On this day in 1984: Chris Smith, Labour MP, became the first Member of Parliament to voluntarily come out. During a rally against a possible ban on gay employees by Rugby town council, Smith began his speech by saying: Good afternoon, I'm Chris Smith, I'm the Labour MP for Islington South and Finsbury, and I'm gay." Reflecting on the moment with the University of Cambridge, Smith said: “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.” #LGBTQNews #ComingOut #GayNews #UKPolitics #Labour