Turning Courage into Change: Brock McGillis presents at StFX Pride Event

On Friday, January 9th, 2026, the StFX campus community welcomed Brock McGillis—Canada’s first openly gay professional hockey player—as the Pride month keynote speaker. Now retired from professional hockey, McGillis has transitioned into a career in public speaking where he focuses on using personal courage to inspire meaningful social change.

McGillis opened his talk by reflecting on his childhood and early hockey career. Like many young athletes he spent entire weekends at the rink, with his parents dropping off meals between practices and games. While hockey shaped his identity, McGillis explained that he began to feel isolated as he realized he could not resonate with the big topic of conversations happening in the dressing room: girls. More significantly, he described the impact of casually used homophobic language in hockey culture, which made him feel “bad” and “wrong,” and as though he could not be himself while doing what he loved.

As his career progressed, McGillis said he felt increasing pressure to suppress not only his sexuality but also his personality, believing he had to conform to the stereotypical “hockey bro” image. This contributed to struggles with addiction, self-harm, and declining mental health. On the outside, it looked like he had an awesome life, “getting his friends into clubs VIP at sixteen, with owners coming up with trays of shots.” But on the inside, McGillis said he hated himself and felt trapped in a career path that was slowly unraveling. His lack of self-care eventually led to recurring season-ending injuries, further derailing his career.

After stepping away from professional hockey in Europe, McGillis returned to Canada and began a period of personal change. He went on his first date with a man, formed a close friendship with another openly gay man involved in the hockey world, and later experienced the devastating loss of that friend in a car accident, the only person he had come out to at the time. Following this loss, McGillis decided to come out to his family. He shared that his brother Corey’s response “Yeah? So? You’re Brock and I love you” was exactly what he needed.

Following his retirement, after being involved in professional hockey since 2001, McGillis moved back to Sudbury and began working in off-ice training and skill development with young hockey players. Although he believed he was keeping his sexuality private, he later learned that after a hockey mom attempted to set him up on a date, many of the athletes and parents already knew. This realization led McGillis to conduct what he called his own “sociological experiment”, observing how language and behavior functioned within hockey culture. He described a defining moment that occurred while he was away, when a younger athlete used the phrase “that’s so gay” in response to being assigned extra sprints by a substitute coach. An older player immediately intervened, saying, “We don’t say that here. Drop down and give me 50 push-ups.” According to McGillis, moments like this began to spread across teams and cities, demonstrating how small acts of accountability can lead to cultural change.

McGillis emphasized that everyone has the ability to use their influence and “make the world a bit better for everybody.” In 2016, after attending a Toronto Pride charity event, he partnered with a journalist to publicly come out. Following the article’s publication, McGillis received thousands of messages in support from people around the world, leading to public speaking events and eventually his own television series in the United States.

Reflecting on his journey, McGillis said the most important lesson he has learned is that “each and every one of us in this room has the ability to create a shift.” He added that these shifts create ripple effects that may never be fully visible but are often more powerful than expected.

McGillis concluded by outlining three ways individuals can help create change: humanizing others, being brave in using language that fosters inclusive environments, and breaking conformity. “What if we taught people, it was okay to use their voice?” he asked. “What if it was courageous? What if it was celebrated?” He ended the event by challenging attendees to bring their full selves into every room they occupy, reminding them that “the world deserves to see that.”