Why I waited 10 years before coming out

During June, the NHL and the NHL Players’ Association’s joint Hockey Is For Everyone initiative will celebrate Pride Month. All 32 NHL Clubs, alumni, and current players will participate in pride events, including parades, across North America. As part of Pride Month, NHL.com will share stories about the LGBTQI+ hockey community. Today, an account from LNH.com writer Guillaume Lepage, who has covered League activities, including the recent Western Conference Final, the Montreal Canadiens, and prospects ahead of the annual NHL Draft, for the past five years.

Ten years. It took me 10 years to overcome my fears and my apprehensions, and to come to the conclusion that I could continue to practice my job as a journalist in the hockey world without having to hide behind a mask, by just being myself. Openly homosexual.

During this decade-long personal journey and process of acceptance, I was also constantly asking myself if the person that I really was could go through all the necessary steps to finally settle into such an environment, which is known to be a bit conservative.

Even though I am now well established in my field, I still kept asking myself the same question over and over. Until last summer.

Everything changed on July 19, 2021 — the day Luke Prokop became the first active player under contract to an NHL team to come out as gay. When I saw all the support and positive reactions from all corners of the hockey industry, I decided that the time had come. I was ready, and the last obstacle that was holding me back had just fallen.

Two days later, I had come out to my family, my friends, and a few colleagues. An exhausting process emotionally, but one that only had positive repercussions. At 30 years old, I have never been happier, more fulfilled, and closer to the ones around me than in the last year. 

I don’t have anything to hide anymore. I’m no longer walking on eggshells or adapting what I want to say according to a particular context.

In that way, my story is no…