Raymond Gravel (November 4, 1952 – August 11, 2014) was a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

and politician from the province of

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

. Gravel was formerly the Member of Parliament for the riding of

Repentigny Repentigny () is an off-island suburbs, off-island suburb of Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is located North Shore (Laval), north of the city on the lower end of the L'Assomption River, and on the Saint Lawrence River. Repentigny and Ch ...

, as a member of the

Bloc Québécois The Bloc Québécois (, , BQ) is a centre-left politics, centre-left and list of federal political parties in Canada, federal political party in Canada devoted to Quebec nationalism, Quebecois nationalism, social democracy, and the promotion o ...

. He was elected to the House of Commons in a November 27, 2006 by-election following the death of Benoît Sauvageau. As a young man Gravel worked in bars in Montreal's

Gay Village A gay village, also known as a gayborhood or gaybourhood, is a geographical area with generally recognized boundaries that is inhabited or frequented by many lesbian, gay, bisexuality, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people. Gay vil ...

; he was open about the fact that he was a sex-trade worker during that time. Although Gravel never came out publicly as homosexual during his lifetime, he acknowledged his homosexuality to his biographer, Claude Gravel, prior to his death. He entered the seminary in 1982 and became a priest. Gravel was controversial among the Catholic clergy and laity for his support of

abortion Abortion is the early termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. Abortions that occur without intervention are known as miscarriages or "spontaneous abortions", and occur in roughly 30–40% of all pregnan ...

rights,

euthanasia Euthanasia (from : + ) is the practice of intentionally ending life to eliminate pain and suffering. Different countries have different Legality of euthanasia, euthanasia laws. The British House of Lords Select committee (United Kingdom), se ...

and

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same legal Legal sex and gender, sex. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 38 countries, with a total population of 1.5 ...

, three issues officially opposed by the Church. He was most recently a priest at St-Joachim de la Plaine Church in La Plaine, Quebec. He was acclaimed as the Bloc's candidate on October 29, 2006. He received a dispensation from Gilles Lussier, Bishop of Joliette, to enter politics. Elected with a large majority in the Bloc stronghold, he became the Bloc critic for seniors' issues. However, following his opposition to Bill C-484, which would have recognized injury of a fetus during a crime as a separate offence from an injury to the mother, and his support for Dr.

Henry Morgentaler Henekh "Henry" Morgentaler (March 19, 1923 – May 29, 2013), was a Polish-born Canadian physician, and abortion rights advocate who fought numerous legal battles aimed at expanding abortion rights in Canada. As a Jewish youth during World War ...

receiving the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada () is a Canadian state order, national order and the second-highest Award, honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the Canadian Centennial, ce ...

, Gravel was ordered by the Vatican to either give up the priesthood or leave politics, and he finally announced he would not run in the 2008 election, saying that the priesthood was his life. He cited as his biggest regret his inability to pass his

private member's bill A private member's bill is a bill (proposed law) introduced into a legislature by a legislator who is not acting on behalf of the executive branch. The designation "private member's bill" is used in most Westminster system jurisdictions, in wh ...

C-490, which aimed to improve seniors' access to guaranteed income supplements. He was removed from a position as a catechist in the Quebec

Diocese of Joliette The Roman Catholic Diocese of Joliette () (erected 27 January 1904) is a suffragan in Joliette of the Archdiocese of Montréal. Gallery File:QC Joliette1 tango7174.jpg, Saint-Charles-Borromée Cathedral File:QC Joliette2 tango7174.jpg, Interio ...

during 2010. Gravel then launched a lawsuit against the LifeSiteNews (LSN) agency, a project of the

Campaign Life Coalition The Campaign Life Coalition (sometimes shortened to Campaign Life) is a Canadian political lobbyist organization founded in 1978. Based in Hamilton, Ontario, the organization advocates for socially conservative values. Campaign Life Coalition op ...

, for $500,000 in damages. In his motion, Gravel suggested that articles on the LSN website caused him to lose this responsibility. Gravel stated that LSN misrepresented him by identifying him as 'pro-abortion' while he identified himself as 'pro-choice'. In an interview with

Radio-Canada Radio-Canada may refer to: * CBC/Radio-Canada, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation *Ici Radio-Canada Télé, the CBC's main French-language television network *Ici Radio-Canada Première Ici Radio-Canada Première (formerly Première Chaîne) i ...

, he stated: "I am pro-choice and there is not a bishop on Earth that will prevent me from receiving communion, not even the Pope." However, he later stated, "I am against abortion, but I am not in favour of the

pro-life Anti-abortion movements, also self-styled as pro-life movements, are involved in the abortion debate advocating against the practice of abortion and its legality. Many anti-abortion movements began as countermovements in response to the lega ...

campaign that condemns all women who get an abortion." In 2014, he died of lung cancer. He was 61.

Electoral record

Sources

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gravel, Raymond 1952 births 2014 deaths Bloc Québécois MPs 20th-century Canadian Roman Catholic priests Canadian LGBTQ Members of Parliament Canadian gay politicians Gay male prostitutes Canadian LGBTQ rights activists Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Quebec Canadian male prostitutes People from Lanaudière LGBTQ Roman Catholic priests Deaths from lung cancer in Canada Deaths from cancer in Quebec 21st-century members of the House of Commons of Canada 21st-century Canadian Roman Catholic priests 21st-century Canadian LGBTQ people 20th-century Canadian LGBTQ people