12 December: Volker Beck, German Politician

b. December 12, 1960


Volker Beck is one of Europe's leading advocates of GLBT rights. A member of Germany's parliament, the Bundestag, Beck is the father of the German Registered Partnership Act

"Human rights that do not apply to everyone are not human rights at all."

Prior to becoming politically active in the peace movement in the 1980's, Volker Beck studied at the University of Stuttgart. In 1985 he joined the Green Party. In 1987, he became responsible for GLBT issues in the Green Party caucus in the Bundestag. From 1991 to 2004, Beck was spokesman for the Lesbian and Gay Association in Germany (LSVD). He is credited with placing the issue of same-gender partnerships and a GLBT anti-discrimination law on the parliamentary agenda.

Beck has represented Cologne in the Bundestag since 1994. He is Green Party Whip for the Alliance 90/Greens caucus, a member of the Greens' party council, and human rights spokesman for the parliamentary group. He was legal affairs spokesman for the Alliance 90/Greens parliamentary group (1994-2002) and political coordinator of the Working Group on Internal and Legal Affairs, Women and Youth within the parliamentary group's executive committee (1998-2002).

Volker Beck believes that Germans must assume responsibility for their history before they can shape a future. He has sought compensation for victims of National Socialism, including financial reparations for persons subjected to slave labor under the Nazi regime, and advocated such acts of remembrance as the construction of a Holocaust memorial. Beck serves as a trustee of several foundations that remember victims.

Since 1992 he has lived with his partner in Cologne, Paris and Berlin.

In May 2006, Beck was attacked and injured by right wing extremists at Russia's first gay rights rally in Moscow. Images of his bloodied face published in the media evoked strong reactions internationally.

Bibliography:

• Statement on the human rights of LGBT people
  
• Volker Beck bio, Bundestag Web site

Lord Waheed Alli – Media Man and Peer

b.16 November 1964

British multimillionaire media entrepreneur and politician. He was co-founder and managing director of Planet 24, a TV production company, and managing director at Carlton Television Productions. He is currently chairman of both ASOS.com and Chorion Ltd. He is a Labour peer and is one of very few openly gay Muslim politicians in the world.

He started work as a junior researcher for a finance magazine and worked his way up in the media business within Robert Maxwell’s stable of publications. He then went to the City for a second career in investment banking, through which he became wealthy. In the mid-1980s he met Charlie Parsons, who was to become his business partner and boyfriend.

Alli joined the Labour Party at the persuasion of his neighbour Emily Thornberry. He is also close to Anji Hunter, Director of Government Relations in Tony Blair's first government.Prime Minister Blair used him for years as a means to help him reach out to a younger generation. He was made a life peer as Baron Alli, of Norbury in the London Borough of Croydon, in 1998 at the age of 34, becoming the youngest and the first openly gay peer in Parliament. The BBC summarised his appointment as "the antithesis of the stereotypical ‘establishment’ peer - young, Asian and from the world of media and entertainment".

He was listed at number 44 on the DS list of "50 Most Influential Gays", 2011:

Never heard of him? That’s because Lord Alli is doggedly working behind the scenes kind for us. The British multimillionaire and media entrepreneur is a Labour peer and one of very few openly gay Muslim politicians in the world. Much of Alli's work has been focused around gay rights, youth and education. He’s a patron of The Albert Kennedy Trust was a keynote speaker at the International Conference on LGBT Human Rights. “The last 13 years have been about extending and equalizing the rights of gay men and women and we’re completing a long journey,” he says. “The next decade will be defending.”

DS 50 

Senator Penny Wong (1968 – ) Australian. Politician

b.  5 November 1968

Australian Labor Party senator for South Australia and the Federal Minister for Finance and Deregulation, Wong is the first openly gay member of the Australian federal cabinet, and the first Asian-born federal minister.

Born in Malayaysia, she arrived in Australia as a child. As an immigrant from a minority ethnic group, she faced many difficulties (including at times direct racial abuse)but overcame these, to forge a successful career in law, as a barrister and solicitor in Adelaide and an adviser to the Carr Government in New South Wales, before entering politics. She has been open about her sexuality since 2002, and was the first sitting member of the Australian Labor Party to "come out" while still in parliament.

In August 2011, she announced that she and her partner, Sophie Allouache,are expecting a baby. The child was conceived by IVF with the help of an anonymous sperm donor, but done outside of her home state of South Australia, where IVF treatment for gay couples is illegal. Nevertheless, the news made hardly a ripple in Australia - a measure of how easily gay and lesbian relationships are now accepted in Australia. Although the influence of the Catholic Church is strong and Australia remains a generally socially conservative country, it has also become a very tolerant country, content to leave decisions on personal morality as just that - strictly personal.

Wong was named by the Australian LGBT site "Same Same" as one of the 25 Most Influential Gay and Lesbian Australians. In 2007, 2008, and 2010. Controversially, she was initially reluctant to go against her party's officially declared stance against same-sex marriage - which may explain her otherwise surprising ommission from the list in 2009. She has since dropped her reluctance, and has become a firm advocate for changing the party policy (which it may well do at the federal conference in December 2011). Her entry on the Same Same website notes that subsequently, as soon as nominations opened for the 2010 list, nominations for Wong came pouring in.

Sources:

Penny Wong , Wikipedia

Penny Wong Same Same Top 25
Penny Wong: Australia's Non-story of the week. BBC News

Related articles

• Neal Blewett (1933 - ) Australian Politician (itsaqueerworld.blogspot.com)

Keith Boykin, Political Commentator

b. August 28, 1965

“I'm not on a show with a pink triangle or rainbow flag—which means that being gay is just a part of who I am.”

Keith Boykin is a political commentator, a New York Times best-selling author and a veteran of two presidential campaigns. He is the editor of The Daily Voice and has appeared on CNN, MSNBC and BET.

Born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, Boykin became politically focused working on local campaigns while in high school. At Dartmouth he was the editor of the daily newspaper and graduated with a B.A. in government.

After college, Boykin worked on the Dukakis presidential campaign. Thereafter, he attended Harvard Law School and continued working on campaigns, including the 1992 presidential campaign of Bill Clinton. Boykin worked as special assistant to the president and served as President Clinton’s liaison to the LGBT community.

In 1994, Boykin became the executive director of the National Black Lesbian and Gay Leadership Forum and completed his first book, “One More River to Cross: Black and Gay in America.” In 1997, he served with Coretta Scott King and the Rev. Jesse Jackson on the U.S. presidential trade delegation to Zimbabwe.

Boykin wrote two other books, “Respecting the Soul” (1999) and “Beyond the Down Low: Sex, Lies and Denial in Black America” (2005). His work shed light on AIDS, internalized homophobia and black men on the “down low.”

Boykin is a commentator on major political talk shows. In 2004, he starred on Showtime’s “American Candidate” and hosted BET’s “My Two Cents.”

Keith Boykin is working on a fourth book, “For Colored Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When The Rainbow Is Still Not Enough.” He lives in New York City.

Bibliography

• "Keith Boykin, Author, Beyond the Down Low." Gothamist. 8 June 2011.
• “Keith Boykin - TV Host/Author/Speaker.” Keith Boykin. 8 June 2011.
• Malmgren, Jeanne. "The way he sees it." St. Petersburg Times Online. St. Petersburg Times. 8 June 2011.

Websites

• Keith Boykin, Official Website
• The Daily Voice

Books

• One More River to Cross: Black & Gay in America (1997)
• Respecting the Soul: Daily Reflections for Black Lesbians and Gays (1999)
• Beyond the Down Low: Sex, Lies, and Denial in Black America (2005)

August 10: Andrew Sullivan

b. August 10, 1963

Andrew Sullivan is an author and journalist who regularly appears on national television and whose commentary is featured in major national publications. He is a leading advocate of same-sex marriage.

"The most successful marriages, gay or straight, even if they begin in romantic love, often become friendships. It's the ones that become the friendships that last."

Andrew Sullivan was born in South Godstone, a small town in southern England, in 1963. After earning a B.A. in modern history from Oxford University he received a fellowship to study at Harvard University, where he earned a masters degree in public administration and a Ph.D. in government.

In 1986, he began at The New Republic (TNR) and in 1991, he was named the magazine's editor, the youngest in its history. In the five years Sullivan was at the helm, the magazine's circulation grew and advertising revenues increased. Sullivan expanded TNR's sphere beyond politics to cover such cultural topics as same-sex marriage and affirmative action. He created a stir by publishing excerpts from the controversial study on race and IQ, The Bell Curve.

In the 1990's Sullivan became known for his writing on gay issues. His article "The Politics of Homosexuality" has been called the most influential article of the decade in gay rights. Virtually Normal: An Argument About Homosexuality was the first book to advocate civil marriage rights for gay couples. Sullivan also publishedLove Undetectable: Notes on Friendship, Sex, and Survival and edited a reader,Same-Sex Marriage: Pro and Con.

As a practicing Catholic, Sullivan has challenged the Roman Catholic Church's position on homosexuality. In Virtually Normal he takes the position that the Bible forbids homosexuality only when it is linked to prostitution or pagan ritual.

Sullivan started his blog, The Daily Dish, in 2000. His articles have appeared in The New Republic, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Postand Esquire. He is a regular guest on The Chris Matthews Show, Charlie Rose, Anderson Cooper 360°, Meet The Press, Face the Nation, Nightline, NPR's Fresh Airand Larry King Live.

Bibliography:

• TIME Magazine Bio

Selected works by Andrew Sullivan:

• Love Undetectable: Notes on Friendship, Sex, Survival. Vintage, 1999.
  
• Same-Sex Marriage, Pro and Con. Vintage, 2004.
  
• The Conservative Soul. HarperCollins, 2006.
  
• Virtually Normal. Vintage, 1996.

Trans in Politics: Some Notes

In New York,

A Transgender Candidate Is Hoping to Make History

 

“I’m not running because I’m transgender,” said Mr. Wymore, 50, who was born female but now, after testosterone therapy and top surgery, identifies as transgender. But, he said, that “doesn’t mean that being transgender doesn’t bring a certain perspective.”

Although gay men and lesbians have broken many electoral barriers — serving as mayors, state legislators and members of Congress — the same is not true of the transgender community. Only a few, including a Democratic district leader in Westchester County and a former member of the Hawaii Board of Education, have been elected to office around the country.

“I think there is a feeling that there is too much difference there,” Mr. Wymore said. But he said he believed: “This is the seat. This is the community that’s ready to go forward.”

The race, for the Sixth District seat occupied by Gale A. Brewer, who is term-limited, is competitive and has drawn a number of candidates, including Marc Landis, a district leader; Helen Rosenthal, a former chairwoman of Community Board 7; and Ken Biberaj, a vice president of the Russian Tea Room.

Melissa Sklarz, a transgender woman, said that the race was full of worthy candidates, and that as president of the Stonewall Democratic Club of New York City, she could not make an endorsement. But she described Mr. Wymore’s candidacy as “an opportunity for transgender people everywhere.”

- NYTimes.com.

Will Wymore "make history" if  elected? Well, no. He could become the first post-op openly transsexual elected councillor in New York, but that's all. Others have made it elsewhere, and in New York, to similar and even higher political offices.

Queensland unions ditch MP Bob Katter after anti-gay advertisement

MAVERICK federal MP Bob Katter has lost the support of unions representing hundreds of thousands of workers after broadcasting a political ad branded "homophobic" and "grubby".

With just a week to go until the Queensland state election, the Queensland Council of Unions (QCU) this morning withdrew its support for Katter's Australian Party over its stance against same-sex civil unions.

Last Sunday night the political party, founded by Mr Katter, launched an advertisement that targeted Queensland Liberal National Party leader Campbell Newman over his support for gay marriage

The ad was slammed by gay rights activists and all sides of politics – but none were more vocal than Mr Katter's gay half-brother Carl, who condemned the ad as "homophobic", "unchristian", "pathetic" and "grubby".

Carl said Katter’s Australian Party was a “rabble of bigots", and said he was worried about the “hate that is incited by such ads".

via The Telegraph

Sherry Harris, Pioneer City Councillor.

b. February 27, 1965

All real and lasting change starts first on the inside and works it way through to the outside. Politically speaking, each person being the change we wish to see in the world is the only stance that can make a lasting difference. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.

Believing it impossible to win election as an out lesbian, many people warned Sherry Harris against running for Seattle City Council. In 1991, Harris proved her skeptics wrong. She defeated a 24-year incumbent councilman and became the nation's first openly lesbian African-American city council member.Prior to politics, Harris pursued a professional career in engineering. In 1980, she received a B.S. in Human Factors Engineering from the New Jersey Institute of Technology. She worked as a project engineer for PNW Bell Telephone Company. 


As Seattle City Councilmember from 1992 to 1995, Harris championed downtown interests. She promoted the expansion of the Washington State Convention and Trade Center and supported a downtown symphony hall. A native of Newark, New Jersey, Harris said, "I was raised in a city where the downtown died, and so did the rest of the city."

Harris has worked with Humanity's Team, an organization that emphasizes interpersonal connections. One volunteer who worked closely with Harris said, "She is truly a fine leader demonstrating great passion for humanity's well-being [who] displays uncompromising strength of character."

John Berry, Government Official

b. February 10, 1959

“Each time we act against discrimination, we add a ring of life to the American tree of liberty.”

John Berry is the director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM). He is the highest-ranking openly gay federal employee in U.S. history.

Born in Rockville, Maryland, Berry is the son of two federal government employees. His father served in the U.S. Marine Corps and his mother worked for the U.S. Census Bureau.

Berry earned his Bachelor of Arts in government from the University of Maryland and a Master of Public Administration from Syracuse University. His first federal government job was as legislative director for U.S. Representative Steny Hoyer. Thereafter, he served as deputy assistant secretary for law enforcement at the U.S. Treasury Department.

After two years as director of government relations at the Smithsonian Institution, Berry was appointed assistant secretary for policy, management and budget at the U.S. Department of the Interior in the Clinton administration.

Prior to joining the Obama administration, Berry pursued his interest in environmental conservation as the director of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, and subsequently as director of the National Zoo.

In 2009, President Obama appointed Berry to his current position, where he is responsible for recruiting, hiring and benefits policies for 1.9 million federal employees.

With Berry’s appointment came accolades from the LGBT and mainstream communities. “The selection of John Berry is a meaningful step forward for the LGBT community,” said Joe Solmonese, president of the Humans Rights Campaign. John Gage, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, described Berry as the “perfect choice for the OPM. He’s smart, courageous, and has all the right experience in policy and in politics.”

In 2009, Berry served as the keynote speaker for the International Gay & Lesbian Leadership Conference in San Francisco.

One of the few Americans to stand on both the North and South Poles, Berry’s government career has taken him around the globe and literally to the ends of the earth. There is a mountain in Antarctica named after him: the Berry Bastion.

Source:

LGBT History Month, 2011

Jim Hormel

b. January 1, 1931

"I learned in the civil rights era that nobody gives you anything - you have to fight for it. The same is true of our effort today to bring equality to all Americans."

Jim Hormel is a philanthropist and community leader who was the first openly gay United States Ambassador. 

In 1992 when Jim Hormel sought to become a United States Ambassador, he had no idea it would take seven years and a bruising political battle to achieve his goal. Ironically, he had enough votes from both Democrats and Republicans to win confirmation, but three anti-gay Senators repeatedly blocked his nomination from coming to a vote. At the same time, special interests launched a slanderous public campaign against him. The Senate never voted, but President Clinton made Hormel U.S. Ambassador to Luxembourg in a 1999 recess appointment.

Following Hormel's appointment, the State Department made major revisions to its regulations, including measures that for the first time allowed gay Foreign Service officers to bring their partners on overseas assignments.

Jim Hormel was born in Austin, Minnesota on January 1, 1933. He graduated from Swarthmore College and now serves on its Board of Managers. He earned a JD degree from the University of Chicago Law School and later served as its Assistant Dean and Dean of Students.

Hormel served as a U.S. delegate to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in 1995 and to the United Nations General Assembly in 1996. He has also been active in Democratic politics and has served several times as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention. Hormel sits on the boards of several national and Bay Area (California) political and cultural institutions. He is chairman of Equidex, Inc., a family-run investment firm.

Hormel's philanthropy and activism center on promoting human rights and equality. In 1995, he established the James C. Hormel Gay and Lesbian Center at the new San Francisco Main Public Library, which houses one of the largest and most comprehensive collections of GLBTQ literature.

Bibliography:

• Rich, Frank, "Journal: All in the Family," The New York Times, April 18, 1998.
  
• Robins, Cynthia, "Gentleman Jim," The San Francisco Examiner, June 16, 1996.
  
• State Department Web Site

Bob Brown Leader of the Australian Greens

b. 27 December 1944

Australian senator, the inaugural Parliamentary Leader of the Australian Greens, who was the first openly gay member of the Parliament of Australia.Brown has led the Australian Greens since the party was founded in 1992 until the present, a period of growth to poll today at around 10% at state and federal levels (13.9% of the primary vote in 2010.

Brown lives in Hobart with his long-time partner, Paul Thomas, a farmer and activist whom he met in 1996.

(Included on the Same Same list of the 25 most influential Australians in  2010, 2009,2008, 2007)

Like Michael Kirby, Bob Brown has appeared on every Same Same 25 list we've run, securing a huge number of nominations from fans of his political activism and advocacy for social justice.

In 2011 his influence is set to be greater than ever. The Australian Greens currently share the balance of power in the Senate and will hold the balance of power in their own right from July. Heading up the party is a leading light in national politics - Brown's been a public figure for 40 years and was instrumental in early gay rights reform.

"Coming out made [public] life harder," he told the Sydney Morning Herald recently. "It lost me an election in 1982 and in every letterbox in the electorate there were vile pamphlets about my sexuality. I was continually vilified in the streets. But it was the right thing to do and personally it made things a lot easier.

"I am always delighted when a young person comes up to me and says, 'Look, thank you for being who you are because it has meant a lot to me with my own struggle with my sexuality.'"

Gay Marriage for Germany, France?

While the bulk of English language reporting on gay marriage has focussed on three English - speaking countries, the state level battles in the US, the promise of equality for the UK, and on the political push in Australia, there is also important movement in several European countries. Denmark and Finland have expressed their intention to introduce enabling legislation (in 2012 and 2013 respectively), and Luxembourg has already introduced legislation - it is just not clear when the process will be concluded.

Now, there are encouraging reports of progress in the European Union's two major countries, Germany and France:

GOP Mississippi Mayor Outed - After Spending City Funds at Gay Adult Store

"An embattled Mississippi mayor has come out after an investigation revealed that he used city funds to cover personal expenses including a visit to a gay adult store.

The Tennessee-based publication The Commercial Appeal prompted the revelation from Southaven Mayor Greg Davis, after receipts provided by state auditors showed that Davis had spent thousands of dollars worth of liquor, expensive dinners and even a personal vacation, in addition to a charge for $67 at Priape, a store in Toronto that is described by its website as "Canada's premiere gay lifestyle store and sex shop." Davis is said to have made the visit to the shop during a recruitment trip in Canada."

full report at Huffington Post

Did a Republican member of Texas' State Board of Education just come out as gay?:

A Texas state board of education Republican seeking re-​election has come out as gay, and immediately lost the endorsement of a prominent conservative political activist known for her homophobic and religious views.

George Clayton, a Republican member of the State Board of Education from Richardson, sent an email to several news organizations last week that appears to confirm he’s gay.

Clayton is an academic coordinator at North Dallas High School, according to his bio on the Texas Education Agency website. He won the District 12 SBOE seat in 2010, when he defeated longtime Republican incumbent Geraldine “Tincy” Miller in the primary.

Clayton sent out his email in response to an apparent whisper campaign about his sexual orientation among Republicans in the district, which covers all of Collin County. Miller is trying to unseat Clayton and recapture her old seat in 2012."

Dallas Voice

The Dallas Voice says the e-mail "appears" to confirm he is gay. There's no need for this caution: Clayton's words are clear and unambigous - he has a live-in, male partner:

“So as to avoid the tyranny of misinformation and innuendo in this political race, I wish to say that I, in fact, do have a male partner who lives with me in my home in Richardson, Texas. I hope this frank announcement satisfies Tincy Miller and the ladies associate with the Golden Corridor organization. All of us can now move on with discussions concerning education instead of being overly occupied with my personal life.”

Clayton is paying a political price for his honesty. Since the announcement, he has lost the endorsement of a homophobic political activist:

Clayton’s email confirming that he’s gay has already prompted one right-winger, Donna Garner of Waco, to withdraw her endorsement of his re-election bid.

“If Clayton is indeed a homosexual, then we as voters must be concerned about re-electing him to the SBOE since the Board will soon begin the process of writing and adopting Health curriculum requirements for all Texas public school students,” Garner wrote.

Will this cost him? Garner is clearly hoping so, but the evidence so far is that most voters are no longer concerned about sexual orientation. Character, integrity and the ability to do the job are far more important. 

Labour's first transgender candidate tells of bullying hell at hands of police colleagues - The Daily Record

AN ex-cop who is Scottish Labour’s first transgender election candidate told last night how she was hounded out of the police.

Carol Mapley, 53, revealed how her time in the British Transport Police became a “living hell” after colleagues discovered her desire to become a woman.

Carol, who has a female partner and lives near Newton Stewart, Dumfriesshire, will fight the Castle Douglas and Glenken council seat next May.

And the trainee social worker then plans to stand for election as an MSP."

- The Daily Record

Transgender woman poised for seat in Poland's new parliament

Anna Grodzka has become Poland's first openly transgender parliamentarian.

Grodzka, who transitioned last year, secured a place in the Sejm, the nation's lower house of parliament, reports Warsaw Business Journal.

The politician, who is the founder and president of NGO Trans-Fuzja, received 19,541 votes the Kraków II electoral district.

"Today, Poland is changing. I am the proof along with Robert Biedron, a homosexual and the head of an anti-homophobia campaign who ran for office in Gdynia," Grodzka said.

She also noted the day before her win was confirmed, "If I'll be elected in Krakow, I'll be Poland's first transgender woman, and the only transgender [member of parliament] not only in Poland, but the entire world," adding, "In New Zealand, there was Georgina Beyer, but she is no longer an MP since 2007."

Grodzka joined the Palikot's Movement (RP) after many years with the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD).

Warsaw Business Journal notes that RP is known for its liberal views including supporting LGBT rights, abortion, and legalizing "soft drugs."

- Huffington Post

Related Posts:

Georgina Beyer, Trans Politician

9th Sep: Ivan Massow, Serial Entrepreneur.

b. 11th Sep, 1967 

The story of Ivan Massow;s career has been steeped in controversy and scandal, but what I love about it, is the way that he built a fortune from scratch - by taking the fight directly to the enemy, the bigots in business.

Older gay men will remember well the open discrimination they faced from insurers and other financial institutions when HIV/AIDS first hit the headlines, and became closely identified with gay men. In a time of increasing HIV rates, gay men were seen as high-risk and required to pay much higher premiums than other customers, whatever their circumstances. These premium increases averaged 400%, but could be as high as 600%. In addition, gay men would be required to give full details of not only their relationships, but also their sexual practices. They would then have to undergo a full medical examination and an HIV test and, despite this, successful applicants (and many were refused cover by insurers automatically), would still find themselves listed on the Association of British Insurers' ‘impaired life register’ (a blacklist shared by insurers). Finally, the fact that the applicant had been made to go for an HIV test would prejudice all future applications.

The big money saw gay men as a risk - Massow saw them as an opportunity, and made a fortune taking business away from the established major companies.

Massow first hit the headlines in 1990, aged 23, when, with just a few pounds in the bank and living in a Kentish Town squat, he set up Britain's first financial advisory firm aimed at gay clients. Amid rising HIV rates, he became an outspoken crusader for gay men denied mortgages and insurance, or who were being charged premium increases of 600% or more.
He left school at 16 (surviving a seriously fractured childhood) with just one O-level in metalwork, but has always possessed an instinct for self-publicity. A series of guerilla poster campaigns, one showing Massow embracing then-boyfriend Jamie, taunted insurance giant Allied Dunbar over its TV adverts. "For the life you don't want Allied Dunbar to know about," it proclaimed. Massow swiftly became one of the brightest attractions in the capital's "faggerati", his business took off and his personal fortune soared.

 The Guardian:

By 1997, Massow's firm, Massow Financial Services, had become the 10th largest Independent Financial Adviser in the UK and was valued at £22 million. The later history was less impressive. In 1999, his firm  entered into a reverse-takeover with its main competitor, but the deal turned sour and Massow drove the company into receivership in September 2001. All investors lost their money. Massow immediately opened a new company, which subsequently also went bust. 

His life has also been notable for heavy involvement from a young age in the Conservative Party, a high profile bust-up and defection to Labour over over the homophobic Section 28 - followed by reconciliation and a return to the Tories.

George Herchmer Markland « The Drummer’s Revenge

b. 1790

d. May 17, 1862

George Herchmer Markland was the closest thing to royalty that existed in the Canadian colonies. Born in 1790 at Kingston, in what was still the Province of Quebec before it became Upper Canada, Markland grew up in ease and comfort, and was educated by the Family Compact’s patriarch himself, the Anglican Bishop John Strachan.

At 20, Markland was coming into elite society. The lawyer John Beverley Robinson – the same man who named Alexander Wood “the Inspector General of private Accounts” – said that Markland was, “a good fellow, and very friendly.”

Yet Markland made Robinson uneasy. The lawyer confessed, “I prefer seeing a person his age more manly and not quite so feminine in either speech or action.”

Markland was in training to be an priest, but changed his mind. In 1812, he went to war as an ensign in the Frontenac militia, defending Canada from American invasion. At some point he married, as all men of his class were expected to, but he and Anna Markland never had any children. In 1820, he went into politics. He ran in Kingston, but lost."

 The Drummer’s Revenge

Also:

Wikipedia