OTTAWA—If we want to turn the tide on the troubling statistics, our words and actions matter too. This Pride month let’s be mindful of the importance of calling out bullying and discrimination in all its forms. Like many boys who grew up in the Ottawa Valley, I loved hockey. During the NHL playoffs, I remember racing down to the kitchen table in the morning to check the scores from the night before. Regardless of what shift my dad was working, he always wrote down the scores for me as my bedtime was well before the time the late games ended. …Playing minor hockey, I was average at best and was quite fine with that. I so enjoyed being at the rink and on the ice with my friends. That all changed when I was 14. A new guy joined our team and he decided early that I would be his target. He was relentless in referring to me as “Nighbor girl”. I knew I was different, but this was the first time I realized someone else noticed it too. …As a gay kid growing up in a Catholic home and living in a rural area through the 1980s and early 1990s, I suppressed my sexuality. …I lived in constant fear that someone would find out I was gay, my parents wouldn’t love me anymore, and I would have no friends. It was an exhausting existence.

…Nearly 18 years later, with the support of my family, some incredible allies, and because Canada’s forest sector leaders believed in me, I find myself in a job that I absolutely love—working in service to over 230,000 forestry workers and contractors across Canada to create opportunities for them and their families.

…This is why Pride still matters. If we want to turn the tide on the troubling statistics, our words and actions matter too. This Pride month let’s be mindful of the importance of calling out bullying and discrimination in all its forms.

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