The Fraser Valley Youth Society hosted its fourth annual Fraser Valley Pride celebration in Abbotsford, BC on July 16, 2016. | Derek Bedry/Daily Xtra

Recently, LGBT youth in the bible belt area of British Columbia, Canada, spoke with Daily Xtra about what it’s really like to be gay in Fraser Valley schools.

Daily Xtra reports:

When Michael Chutskoff started kindergarten in Abbotsford 14 years ago, he promised his school he wouldn’t be gay. “My school was very anti-gay,” he says. Abbotsford’s Mennonite Educational Institute (MEI) had a covenant that included committing to sexual morality, refraining from homosexuality, and practicing celibacy until marriage, Chutskoff says.

At the time, MEI, which runs schools from preschool through Grade 12 at its four Abbotsford campuses, was all Chutskoff knew.

“It was really hard to hear your teachers say being gay is a choice, you’re going to hell and you can’t speak out,” he says. READ MORE