Thank you for the question.
Not having been discharged yet, of course, I don't really know for sure. I have talked to other people who have been discharged.
In the last few years, I could see that I was going to be released. I knew that my medical condition was leading me that way, in that I would no longer meet universality of service. As a result, I was reflecting on my previous career, and I'm finding now that, kind of like another panellist, I didn't think it was affecting me mentally but I can see that it is. I've already started doing some.... Part of it was that as a member of the military, especially someone from way back, was literally the words “suck it up”. I swallowed all of that.
I'm just at the point now of seeking medical help for my mental health, and where that's going to take me I don't know. It's my physical health that has suffered from hiding who I was. It's my physical health. The many things I had to do to protect myself caused me a physical injury, and that is the claim that I have. I have not put a mental claim in yet, but in talking to my health care workers, that will be proceeding in the next week or so.
What obstacles am I going to face? I don't know. I don't know anyone else who's had a career quite like mine. When I joined, Toronto police were still raiding gay bars. To protect myself, I had to swallow everything.
I'm sorry, I don't really know how to answer your question. Thank you for the question though.