Jasper delegates, ambassadors and support staff—along with a group of teens connected to Community Outreach Services—raised the Pride flag on May 17 in recognition of International Day Against Homophobia.

The day aims to raise awareness of LGBTQA+ rights violations and recognize the work that honours those rights worldwide.

Mychol Ormandy is the Executive Director of OUT Jasper, a local grassroots advocacy, peer and support group for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer/questioning community. Before he and his son helped raise the Pride flag, Ormandy reflected on his work to help create a supportive environment for individuals in Jasper’s LGBTQ community. As a child, and well into high school, Ormandy was regularly bullied.

“I was ridiculed, bullied, called a fag,” he remembered. “In Grade 6 I came home bawling my face off.”

Decades later, as a gay man, a father and a community organizer, Ormandy is proud to be working to stop the kind of bullying he was subjected to.

Because although times have changed, some things haven’t changed enough. Ormandy pointed out that every year young people take their own lives as a result of being harassed and bullied by their peers. Often, things aren’t necessarily any better at home, he said.

“Some kids tell their parents they’re gay or trans or bi-sexual and a lot of them are kicked out of the house,” he said.

When he came out, although it was hard for him and his family to “figure things out,” Ormandy was lucky to have unconditional support from those who loved him, he said.

“I’m very lucky in that way,” he said.

But it’s not like that for everyone. Which is why raising the rainbow flag, the colours of which reflect the diversity of the LGBTQA+ community and the spectrum of human sexuality and gender, is an important gesture, he said.

“This is a welcoming community, an inclusive community, but there’s always more work to do,” he said.

Bob Covey // bob@thejasperlocal.com