Tyler, I just want to say how incredibly proud I am of you, not only today, but also in 2015 when you told me what you were doing and that you were not giving up. It's obvious that you still haven't given up. It just makes me sad that you continue to have to fight these fights. I know that at the time, the Halton Catholic District School Board had elected officials on it who were contributing to the hate.
Today, there's a by-election in British Columbia, and the Conservative candidate there, in 2021, in a debate over conversion therapy, quoted the Bible to say that gay people were “unclean”. My colleague Rob Oliphant countered that to say that he is not unclean. Quite frankly, it was despicable. She's running for re-election today, and very likely, tomorrow, she could be a member of Parliament in the House of Commons again. We have a Conservative MP who said on a podcast recently that if he was given the opportunity, he would vote against gay marriage.
Tyler, I'll start with you, and then the other Tyler could, if he wants, comment as well. How do comments by elected officials contribute to the hate that is targeting people, the 2SLGBTQI+ community?