When John McDougall joined the Canadian military in 1989, he had a secret: he was gay.
And he didn’t dare tell anyone. Sure, the troops all had a common goal, he said, but “if you were gay or perceived as gay, you certainly weren’t as welcome as you could have been.”
So he was tremendously proud this week when he and his partner, David Gilbert, got to witness the rainbow-coloured Pride Week flag hoisted above the Edmonton Garrison Friday morning. “When they lifted up the flag, my chest swelled up three sizes.”
About 100 troops and civilians commemorated Edmonton’s Pride Festival yesterday at the Edmonton Garrison in a flag-raising ceremony. It was the first time that the flag had officially flown at the base, and possibly the first time it had flown at any military base in Canada.
“Twenty-three years ago when I joined the military I wouldn’t dare whisper that I was gay,” McDougall told the crowd. “To be able to have the blessing and support of the (commanding officer) of CFB Edmonton to raise this flag makes my chest swell.”
McDougall said he suggested the flag-raising to his boss three weeks ago in wake of recent celebrations on the base of various ethnic groups. He thought the idea would be shot down, and was pleasantly surprised when it was supported.
Canadian Forces members are a cross-section of Canada including the LGBT community, said base commander Lt.-Col. John Reiffenstein to the crowd. For the military to succeed, all its members have to work as a team, and that means promoting Canadian values like inclusivity and tolerance.
“Symbols matter,” he told the crowd. “The flag we raise this morning is a symbol of our support for the LGBT community,” he said, and a commitment to all members of Canada’s defence forces.
Former Edmonton Police commissioner and human rights advocate Murray Billett praised McDougall and Reiffenstein for their leadership. “This is the quintessential Canadian moment that I didn’t think I’d ever see in a million years.”
Gays and lesbians in Canada have historically led lives of guilt, regret, deceit and denial, Billett said in an interview. “Those aren’t Canadian qualities.”
If you were a gay man 10 to 20 years ago, he continued, you were seen as somehow less of a person than a straight one. “You didn’t want to come out because you would be chastised. You would be treated differently.”
There were also military attitudes to consider, McDougall said. “Everybody thinks of the army guy as the ultimate in macho,” he said. Being gay was seen as contradictory to that image, and that discouraged people from coming out.
Nowadays, McDougall said, being gay is more of a non-issue. “Before, if you said you were gay, there was a collective gasp in the room, but now … it’s more like a, ‘Oh, well, that’s nice.’ The whole level of tolerance and acceptance has changed.”
It was a gradual shift, he said, but one key moment came in 1992 when the Canadian Forces banned discrimination based on any grounds listed in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, including sexual orientation. “That allowed me to feel more comfortable with who I was.” Still, it wasn’t until 1997 that he felt safe enough to go public about his orientation.
This ceremony wasn’t about asking people to come out of the closet, McDougall told the crowd, but about showing them that the military would accept them if they did. “They don’t need to hide who they are. They don’t need to worry about being accepted.”
Today’s ceremony was a validation of Canada’s diverse nature, Billett said. “This speaks volumes of Canada, not just the Canadian military.”
Edmonton’s Pride Festival runs from June 7 to 16.
