The 1970’s saw the election of a number of openly gay or lesbian people to public office in local and regional politics. One of the most notable of these was Harvey Milk in San Francisco, but there were others before and after him: Elaine Noble, for example, is the first recorded openly LGBT person to be elected to public office in the USA (the Massachusetts State House of Representatives in 1974).

This increased and unapologetic public profile probably goes a long way to explaining why the 80’s was the decade in which LGBT people began to emerge in national politics too.

In the UK, for example, Labour politician Chris Smith was the first serving MP to publicly declare himself to be gay.

There were, of course, many other gay MPs before him, such as Labour MP Tom Driberg and Conservative MP Matthew Parris but none of them had gone public about their sexuality.

The one exception to this was Labour MP Maureen Colquhoun, who had announced that she was a lesbian, shortly after being elected in 1974. Her local Party responded by de-selecting her as their official candidate. Despite the intervention of Labour’s National Executive to re-instate her, she lost the following election to the Conservative candidate.

Chris Smith chose to come out in one of the most public ways possible – while addressing a protest rally in Rugby in 1984. The rally had been called to protest the Conservative council’s abandonment of an anti-discrimination policy. Smith began his speech with the words, “My name is Chris Smith. I am Labour MP for Islington South and Finsbury, and I am gay.” He received a five-minute standing ovation.

Smith had actually been very active – and prominent – in Labour Campaign for Lesbian and Gay Rights for some time prior to that, so his announcement didn’t come as a complete surprise to everyone. Nonetheless, in light of Maureen Colquhoun’s experience, it was not without its risks at that time. But unlike Colquhoun, Smith’s Party and electorate stayed faithful to him and he continued in Parliament until his retirement.

Australia’s first openly gay parliamentarian was Green Party MP Bob Brown. Brown lived in the very conservative state of Tasmania and had been active in a number of campaigns including gay rights as well as environmental issues.

His environmental campaigning had already earned him a high public profile by 1976, when he came out during a newspaper interview to highlight Tasmania’s antiquated laws.

His parliamentary political career – in state parliament – began in a somewhat unconventional manner. He had stood as a Green Party candidate but came second to the Democrat candidate. But as well as pursuing parliamentary politics he was also very active in protests against plans to dam Tasmania’s Franklin river. And it was during one of these protests, in 1983, that he was arrested and sent to jail for 19 days.

While he was in jail, the successful Democrat candidate resigned to stand for the Australian Senate. Under the Tasmanian transferable vote system, the Democrat votes were all re-assigned on the basis of second preferences – and Bob Brown won! In consequence, he emerged from jail as the first openly gay member of Tasmania’s parliament.

He was to remain in Tasmanian parliament until 1996, when he was elected to the Australian Senate and became the first openly gay politician in Australian parliament.

America’s first openly gay Congressman – Gerry Studds – also had quite an eventful political career, although not quite in the way he might have hoped.

In 1983, Studds was one of two Congressmen named in a House Ethics Committee report for sexual misconduct. The other Congressman had been cited for having sex with a 17-year old female congressional page: Studds was cited for having sex with a 17-year old male page ten years earlier.

The Ethics Committee had originally sought a reprimand for both Congressman, but the House of Representatives voted for this to be increased to a Censure. As part of the Censure procedures, both men were required to address House members during a debate on the issue. The first Congressman got up and apologised wholeheartedly and unreservedly.

Studds, however, was determined not to be cowed by this process. He had already made it clear that he disagreed with the Committee’s findings because the affair was “a mutually voluntary private relationship between adults”. However he gave up his right to a public hearing because he wanted to protect the privacy of the page involved.

When it was his turn to appear before the House he got up, turned his back to the other House members and looked only at the Speaker whilst his censure was read out. He admitted to a “very serious error in judgement” on the grounds that he should not have had sex with a Congressional subordinate. But at no time did he seek to explain or apologise for his sexuality.

The following year, Gerry Studds was re-elected and continued to be re-elected until he retired in 1997.