I found myself in Canada

I think the best thing you can give somebody is love. I moved to Canada 11 years ago to look for my true love - a husband, to start a family with as full of love as the one I had growing up. However, for a gay man like me, this was a difficult goal to achieve in China.

I grew up in a big family. The world outside of our little village is huge, and the only way to leave it was by going to a university. My father wanted me to be a doctor like himself, but I was more interested in technical studies. I studied international business in a second level university, did my masters in one of the top 5 universities in China and became succesful.

After coming to Canada, with luck, I met Normand on an online dating site. We started dating, and our relationship turned into love soon enough. We got married four years ago. Now we are even closer to having that loving family I have always wanted to build. We are arranging for a surrogate mother who will carry two babies for us, one with Normand's genes and one with mine. We are eagerly waiting to raise them with unconditional love.

I frequently visit China, as I love to visit my family, to whom I owe a lot. But after a while, I get tired of people constantly pressuring me for material success: "How much money are you making?", "What type of car are you driving?", "How many houses do you own?"

Canada is where I can be myself. A place where I am valued not for my money or my station, but for who I am.

Martin Ding
Vancouver BC, Canada, 17 August 2018