Pride month — once just a weekend, then a week, now the whole month of June — is a chance to stop, look around, and see how far we’ve come in the last 40-plus years. In many ways, that progress is beyond the wildest hopes and dreams of those of us who were young activists all those years ago.
When I founded my firm, Navigator, 26 years ago, I had a vision. It would be, amongst other things, a place where all employees would be valued for their contributions, free from judgment the outside world might still make. This was in the days before we heard about “bringing your whole self” to work. We offered free space to Egale Canada, so they could carry out their important advocacy work from our office. Between client calls, we got on the phone with journalists to advocate for gay members of the Canadian Armed Forces to be included in stories on Remembrance Day, or gay couples to be included in Valentine’s Day coverage.
Over the years since, the North Star of genuine equality has resembled a slow, methodical, deliberate march that led inexorably to equal marriage.
And we won that battle, the fight of my life, not just because we were clever, but because the Canadian people came to see us as equal without reservation or condition.
That is a pretty remarkable thing about Canada. The LGBTQ community didn’t have to “win” equality — our fellow citizens offered it to us. They chose to extend it. Canadians rallied to our cause because we are a people of the Charter — equal is equal, and a threat to any Charter protection is a threat to every one of us.
And so, I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised but I was to the reaction of people, including those in my own office, to the runaway success of “Heated Rivalry” this year.
It meant so much to me to hear people at our communal lunch table dissecting the plot points and character development, genuinely committed to the romance between two male hockey players.
And it just got better. “Heated Rivalry” has scored a record 16 wins at the Canadian Screen Awards. “It’s like this gay, beautiful juggernaut,” Hudson Williams said after winning for best lead actor in a drama.
Let’s recall that not so long ago, a young actor would have run screaming from a role in which he is intimate with another man, worrying it would tarnish his reputation rather than build it.
But in 2026, Williams and his co-star Connor Storrie have shot to mainstream stardom. There they are, dressed to impress, at the Met Gala and telling jokes on Saturday Night Live. Prime Minister Mark Carney grinned ear-to-ear when he posed with Williams at a Canadian film industry gala in January.
Still, progress is uneven and incomplete. Since his star turn, Williams says he’s heard from active players in the NHL, NFL and the NBA who have reached out to share how they are still concealing their sexual orientation. Think about that: elite professional athletes — among the most wealthy and well-connected people in our society — still feel they cannot be themselves.
We know, too, that LGBTQ youth in Canada are still at a higher risk for mental health issues like depression and anxiety than their straight peers.
So, we can’t rest on our laurels. Indeed, we have seen those who are trying to roll back the progress we have made in exchange for cheap political points. The leader of this parade is, of course, U.S. President Donald Trump. But he is not alone, merely the ringleader. Pushback is something to be fiercely resisted.
The words of transgender activist Janet Mock — a writer and director who has built her career on living publicly and authentically — come to mind.
“I believe that telling our stories, first to ourselves and then to one another and the world, is a revolutionary act.”
We cannot let Canadians forget why we raise the rainbow flag — because it represents people they love. Friends and neighbours and community leaders. The flag shows the LGBTQ community that we aren’t just tolerated, we’re included. Our stories have been heard.
Now we must keep retelling them.
