The Boy Who Skated Anyway: Stef Vachon's Story
About this episode
Stef Vachon shares his journey of overcoming bullying and mental health struggles as a queer figure skater.
Content note: This conversation includes language that references homophobic slurs and a discussion of suicidal ideation and mental health struggles. Please listen with care, and reach out for support if you need it. What happens when the thing you love most is the very thing the world tells you is wrong? This week we sit down with Stef Vachon, a proud queer man, husband, father, keynote speaker, and former international professional figure skater with over 30 years of experience performing around the world. Stef grew up in a small French speaking town in Quebec where every boy was expected to play hockey. Instead, he fell in love with figure skating, and the bullying began almost immediately. Stef shares his decades in survival mode, the breaking point that led him to write his entire life story and hand it to a therapist, and the piece of homework that sent him back onto the ice and back to himself. We talk about learning to be alone before finding love, the pressures of image and perfection in gay male culture, chosen family, and the movie that opened the door to fatherhood in his fifties. Today Stef hosts the Together Moving Forward podcast and speaks on moving from survival…
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