YCDSB students ‘walk out for action’ to support 2SLGBTQ+ community

For Grade 12 student Violet Meadows, the Board’s refusal to raise the Pride flag sent a message that 2SLGBTQ+ students didn’t matter.

“I think putting up the flag shows that the school doesn’t stand for bullying, and refusing to put it up shows they are encouraging it,” Meadows said. “I have personally been bullied at school and had instances where people have yelled at me in the halls, and I don’t want that to happen anymore. I want the cycle to stop now.”

Kat Sein could relate. Having graduated from the school in 2006, she showed up to the walkout because she remembered how she had been treated growing up.

“As a queer person, the decision by the Board was pretty disappointing,” she said. “When I was in school in the early 2000s, the language was different and it was not a safe place. I had friends who left because they didn’t feel safe being who they were.

“Students have more of a voice now, and it’s great.”

Meanwhile, one student, who did not want to be interviewed, pushed back against the group, and said the 2SLGBTQ+ messaging was being forced on him.

St. Theresa of Lisieux was one of 11 schools from which students participated in the walkout, as listed on the YCDSB Students for Change Instagram page. The other schools were Cardinal Carter CHS, Holy Cross CA, Our Lady of the Lake CHS, St. Augustine CHS, St. Brother Andre CHS, St. Elizabeth CHS, St. Maximilian Kolbe CHS, Sacred Heart CHS, St Joan of Arc CHS and Our Lady Queen of the World CA.

At Sacred Heart in Newmarket, students walked out in droves, some in uniform and others wrapped in Pride flags.

“If the issue of raising the Pride flag at schools in the York Catholic board truly was about not wanting to override the Canadian flag, then the school board needs to seriously look at having more than one pole at each school,” Kelly Martin, Ontario Public Service Employees Union Local 330 president, who came to support the students, said. “It’s such a simple solution.”

There are so many other days and causes, such as Every Child Matters and Black Lives Matter, where students need support and solidarity, she added.

“It’s unfortunate the students had to do this to get recognized,” Martin said. “This shows what solidarity can do. We need to be working together.”

Just less than a kilometre from where the Sacred Heart students marched along local streets waving banners, the Pride flag waves at the public school board’s Community Education Centre – North, and the signboard out front displays the character word for June – Respect.

— with files from Amanda Persico