Evan Wiens came out to his classmates and family long before he entered Grade 10 at Steinbach Regional Secondary School in 2011. He says he didn’t let the frequent bullying he experienced throughout junior high and high school affect his self-confidence.

“My favourite artist is Lady Gaga. Her album ‘Born this Way’ has given me a lot of strength to just be myself.”

“I was called a fag as young as Grade 7. It didn’t really affect me that deeply but I though what if another kid comes out and what if they get bullied like I did and they commit suicide. I couldn’t imagine that happening in my community.”

Of approximately 1,400 students, Evan says he was the only ‘out’ male at his high school.

“I found that because it was such a large school everyone was very apathetic and I caught on to that attitude. Then Bill-18 changed everything.”

Bill-18, legislation passed in 2013 requiring all Manitoba high schools to create a gay-straight alliance if requested to do so by its students, was extremely controversial in the Mennonite community of Steinbach. Evan was in Grade 11 when the Bill was making its way through the legislature.

“I was getting pissed off that my local MLA, Kelvin Goertzen, and my local MP, Vic Toews, were strongly opposing Bill-18 and encouraging constituents to sign petitions against it.”

“I think that someone who is a government representative should be supporting anti-bullying legislation no matter what.”

Evan decided his high school needed a GSA to confront faith-based opposition to Bill-18. Administration at Steinbach Regional Secondary School said he was allowed to start a club but wasn’t allowed to advertise it. Having received the same response to his request to start a GSA when he arrived at the school in Grade 10, Wiens felt it was time to draw public attention to his frustration.

“The Church was getting so much attention in the news for their opposition to Bill-18, why wasn’t I allowed to share my side of the story?”

“I contacted the CBC and the next day I was in the news.”

Over the next few months, media outlets from across the country interviewed Evan about his fight to create a GSA with the same rights as any other high school club.

“I wasn’t treated the best in school. After my news interviews I got stares all the time. It was kind of like a confirmation of who’s against me and who’s with me”

“I think staff were generally supportive and I think that has to with the fact that a lot of them were from Winnipeg and not small religious towns.”

Bill-18 was passed on Sept. 13, 2013. Evan says the controversy surrounding the Bill still lingers in his hometown.

“I think of Steinbach in terms of pre Bill-18 and post Bill-18 because the atmosphere changed so much in the town. It made people really think about what their views were on things.”

“A lot of people like to deny that there are gay people in Steinbach, but there are, it’s just a statistic.”

In April 2013, Steinbach Regional Secondary School gave Evan the okay to advertise a GSA to his fellow students. The club still continues today even though Evan has graduated.

“A couple of weeks ago, a Grade 12 student at my old high school messaged me and said, ‘I was too afraid to come out but because you created a GSA at school I want to join it and hopefully come out to everyone at school.’”

“I’ve had a couple people Facebook message me and say, ‘hey I really am supportive of what you’re doing and just letting you know that I’m gay too but I’m too afraid to come out to anyone else—but I feel comfortable coming out to you.’”

“I feel honoured.”