Jenn Jefferys: Rise of the Rainbow Conservative

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We tend to think of same-sex marriage as an archaic — even dead — issue here in Canada. It’s been 10 years since Parliament passed the Civil Marriage Act, making Canada the fourth country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage.

The 2013 CPC policy declaration on Family and Marriage holds that “Parliament, through a free vote, and not the courts, should determine the definition of marriage,” and confirms the party’s continued support for “legislation defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman.”

This stance suggests the party is still officially opposed to gay marriage and even supports overturning it. A peculiar contradiction, given the fact that a number of party members have made public appearances at Pride events in recent history.

Both the minister for the status of women, Kellie Leitch, and the leader of the Ontario PC party, Patrick Brown showed their rainbow solidarity by marching in Toronto’s Pride parade earlier this summer – holding a banner reading “LGBTory.”

This new group of self-declared “Rainbow Conservatives” also marched in Ottawa’s Pride parade last week. The group proudly displays a photograph of Leitch, Brown and other Tory leaders marching together front-and-centre on their organization webpage, and identify as “LGBT conservative activists who want to break the left wing monopoly on the LGBT community.” Since forming in May of this year, The LGBTories have faced criticism both from right-wing and left-wing communities.

When the group confirmed their plans to participate in the Ottawa Pride Parade, for instance, a petition lobbying for their ban emerged. According to the petition, which generated a little over 200 supporters, LGBTories are “co-opting the T in LGBT”, “antagonizing” members of the broader GLBTQ community, and “purposefully avoiding a stance on domestic human rights issues.” Further, the petition argued that by standing by politicians like Patrick Brown who “fight against the causes of (the GLBTQ) community,” their group does not deserve a platform.

Stephen Harper once opposed same-sex marriage in the House of Commons. But later, his foreign affairs minister and a prominent member of the Tory caucus, John Baird took strong stands on more than one occasion against anti-gay laws around the world.

There are disagreements over ideology on the right, as there are on the left. The CPC Family and Marriage policy declaration may be one of these unsettled, contentious areas that the party chooses to avoid touching on for risk of in-fighting. But voters might well ask: when it comes to queer rights, what does the future hold for the Conservative party, and what can Canadians come to expect from October onward? Stephen Harper has given no indication of a desire to change the party’s policy, but he won’t be leader forever, and a growing number of Conservatives are vocal advocates for gay rights.

Though the Conservative party does traditionally capture the religious vote (in the 2011 federal election, Harper attracted the majority support of religious voters including voters of Protestant and Jewish denominations), arguably, the intersection of queer culture and faith culture is no longer the paradox it once was. According to recent Forum Poll research, an increasing number of Canadians are supportive of equal marriage.

In the meantime, when your local candidate comes knocking over the coming weeks, it might be worth asking them where they stand on marriage equality.

Jenn Jefferys is a political columnist at The Hill Times and a freelance digital communications strategist living in Ottawa. She is a former federal NDP staffer and the former research and communications adviser to Equal Voice National. You can follow her @JennJefferys or reach her by email at jenn.jefferys@gmail.com.