Rogers was born in Corner Brook, Newfoundland, to Leo Rogers from St. John's and Philomena Coles from Port Saunders. Leo joined the army, and the family moved to Montreal, then to Toronto, Winnipeg and Germany. They eventually returned to St. John’s in 1979, where Rogers completed a bachelor of social work at Memorial University of Newfoundland. Rogers worked at the St. John’s Women’s Centre, where she helped establish the first transition house for battered women. In 1982, she moved to Montreal to make documentary films at the National Film Board's Studio D, the only state funded women’s filmmaking unit in the world. Rogers made films with Studio D for 10 years. In 1992, she returned to St. John’s and founded Augusta Productions, and directed several international award-winning films including My Left Breast, a documentary about her own battle with breast cancer. Augusta Productions produces low-budget, POV, activist documentaries bringing viewers to the hearts and lives of people from all kinds of nooks and crannies of society. The films work to uncover the joy and strength and resilience of people in difficult situations, celebrating and broadcasting their voices. Openlylesbian, Rogers is the partner of social worker and businessperson Peg Norman. In honour of her role as a significant builder of LGBT culture and history in Canada, a portrait of Rogers by artist Claire Priddle was added to the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives' National Portrait Collection in 2003. Rogers became a marriage commissioner in 2005 in response to the many marriage commissioners who resigned after being told that they must perform same-sex marriages or resign from their positions.
Politics
Rogers was elected to the Newfoundland and LabradorHouse of Assembly in the 2011 provincial election, representing the district of St. John’s Centre as a member of the New Democratic Party. She was the first openly gay politician ever elected to the provincial legislature. She was re-elected in the 2015 provincial election. In 2017, Rogers announced her intentions to run for leader of the provincial NDP, following the resignation of Earle McCurdy. At the leadership convention on April 8, 2018, Rogers was elected leader with two-thirds of the vote. Rogers is the first openly LGBT person to lead a political party in Newfoundland and Labrador. On February 12, 2019, Rogers announced she would be stepping down as leader and not seeking re-election in Newfoundland's upcoming election. On March 5, 2019, Alison Coffin was acclaimed as NDP leader. She retired from the House of Assembly at its dissolution for the 2019 provincial election, which was held on May 16.
