A Sound Allyship? Straight politicians and LGBTQ representation in Canada

How do cisheterosexual politicians who are allies perform LGBTQ representation? Through the eyes of Canadian LGBQ parliamentarians, I uncover some heterosexual politicians’ motivations for becoming allies and some of their concrete practices in this regard. I also identify some criticisms voiced by LGBQ parliamentarians in relation to their heterosexual colleagues’ activities of LGBTQ representation. Straight politicians become allies for ideological and lived-experience reasons. However, beyond best intentions, heterosexual allyship is not without its critics among LGBQ parliamentarians. Although this research is the first to examine Canadian heterosexual politicians who are allies, future work should survey straight parliamentarians themselves on their allyship activities of LGBTQ representation.