Brenda Murphy (born 1958 or 1959) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) 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 ...

activist and politician, who is the 32nd

lieutenant governor of New Brunswick The lieutenant governor of New Brunswick (, in French: ''Lieutenant-gouverneur'' (if male) or ''Lieutenante-gouverneure'' (if female) ''du Nouveau-Brunswick'') is the viceregal representative in New Brunswick of the , who operates distinctly wit ...

, since September 8, 2019.Alexander Quon
"Brenda Murphy officially sworn in as lieutenant-governor of New Brunswick"

Global News Global News is the news and current affairs division of the Canadian Global Television Network. The network is owned by Corus Entertainment, which oversees all of the network's national news programming as well as local news on its 21 owned-and ...

, September 9, 2019. Murphy is the first openly LGBTQ person to hold any viceregal office in Canadian history.

Career

She formerly served as a municipal councillor in

Grand Bay–Westfield Grand Bay-Westfield is a town on the west bank of the Saint John River immediately north of the boundary between Kings County and Saint John County. Name The Town's hyphenated name is the product of a series of amalgamations since 1966. The ...

and served as the executive director of the Saint John Women's Empowerment Network in Saint John, best known for her advocacy on poverty and

domestic violence Domestic violence (also known as domestic abuse or family violence) is violence or other abuse that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage or cohabitation. ''Domestic violence'' is often used as a synonym for ''intimate partner ...

issues. She served on a federal advisory council on poverty, and on New Brunswick's advisory council on the status of women.

Lieutenant-governor

Since September 8, 2019, she has served as

. She is both the province's first openly

LGBTQ ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is ...

lieutenant governor and the first openly LGBTQ person to hold any viceregal office in Canada.Bobbi-Jean Mackinnon
"Brenda Murphy 'humbled' to be appointed New Brunswick's new lieutenant-governor"

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New Brunswick, September 5, 2019. In April 2022, the

Court of Queen's Bench of New Brunswick The Court of King's Bench of New Brunswick (in French: ''Cour du Banc du Roi du Nouveau-Brunswick'') is the superior trial court of the Canadian province of New Brunswick. Structure The Court of King's Bench of New Brunswick consists of a Ch ...

ruled that her appointment as lieutenant governor violated the bilingual status of the province under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, since Murphy is unilingual English-speaking.

Personal life

Murphy is an out

lesbian A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...

and lives in

. Her partner Linda Boyle has accompanied her on official engagements, including a visit to King

Charles III Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person to ...

at Buckingham Palace in November 2022.The Royal Family, Court Circular, 30 November 2022

References

1950s births Living people Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century Canadian politicians 21st-century Canadian women politicians Canadian women viceroys LGBT politicians from Canada LGBT rights activists from Canada Canadian women's rights activists Canadian anti-poverty activists Lesbian politicians Lieutenant Governors of New Brunswick New Brunswick municipal councillors People from Kings County, New Brunswick Women civil rights activists Women in New Brunswick politics 21st-century LGBT people {{NewBrunswick-politician-stub