (Stormont—Dundas—Glengarry) | 2019 | |||
| Melissa Lantsman | Ontario (Thornhill) | 2021 | Deputy Leader of the Official Opposition (since September 2022) | ||
| Ernie Klassen | British Columbia (South Surrey—White Rock) | 2025 | Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Fisheries (since June 2025) | ||
Former MPs
| Member | Province (electoral district) | Term | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Start | End | |||||
| Hon. Heward Grafftey | Quebec (Brome—Missisquoi) | 1958 | 1968 (defeated) | Came out publicly after retirement from parliament. Cabinet minister in the Clark ministry | ||
| 1972 | 1980 (defeated) | |||||
| Hon. Charles Lapointe | Quebec (Charlevoix) | 1974 | 1984 (defeated) | Came out after retirement from parliament Cabinet minister in both of P.E. Trudeau ministries (20th & 22nd) | ||
| Svend Robinson | British Columbia (Burnaby—Douglas) | 1979 | 2004 (stood down) | Became the first openly LGBT sitting MP when came out publicly while in office in 1988 | ||
| Ian Waddell | British Columbia (Vancouver Kingsway 1979–1988, Port Moody—Coquitlam—Port Coquitlam 1988–93) | 1979 | 1993 (defeated) | Later BC MLA (1996–2001) and minister (1998–2001). Came out as bisexual during his 2004 bid to return to parliament. | ||
| Réal Ménard | Quebec (Hochelaga) | 1993 | 2009-09-16 (resigned) | First LGBT MP from Quebec. | ||
| Hon. Scott Brison | Nova Scotia (Kings—Hants) | 1997 | 2000-07-24 (resigned) | Came out publicly while in office in 2002 First openly LGBTQ member of cabinet, minister in the Martin and J. Trudeau ministries First openly LGBT MP from Nova Scotia First openly LGBT candidate for the leadership of the Progressive Conservative (2003) and the Liberal (2006) parties Crossed the floor from Progressive Conservative to the Liberal in 2003. | ||
| 2000 | 2019-02-10 (resigned) | |||||
| Libby Davies | British Columbia (Vancouver East) | 1997 | 2015 (stood down) | Became the first openly LGBT woman in parliament when she publicly revealed in 2001 that she was in a same-sex relationship. | ||
| Bill Siksay | British Columbia (Burnaby—Douglas) | 2004 | 2011 (stood down) | First LGBT MP who was openly LGBT when first elected (along with Mario Silva) | ||
| Mario Silva | Ontario (Davenport) | 2004 | 2011 (defeated) | First LGBT MP who was openly LGBT when first elected (along with Bill Siksay) First LGBT MP from Ontario | ||
| Raymond Gravel | Quebec (Repentigny) | 2006-11-27 | 2008 (stood down) | As a Catholic priest received bishop's dispensation to seek election, but was later ordered by the Vatican to stand down | ||
| Randall Garrison | British Columbia (Esquimalt—Saanich—Sooke) | 2011 | 2025 (stood down) | |||
| Dany Morin | Quebec (Chicoutimi—Le Fjord) | 2011 | 2015 (defeated) | |||
| Philip Toone | Quebec (Gaspésie—Îles-de-la-Madeleine) | 2011 | 2015 (defeated) | |||
| Craig Scott | Ontario (Toronto Danforth) | 2012-03-19 | 2015 (defeated) | |||
| Sheri Benson | Saskatchewan (Saskatoon West) | 2015 | 2019 (defeated) | First LGBT MP from Saskatchewan Deputy leader of the NDP (2019) | ||
| Hon. Randy Boissonnault | Alberta (Edmonton Centre) | 2015 | 2019 (defeated) | First LGBT MP from Alberta Cabinet minister in the J. Trudeau ministry (2021–24) | ||
| 2021 | 2025 (stood down) | |||||
| Hon. Seamus O'Regan | Newfoundland and Labrador (St. John's South—Mount Pearl) | 2015 | 2025 (stood down) | First LGBT MP from Newfoundland and Labrador Cabinet minister in the J. Trudeau ministry (2017–24) | ||
| Lisa Marie Barron | British Columbia (Nanaimo—Ladysmith) | 2021 | 2025 (defeated) | |||
| Blake Desjarlais | Alberta (Edmonton Griesbach) | 2021 | 2025 (defeated) | First MP to be identified as two-spirit | ||
| Hon. Pascale St-Onge | Quebec (Brome—Missisquoi) | 2021 | 2025 (stood down) | First lesbian cabinet minister, minister in the J. Trudeau ministry (2021–24) | ||
Senate
Party affiliation or grouping:█ Liberal █ Conservative █ Independent Senators Group █ Progressive Senate Group
Senators currently in office
| Senator | Province (division) | Term | Notes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Appointed on advice of | Mandatory Retirement | ||||||
| Hon. René Cormier | New Brunswick | 2016-11-10 (J. Trudeau) | 2031-04-27 | ||||
| Hon. Kim Pate | Ontario | 2016-11-10} (J. Trudeau) | 2034-11-10 | ||||
| Hon. Marnie McBean | Ontario | 2023-12-20 (J. Trudeau) | 2043-01-28 | ||||
| Hon. Kristopher Wells | Alberta | 2024-08-31 (J. Trudeau) | 2046-10-07 | ||||
| Hon. Martine Hébert | Quebec (Victoria) | 2025-02-27 (J. Trudeau) | 2040-10-07 | ||||
| Hon. Duncan Wilson | British Columbia | 2025-02-28 (J. Trudeau) | 2042-09-26 | ||||
Former senators
| Senator | Province (division) | Term | Notes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Appointed on advice of | End | ||||||
| Hon. Laurier LaPierre | Ontario | 2001-06-13 Chrétien | 2004-11-21 | First openly LGBT person to be appointed senator | |||
| Hon. Nancy Ruth | Ontario (Cluny) [a] | 2005-03-24 (Martin) | 2017-01-06 | First out lesbian to be appointed to senator. Initially affiliated with the Progressive Conservative (2005–08), joined the Conservative caucus in March 2008. | |||
