Queer Liberals organize and launch new website in lead-up to party convention

My second piece previewing the Liberal convention this weekend is now up, and it's getting some big-time attention. It's one of the top stories on National News Watch tonight, which is pretty cool, especially since it's a widely read news aggregator.

I've been keeping an eye on this group since November, when the group's new president, Bryn Hendricks, told me that it was starting up. With the convention now just days away, they've ramped into high gear in order to launch themselves there. There was plenty more in our interview, especially some partisan one-upmanship, with refutations of NDP "sanctimoniousness."

There was one thing that couldn't fit into the article, which I thought I'd share here, which was about the role that former MP Sheila Copps has been playing with the group, which includes her role in narrating their inaugural video. 

Hendricks: She helped us initially at the first event that we did, being a spokesperson for us, and to speak on our behalf, and then when we created this DVD and creating the script, we started looking at who would be a good person to narrate, and we knew that a lot of the current MPs and people that are around and have worked on different gay and lesbian issues were going to be interviewed, but we thought that it would be good to take Sheila as a non-sitting, former member of Parliament, to express vocally – because she’s got a great voice and great enthusiasm – but just as somebody who participating in the past who we wanted to include beyond an interview. 

Villeneuve: Sheila’s been a trail-blazer on this issue. She stood up for queer rights when she didn’t have to. There was no reason for her to do that, but she believed that was the right thing to do. So Sheila Copps was the perfect person to narrate this video. It was a testament to the work that she’s done and the work that I know she will continue to do on this issue.

Hendricks: When Svend Robinson came out back in the 80s, Sheila Copps was the only Member of Parliament who stood by his side. So it’s fitting for her to be able to narrate this, and she was absolutely thrilled to do so.