Honourable senators, I am honoured to rise today to join you in celebrating Pride Month.

I know we all share the core Canadian values of respect for diversity, inclusion, acceptance and understanding. These values were highlighted in 2017 by the Honourable Grant Mitchell when introducing Bill C-16, which made changes to the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code to protect the rights of transgender and gender-diverse people in Canada.

I am pleased to welcome my sister Anne and my 97-year-old mom, Betty.

This statement is a love letter to my mom and my brother. Our mother was born 60 years after Confederation into a Roman Catholic family in the small town of Perth, Ontario, into a Canada where homosexuality was hidden and forbidden by both church and state.

Mom was 42 years old when Canada changed its law to decriminalize consensual homosexual acts, and she was 78 when same-sex marriage became legal.

My mom is a matriarch, the oldest of 10, the last remaining aunt in my father’s large family, a mother of 7, a grandmother of 14 and a great-grandmother of 20. My mom was a nurse who helped women have babies and helped care for them.

On November 4, 1955, on the eve of my first birthday, my handsome Irish twin, Patrick, was born in Orillia, Ontario. Patrick was a precocious child, very charming and bright. We were all jealous when he was chosen to go on “Romper Room.”

Mom and Dad loved us and wanted the best for their kids. They were strict and very devout Catholics; mom still is. What they didn’t know is that their son Patrick, who appeared to be thriving socially, academically and, later, professionally, was hiding a major part of his identity from them and from others.

Patrick is gay. Sadly, he felt it wasn’t safe for many years to be out — to be himself — in his family or in society, and he was probably right. Thank goodness for the love of Patrick’s close friends.

Fortunately, when Patrick did bravely come out to our parents in his thirties, he was embraced with love and care. Mom and dad were sad for the hardships Patrick had experienced growing up.

We, his siblings, were relieved our parents were accepting and not condemning of our brother. That couldn’t have been easy for them.

Honourable colleagues, as we all work to protect the rights of Canadians in these times when 2SLGBTQI rights — and in particular, transgender children’s rights — are increasingly under threat, let’s encourage Canadians to choose love and acceptance.

My mom did, and I love her for that.

Wela’lioq. Thank you.