{"id":227245,"date":"2019-08-18T02:00:53","date_gmt":"2019-08-18T06:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=227245"},"modified":"2019-08-18T04:33:34","modified_gmt":"2019-08-18T08:33:34","slug":"ottawa-mayor-jim-watson-comes-out-as-gay-after-40-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/08\/18\/ottawa-mayor-jim-watson-comes-out-as-gay-after-40-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson comes out as gay after 40 years"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_227246\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-227246\" style=\"width: 960px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/33117460_10155295361455876_4572983887734505472_n.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-227246\" src=\"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/33117460_10155295361455876_4572983887734505472_n.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"960\" height=\"639\" srcset=\"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/33117460_10155295361455876_4572983887734505472_n.jpg 960w, https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/33117460_10155295361455876_4572983887734505472_n-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/33117460_10155295361455876_4572983887734505472_n-768x511.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-227246\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Watson\u00a0says he was inspired to write the column after he raised the pride flag at city hall during the 2014 Olympic Games in Russia to show solidarity with LGBTQ athletes who feared the Russian government&#8217;s views on homosexuality. (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/jimwatsonottawa\/photos\/a.178559055875\/10155295361450876\/?type=3&amp;amp;theater\">File Photo<\/a>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/jimwatsonottawa\/\">Jim Watson\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>OTTAWA \u2014 After 40 years, Ottawa Mayor\u00a0Jim\u00a0Watson\u00a0has come out as gay.<\/p>\n<p>In a column published in the Ottawa Citizen on Saturday,\u00a0Watson\u00a0writes that it was a \u201cmistake\u201d not coming out sooner.<\/p>\n<p>He writes that he was worried about how his family, friends and colleagues would react and he struggled coming to terms with his sexuality during his childhood.<\/p>\n<p>Watson\u00a0says he was inspired to write the column after he raised the pride flag at city hall during the 2014 Olympic Games in Russia to show solidarity with LGBTQ athletes who feared the Russian government&#8217;s views on homosexuality.<\/p>\n<p>Watson\u00a0says he was also convinced to come out of the closet after he was approached by a man in a park two years ago who told him he shouldn&#8217;t go to the Ottawa Pride Parade, calling it the \u201cfag parade.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Many political leaders have written\u00a0Watson\u00a0messages of support on social media, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau who tweeted that the mayor was brave for sharing his story.<\/p>\n<p>Liberal MP Rob Oliphant, who is openly gay, also posted on Twitter about\u00a0Watson&#8217;s bravery in coming out.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am so proud to call\u00a0Jim\u00a0Watson\u00a0a friend. Always gracious, strong and kind,\u201d he tweeted.<\/p>\n<p>In the column,\u00a0Watson\u00a0writes that his reluctance to come out about his sexuality deprived him of living a life \u201cfull of love and adventure\u201d that his openly gay friends got to experience.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut if I can be so bold as to offer one bit of advice to those still in the closet: Don&#8217;t feel pressured or rushed to come out, but don&#8217;t wait 40 years either,\u201d writes\u00a0Watson.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>OTTAWA \u2014 After 40 years, Ottawa Mayor\u00a0Jim\u00a0Watson\u00a0has come out as gay. In a column published in the Ottawa Citizen on &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":227246,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,54365,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-227245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news-ca","category-instagram","category-news","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=227245"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227245\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":227247,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227245\/revisions\/227247"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/227246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=227245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=227245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=227245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}