William James Ryan (born December 23, 1955, in

Moncton Moncton (; ) is the most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of New Brunswick. Situated in the Petitcodiac River Valley, Moncton lies at the geographic centre of the The Maritimes, Maritime Provinces. The ...

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

) is a professor of Social Work at

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, Canada. He is an international expert in the field of

sexuality Human sexuality is the way people experience and express themselves sexually. This involves biological, psychological, physical, erotic, emotional, social, or spiritual feelings and behaviors. Because it is a broad term, which has varied ...

sexual education Sex education, also known as sexual education, sexuality education or sex ed, is the instruction of issues relating to human sexuality, including emotional relations and responsibilities, human sexual anatomy, sexual activity, sexual reproduc ...

homophobia Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitude (psychology), attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who are identified or perceived as being lesbian, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, h ...

, health and gay men's health. He has conducted research in all these areas, published scientific articles, chapters and edited books. He has spoken at conferences internationally and consulted and trained with many international organizations. He is one of the leaders in the international gay men's health movement and has been a driving force behind the transformation of Action Séro-Zéro in Montréal into a full-fledged gay men's health organization. In 1992 he was the founding president of the Board of Directors of Séro-Zéro, which was founded to undertake HIV prevention among HIV negative gay men. He returned to the organization in 2000 and has once again been Chair, since 2004. He is the founder of the Canadian Safe Spaces movement, which, beginning with four sites ( Halifax, Moncton, Montréal,

Kamloops Kamloops ( ) is a city in south-central British Columbia, Canada, at the confluence of the South flowing North Thompson River and the West flowing Thompson River, east of Kamloops Lake. It is located in the Thompson-Nicola Regional District, w ...

), has grown into a movement with dozens of supportive services for youth questioning their sexual orientation (see

safe space The term safe space refers to places "intended to be free of bias, conflict, criticism, or potentially threatening actions, ideas, or conversations". The term originated in LGBT culture, but has since expanded to include any place where a margi ...

). He was founding co-chair of the Canadian Rainbow Health Coalition. In 2006, the Canadian Institutes for Health Research, granted funding to a pan-Canadian team, SVR (Sexuality, Vulnerability and Resilience), of which he is co-chair, to study the impacts of homophobia on the health of gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans and

two-spirit Two-spirit (also two spirit, 2S or, occasionally, twospirited) is a modern, , umbrella term used by some Indigenous North Americans to describe Native people in their communities who fulfill a traditional third-gender (or other gender-variant) ...

Canadians. In October 2009, he was named Personality of the Year by the Conseil Québécois des gais et lesbiennes, and in January 2010 he was awarded the Martin Luther King Junior Legacy Award by the City of Montréal. In 2011 he was named one of the Top Ten researchers in gender and health by the Gender and Health Institute of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. He is the fourth child of seven siblings. Ryan is openly

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

. He lives with his partner in Montreal and has an adopted son.

Publications

*HIV/AIDS:
The Canadian Experience, Oxford University Press, Toronto, 1998.
*Valuing Gay Men's Lives: Reinvigorating HIV Prevention in the Context of Our Health and Wellness

*Ryan, B., Brotman, S. & Baradaran, A. (2008) The Color of Queer Health Care: Experiences of Multiple Oppression in the Lives of Queer People of Color In Canada In S. Brotman, J. Josy Levy & Chatrand, E. (eds.) Homosexualités : variations linguistiques et culturelles. Québec: Presses de l'Université du Québec, Coll. Santé et Société. *Brotman, S., Ryan, B. Collins, S., Chamberland, L., Cormier, R., Julien, D., Meyer, E., Peterkin, A., Richard, B. (2007). Coming Out to Care?: Caregivers of Gay and Lesbian Seniors in Canada. The Gerontologist 47(4), 490–503. *Ryan, B. & Julllien, D. (2007) Les couples de même sexe et la parentalité in L'Adoption L'état des lieux, St-André, M et M. Carignan (eds), Prisme (46), 214–236.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ryan, Bill 1955 births Canadian gay writers Living people Academic staff of McGill University Writers from Moncton Canadian social work academics 21st-century Canadian LGBT people