By Josh Hall

motion to be discussed wednesday

Trustee proposes Pride Week for Red Deer Public Schools

Feb 9, 2021 | 1:35 PM

A Red Deer Public Schools trustee wants the division to implement an annual Pride Week during the first week of June.

Dianne Macaulay will introduce a motion during the school board’s meeting on Wednesday.

She says recognizing Pride Week in June would finally give the LGBTQ+ community and its allies a chance to celebrate during the school year since Central Alberta Pride Week is typically held in August.

More importantly, Macaulay feels, it would align with the school division’s priorities of equity, respect, and student success and completion.

“At Central Alberta Pride Week in 2019, while volunteering at the Red Deer Public booth at Bower Ponds, I was approached by many individuals, either members of the LGBTQ2S+ community or allies, wondering if Red Deer would follow suit with what Edmonton Pubic Schools was doing. They designated the first week of June that year and going forward as Pride Week.”

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The Edmonton public school board voted unanimously in 2019 to declare the first week of June each year as Pride Week. Festivities have since included parades, rainbow days and flag displays.

In the lead-up to Wednesday’s meeting, Macaulay has gathered at least a dozen letters from members of the local school community in support of an annual Pride Week.

In 2015, Red Deer Public Schools was praised for its policy on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identification (SOGI). The policy states, among other things, that the district shall establish consistent school based policies and practices to ensure LGBTQ+ students, staff and families are welcomed, accepted and included in all aspects of education.

The policy also says the district shall provide and promote opportunities for staff to increase their awareness and understanding of discrimination against LGBTQ+ people, and adds that the district shall commit to ongoing, constructing and open dialogue with LGBTQ+ community members.

“There are a lot of students who still do not feel safe in their school,” Macaulay says. “The suicide rate for teens in the LGBTQ+ community hasn’t really decreased over the last five years.”

According to a July 2020 report by The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, which is based in Toronto, about 33 per cent of lesbian, gay and bisexual youth worldwide have attempted suicide, compared to seven per cent of all youth. The suicide attempt rate for transgender people ranges from 32-50 per cent, the report adds.

If Macaulay’s proposal gains approval, it would not force all schools to do the same thing.

“In Edmonton, each school is responsible for how they want to promote and educate because each one is its own little community. We will simply help them with resources,” she explains. “There are other community organizations such as TANAS and the Queer Society that can go in for that week and give out posters or other things. It’s all about education.”