The Queer Evangelist

Cheri DiNovo went from living on the streets as a teenager to performing the first legal same-sex marriage registered in Canada in 2001 as a United Church minister. This story of one queer kid will hopefully inspire other young people (queer and not) to resist the system and change it.

In The Queer Evangelist, Rev. Dr. Cheri DiNovo (CM) tells her story, from her roots as a young socialist activist in the 1960s to ordained minister in the '90s to member of provincial parliament. As the New Democratic member representing Parkdale-High Park in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 2006 to 2017, DiNovo passed more LGBTQ bills than anyone in Canadian history. She describes the behind-the-scenes details of major changes to the law, including Toby's Law, the first Transgender Rights legislation in North America in a major jurisdiction. She also passed bills banning conversion therapy, proclaiming parent equality for LGBTQ parents, and for enshrining in Ontario law the Trans Day of Remembrance. On this day in the legislature, the provincial government is mandated to observe a minute of silence while Trans murders and suicides are detailed.

Interspersed with her political work DiNovo describes her conversion to religious life, her theological work, and her ongoing struggle with the Christian Right. Cheri DiNovo's story shows how queers can be both people of faith and critics of religion, illustrating how one can resist and change the repressive systems from within. Her book is the story of queer justice realized and a story of hope for queer (and other) kids everywhere.