Chris Smith

He is described on the university’s alumni website as follows:

 

"not only the first openly gay male MP in the House of Commons, but also the first openly gay Cabinet Minister in the world... he has returned to Pembroke College as Master, where he broke another barrier to become the first openly gay head of a Cambridge College...

 

The first person in his family to go to Oxford or Cambridge, Chris applied because it was “the best place to study English”, the subject for which he had a great passion. “I also wanted to throw myself into political activity, both in college and at the Union. In the end, I got a degree and became President of the Union. I enjoyed my time here immensely.”
 

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In 1979 he stood as the Labour parliamentary candidate in the General Election, in what he recalls as the “dyed-in-the-wool” Conservative seat of Epsom and Ewell. “I can tell you that walking down Epsom high street on a Saturday morning wearing a red rosette was an experience only for the brave in those days…”, Chris says, with an uneasy laugh. 

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Four years later he was elected as the Labour MP for Islington South and Finsbury, in what he remembers as a “very, very marginal win”. Yet he soon gained a large majority and served as the MP in this constituency for 22 years. After several roles in the shadow cabinet in opposition, Labour came into government in 1997 and Chris was appointed as the Secretary of State for Culture, Media, and Sport, where he spent “four very happy years”. Among his most significant accomplishments were restoring free admission to national museums and galleries, establishing Creative Partnerships for schools and the Foundation for Youth Music, expanding funding for the arts and sport, and championing the creative industries for the first time in Government. Chris then returned to the back benches in 2001, becoming one of the leaders of the parliamentary opposition to the Iraq War... 

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For Chris, part of knowing himself was understanding his sexuality. “I was gradually becoming aware of my sexual orientation, but I didn’t express it while at Cambridge. I sort of wish I'd had the courage to come out much earlier, but it was a very closeted environment. There was one student I knew of who was very obviously out and championed same-sex relationships, but it was very rare for anyone to be open and passionate about it. Of course, we have moved on enormously and joyously since then.” 

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Part of the reason society has moved on to such a degree is due to the pioneering actions of people like Chris, who made history for becoming the first openly gay male MP in the House of Commons. During a rally against a possible ban on gay employees by Rugby town council, he began his speech with the words: 

"Good afternoon, I'm Chris Smith, I'm the Labour MP for Islington South and Finsbury, and I'm gay."

Remembering this moment, Chris says: “When I came out publicly in 1984, it was a year or so after I'd been elected. Then when I became a cabinet minister 13 years later, I was the first openly gay cabinet minister anywhere in the world. And the rather wonderful thing was that when that happened, no one really noticed - which actually showed me how much progress we had made.” 

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Chris was proud to be part of a government that accomplished several significant things for the LGBT+ community, including equalising the age of consent, abolishing Section 28, and introducing civil partnerships. “We made huge progress, and that progress continued with the introduction of equal marriage. But are there still things to be done? Yes, absolutely. There’s the need to ban conversion therapy, and still a lot of progress that needs to be made on trans rights. And of course there is a huge amount to be done around the world where anti-LGBT legislation remains in place. We must do what we can to support activists campaigning in those countries. Not impose anything, but try to help, support and encourage local activists to change the circumstances they are facing.”