„Ich bin ein Mann, der schwul ist“

For casual Friday, I thought I’d share this recent blog post from Bill Casey. I’ll copy my thoughts from the /r/Toryism thread on it.

I found this read on Bill Casey’s blog to be absolutely fascinating. Casey starts off by describing how the Tory MP Elsie Wayne was one of the most socially conservative MPs at the time, and how she would make House of Commons speeches denouncing the “gay lifestyle”. For those who don’t know who Elsie Wayne was, she was one of only two Tory MPs elected in the 1993 federal election, along with Jean Charest. Wayne was one of those Red Tories who supported the welfare state and advocated for poor people as part of her convictions as strongly as she was socially conservative.

By the 1997 federal election Jean Charest was leader of the Tories, and he lead a caucus of 20 MPs (13 of them being from Atlantic Canada, and 5 from his native Quebec). Now to Casey’s blog:

>One winter weekend, Mr. Charest invited all the PC members to attend a PC caucus meeting … In the evening, we gathered in the meeting hall by a big fire and discussed a wide range of political issues.

>When the subject of gay rights and same-sex marriage came up, Elsie Wayne did not hold back. She was very critical and adamant that the subject should be buried and just made to go away. She was determined that we should vote against same-sex marriage. Most of us were still trying to grasp the concept and understand the implications.

>Until then, there had been no public debate about same sex marriage that I was aware of. Certainly, there was no debate in our caucus. So, most of us just listened intently to the ensuing heated conversation… trying to understand the issues. MP Scott Brison remained silent until everyone had spoken.

>Finally, Scott Brison took the floor. It was almost 30 years ago, but I will never forget his words. It was the first time I had ever heard a person say them.

>Scott said: “Colleagues, I am a man who is gay. But I am just like you. I have a family, and I love my family, just like you. I have friends, and I love my friends, just like you. I have a career, and I enjoy my career, just like you.”

>He went on: “I am not a ‘gay man,’ I am a man who happens to be gay. I am not a ‘gay politician,’ I am a politician who happens to be gay.”

>You could have heard a pin drop. Total silence. Nothing.

>I had never heard anyone say those words before, and I think most of us were stunned to hear them. We had been serving with Scott Brison for years by then. We had all become close friends… and still are. The issue had never come up, and it certainly had not affected any aspect of our jobs or responsibilities as MPs.

>With Scott’s announcement, our whole caucus began a change of attitude and became more involved in the discussion. For most of us, including me, it was a steep learning curve that began that evening. Most of us had never been a part of this conversation, but Scott’s revelation and his openness made it easy for us to at least start to talk about the issue.

>…

>In closing, I don’t want to leave the wrong impression of Elsie Wayne … Elsie Wayne was an incredible woman, and I’m not sure if I ever knew any man or woman with a stronger will. She always spoke her mind and voted her conscience. But with considerable effort, she could soften.

After reading Casey’s blog post, I got really curious how well Brison and Wayne got along as caucus-mates: evidently, not well. I found [this newspaper clipping from 2003](https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-times-transcript-mp-has-no-regret-ov/171551354/) where Wayne was caught snooping through Brison’s desk in the House of Commons. After she was caught Brison called Wayne a “vile cow”, and would later go on to say he “apologized to the Canadian dairy farmers for the outburst”. Apparently fellow Tory MP John Herron saw the altercation, saying “Wayne deserved it but Brison’s vindictiveness was over the top”

I think that little side-story makes this paragraph from Casey’s blog all-the-more important:

>Many evenings, after the dust had settled and the House of Commons shut down for the day, she and I would go to dinner. I know that she found the job of MP very lonely and, like most women politicians, she was subject to painful and cruel criticism that men politicians do not receive. People criticized her clothes, her hair, or her makeup, and used words against her for which there are no equivalents for male politicians.

Looking back on my own upbringing, I’m quite glad to have grown up in a community where people like Bill Casey and Robert Stanfield are considered role models for young men.

This is an interesting post because, near as I can tell, it serves no purpose except to own up to what we already know about conservatives, which is that they won’t care about an issue until it is finally shown that it affects them personally. What a weird thing to boast about, that your party has to be dragged kicking and screaming toward any kind of progress.