EDMONTON—Graham Louden, a 60-year-old gay man in Calgary, remembers vividly the pain his community felt at the height of the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s, when some partners were barred from visiting their dying loved ones in hospital due to not having spousal rights.

“I lived through that,” Louden said. “There are no gay men my age. We died.”

These painful memories were dredged up for many in Alberta on Thursday, with the NDP releasing a video that resurrects United Conservative Party Leader Jason Kenney’s past of working to overturn spousal rights for gay couples in San Francisco decades ago.

While the emotional video is a political attack against Kenney, it has drawn strong, if sometimes divided, reactions from the province’s LGBTQ community. Some say it sheds a light on Kenney’s past that has had a lasting, negative impact on the community, and called for “real reconciliation” from the UCP leader. But conservative LGBTQ folks say Kenney’s track record with the community has improved, and the past should remain in the past.

Titled Jason Kenney’s Real Record, the video was screened to members of the LGBTQ community on Thursday afternoon in both Edmonton and Calgary. It tells the story of a San Francisco man identified as Gary Solak, who lost his partner, James Ross, at the height of the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s.

The overturning of a law that extended spousal rights to same-sex couples at the time meant that Solak, who still lives in San Francisco, had no access to the home he shared with his partner after his death to retrieve personal items, according to the video. Kenney lobbied for the overturn of those rights during his time as a university student in San Francisco.

The video was funded by the Alberta NDP campaign, and was filmed within the last month. “The decisions that politicians make have lasting impacts,” Sarah Hoffman, outgoing deputy premier, said when introducing the video, which the party has dubbed as a short documentary.

At a rally earlier on Thursday in Calgary, Kenney responded to the controversy surrounding his previous political activism against same-sex rights and said his views have evolved since he was a university student.

“It’s true that back when these were matters of political contention, that I supported the traditional definition of marriage, as did virtually every political party and political leader in every country in the democratic West,” Kenney said. “It’s also true that social, political and legal consensus on that question has changed dramatically, and I accept that.”

Among those struck by the video was Michael Phair, a well-known gay rights activist and former Edmonton city councillor, who was invited to one of the screenings on Thursday. Phair also served as the first openly gay politician in Alberta.

“Unfortunately for me, it brings back very difficult memories,” Phair, who lived in San Francisco during the AIDS epidemic, said. “Everyone died in those days.”

Phair added he believes Kenney’s actions from decades ago still hold weight in the upcoming provincial election. “I think that pain and the way that people were treated ... that is something that doesn’t go away without a whole lot of reconciliation work, and some direct response of coming to terms with what you did at that time,” he said.

Those comments were echoed by Louden, who said he is yet to see a sincere apology from Kenney on his past actions toward the LGBTQ community. “He needs to be really, really clear; specifically, intentionally and explicitly state his support for the (LGBTQ) community,” Louden said. “That’s the minimum that I would accept from him.”

Louden said he has voted conservative in the past, but has become more left-leaning over the years. He will not be voting for the UCP in the April 16 election, he said, largely due to Kenney’s history with the LGBTQ community.

“He seemed so damned proud of it,” Louden said of Kenney’s role in overturning spousal rights for LGBTQ people. “That really infuriates me.”

But for Harrison Fleming, a communications adviser for the UCP caucus and a member of LGBTTory, a group representing LGBTQ conservatives, Kenney’s past actions are not reflective of the politician he is today.

“What happened 30 years ago, I mean, that’s quite frankly 30 years ago when probably more than half of Canada was opposed to gay marriage,” Fleming said. He added Kenney’s track record since then, especially as federal immigration minister, proves that his views have changed. He particularly cites Kenney’s efforts to protect LGBTQ Iranians by granting them refugee status in Canada.

“Society has moved forward … Conservatives as a whole have moved forward,” Fleming said.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Fleming added that while LGBTQ issues are important for members of the community, it’s “patronizing” to assume some will vote solely on social issues, and that LGBTQ people care just as much about issues relating to the economic welfare of the province. “There’s no one person who clearly identifies the experience that (LGBTQ) people have,” Fleming said.

The political divide between members of the LGBTQ community comes up frequently in conversation within the personal circles of both Louder and Mark Chiang, an LGBTQ minister at Edmonton’s St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church. But Chiang said his passion about social issues affecting his community is now at the forefront after viewing the Alberta NDP’s video on Kenney’s history.

“I do have some gay friends who would be more economically conservative, and we play this balance of how important are the social issues,” Chiang said. “This video reminded me that, for me, the social issues outweigh the economic ones.”

Chiang added that in light of the video, he hopes to see a thorough response from Kenney on his past actions against same-sex rights. “It’s his chance to tell that story,” he said.

With files from Brennan Doherty and Amy Tucker, Star Calgary

Nadine Yousif is a reporter/photographer for Star Edmonton. Follow her on twitter: @nadineyousif_

Read more about: