Radford ahead of Toronto’s Pride parade: "We’re making great strides"
TORONTO — Balmertown once held painful memories for Eric Radford. Growing up as the only figure skater in the tiny hockey town of 4,000 residents in northern Ontario, he was mercilessly bullied.
Radford became the first openly gay athlete to win a Winter Olympic gold medal, and his skating success took him back to Balmertown recently. He was elated to find antiquated attitudes have changed there.
The town named a street in his honour. He marched in a pride walk hand in hand with fiance Luis Fenero. But perhaps the most touching moment came during an elementary school talk when a young girl presented him with a picture she’d drawn. It was a replica of the Instagram photo of Radford’s marriage proposal to Fenero. Radford is down on one knee, and the couple is set against a rainbow background.
“She told me ‘Everybody knows you for your athletic accomplishments, but your story and you being open about your sexuality means so much to me, and I wanted to let you know that,’” Radford said, pulling the folded picture from his jeans pocket. “I was just so touched. I was flabbergasted that a Grade 8 girl from this small town that has such little exposure to these types of issues had the insight and the maturity to give something like this to me.