HamiltonSpectator – By Sharon Boase
Deirdre Pike was at her desk at the Social Planning and Research Council one afternoon last November when a nurse from a city clinic called for help.
The nurse was treating a teenager for depression who was also struggling with terrible confusion and anxiety over her sexual orientation.
The nurse knew Pike’s name from stories in The Spectator and on TV about her advocacy work for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) community and asked Pike to speak to the girl.
“She just felt really lost,” recalls Pike. “I told her my story, that it was terrible in high school but that you can get through it. I could see her sitting differently. Her face just lit up.”