From pop-star to politician: How a gay single dad became the first black member of Finnish parliament

Having dedicated his life to the arts, Jani Toivola never envisioned a career in law making. “Politics was never the plan,” he says. “But life and my experience as a black gay man in Scandinavia led me there.” So, in 2011, at 44 years old, the Finnish - Kenyan performer made history by becoming the first black MP to join Finland’s parliament. During his first term, Toivola’s rigorous campaigning led to the passing of the Equal Rights Bill, making Finland the final Nordic country to legalise gay marriage.

Born to a white Finnish mother and a Kenyan father and raised in Vaasa, a small town north of Helsinki, Toivola endured an isolating adolescence. His father was absent for the first three decades of his life. At the same time, Toivola was juggling both his sexuality – he knew he was “different” at a young age – and the othering that came with being the only black person in his entire world. “I grew up in a place where there were no reflections of my skin colour or my heritage.

I was constantly the only person in all rooms that looked like me, be it at daycare, at school or my first summer job,” he says. “When you’re surrounded by a weird silence like that, at some point you’re not even sure whether you really exist.”

Like many people of colour in predominantly white areas, he was no stranger to racist remarks about everything from his appearance to where “home” really was for him. “As a young boy I was so confused when people would be angry at me and tell me to leave Finland because it was all I knew,” he says. “It was the only country and culture I had ever known, so I’d think to myself, ‘Where am I supposed to go if I’m not allowed here?’”

At 19, the answer to that question became New York City. Having fallen in love with drama as a child, Toivola dreamt of a career on stage and headed stateside to pursue it. “There was this duality within me where I’d always felt like an outsider but at the same time, I had a strong sense of self and I knew that it was going to lead me if I had the courage to hold onto myself,” he explains. “I found dance and theatre very early on and I was very passionate about that. I always felt I had a strong purpose even among all the confusion and struggle, so I decided to focus on that.”

Toivola credits his time in New York in the late 1990s and early aughts, where he studied at HB Acting Studio, as the period of his life that shaped him. “It was such a huge turning point for me in terms of my identity and exploring who I really am,” he says. “It was the first time in my life that I really saw and lived among other black people. I made my first black friends and learnt about African American history and the Civil Rights Movement. I saw people being vocal and active about their rights and really being proud of their blackness. I saw gay couples holding hands on the street and kissing in the park without a care in the world. These were all things I had never seen before and it really opened my eyes.”

Not only did he find himself immersed in black and queer communities but he was finally exposed to the idea that black and brown people were not the monoliths they were portrayed to be where he was from. “It was so freeing to see the diversity among people of colour. In Scandinavia, we were taught that there were only a few ways of existing as a black person but in New York, black people were everything from punk rockers to Wall Street bankers. There were people of colour from all walks of life doing all kinds of things and that was so empowering for me.”

He returned to Finland in 2002 with an acting degree and a fiery new lease of life that set the tone for the years of activism ahead of him. Delving straight into the entertainment industry, he starred in a string of Finnish movies, performed in theatre productions and, in 2007, he became the host of Finland’s Idols. Suddenly, he was a fully-fleshed national star, leveraging his fame to fight the socio-political issues affecting marginalised people and communities in his country.

“I started publically talking about gay rights, racism in Finland and my own experience as a black man in Scandinavia, trying to get people to think about how we could make our society more equal and create new images for people to identify with,” he says.

In the midst of his campaigning, Toivola went through yet another personal reckoning. This time, it connected him to his Kenyan roots and the family ties that had been absent in his life. One day, he received a phone call from a brother he didn’t know existed.

“He’d always known about me but he didn’t have much information,” he says. “He had an old letter that my mother had sent to my father when I was around four or five years old.” Toivola’s brother, living in Germany and aware that they shared a father, used the name on the letter to start searching for him online. “My mum was selling my sister’s old hamster cages online at the time and by some chance he came across the ads and got in touch with her,” he says.

At first, it was an overwhelming realisation for Toivola, who was now 31. “It was very emotional, both exciting and crazy. You’re immediately very intimate in a way, but at the same time there are these huge gaps to be filled about your stories and who you are,” he says. “But right away, some of his expressions and his energy felt so familiar to me. It was almost like looking into a mirror sometimes when I watched his mannerisms.”

Toivola joined his brother on a trip to Kenya, where he was met with his biological father and their extended relatives in a small village near Kisumu. He was embraced by aunties, uncles, grandparents and cousins and introduced to a side of him he had been yearning for his entire life. “It feels like you don’t have a story when you don’t know the story,” he says. “So, when I finally learnt mine, it was so special and important to me. Getting to know my Kenyan culture and feeling like that part of my life was no longer erased affirmed my identity.”

The experience gave him the push he needed to run for parliament back in Finland, and to consider starting a family of his own. He served two terms as an MP, while becoming a single dad to his now eight-year old daughter, whom he shares with a woman he met online. He admits it was strange at first, but they’ve made it work, with Toivola as the prime caregiver and his daughter spending weekends with her mother.

Toivola joined his brother on a trip to Kenya, where he was met with his biological father and their extended relatives in a small village near Kisumu. He was embraced by aunties, uncles, grandparents and cousins and introduced to a side of him he had been yearning for his entire life. “It feels like you don’t have a story when you don’t know the story,” he says. “So, when I finally learnt mine, it was so special and important to me. Getting to know my Kenyan culture and feeling like that part of my life was no longer erased affirmed my identity.”

The experience gave him the push he needed to run for parliament back in Finland, and to consider starting a family of his own. He served two terms as an MP, while becoming a single dad to his now eight-year old daughter, whom he shares with a woman he met online. He admits it was strange at first, but they’ve made it work, with Toivola as the prime caregiver and his daughter spending weekends with her mother.

“I always thought I’d have to choose between my sexuality and this dream I had of being a parent and having a family, which was scary and paralysing,” he explains. Once again it was an experience he had in New York that made him believe the two parts of him could coexist. “I worked as a waiter in a French restaurant on the side while studying and there was this little family that would visit every Wednesday and Friday. It was a little girl and her two dads. I’ll never forget the moment I first saw them and realised that they were a family. That one image just allowed me to let go of all the shame I’d been carrying and envision that for myself.”

After leaving politics – a decision he made after feeling he was “drifting away from who he really was” – Toivola turned his attention back to the arts. In 2021, he released his debut novel Rakkaudesta (Finnish for ‘of love’) exploring the many layers of love through the lens of a man as well as ideas of masculinity and vulnerability. He joined forces with Finnish start-up Eventual, a creative agency aimed at diversifying culture by championing talents from minority backgrounds, who adapted his novel into a stage performance.

“Arts saved my life. It was my safe space when I needed it the most and the only place I’ve ever truly felt like myself,” he says. “I want others to have that opportunity and Eventual is doing such incredible things to make that happen in Finland.”

Forever a freedom-fighter, Toivola is now focused on freeing the world from the shackles of toxic gender norms through powerful expressions of love. “I'm really interested in different expressions of masculinity, what it means to be a man in this day and age, and how traditional models of what it is to be a man are dissolving,” he explains. “We need active conversations about how men can love themselves and others, experience non-romantic intimacy with other men and create new rules for male friendships and fatherhood. These are all elements that are at the core of my show and something I would love to see reflected in the world we live in.”