A banner hangs at Bower Ponds during Central Alberta Pride Week in Aug. 2019. Last week, a Red Deer school trustee proposed a June Pride Week within schools in part so that students could celebrate the event together. (rdnewsNOW file photo)

By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

"DISHEARTENED AND DISGUSTED"

Red Deer’s Pride groups decry school board’s Diversity Week decision

Feb 16, 2021 | 9:00 AM

Three local LGBTQ2S+ organizations are expressing their disappointment over a local school board’s decision to reject a proposal for an annual Pride Week in schools.

Red Deer Public Schools Trustee Dianne Macaulay introduced a motion last Wednesday for the division to hold Pride Week each June, during what is known internationally as Pride Month. Macaulay argued that not only would a Pride Week align with the division’s Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI) policy and its commitment to equity and student success, but would give students a chance to celebrate together because Central Alberta Pride Week is typically held in August.

Her proposal was voted down 4-2, and a subsequent motion from Trustee Bev Manning instead proposing a Diversity Week was approved 4-2.

In the wake of the decision, community members have decried the board’s choice, some asking why they couldn’t do separate weeks — one each for diversity and pride — and others pointing out it should’ve been an easy choice given the discrimination LGBTQ2S+ students face.

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Trustees who voted against the Pride Week proposal and for Diversity Week have defended their choice, noting the division’s SOGI policy that received praise when it was implemented in 2015.

“Central Alberta Pride Society (CAPS) is disappointed the opportunity to feature Pride Week in schools has been taken from the next generation,” says CAPS Chairperson Lenny Gallant.

“Pride Week in schools provides the opportunity to celebrate sexual and gender diversity. It is specific to LGBTQ2S+ children and their allies because celebrating out of authenticity, instead of hiding out of fear is what Pride is all about. We don’t just want safe spaces for Pride, we want LGBTQ2S+ kids to be louder and prouder, with other students coming alongside them in support of varying sexual and gender identities.”

Gallant says CAPS is in the process of reaching out to school division officials to work with them on any week that may be organized to ensure Pride is properly represented.

“To say we are disappointed (by the board’s vote) is an understatement. The trustees are in charge of ensuring that our children of tomorrow have a better future than generations of the past,” says Board Chair Bobbi-Jo L’Hirondelle with Trans and Non-Binary Aid Society (TANAS).

“We are disheartened by how the motion was received and also how it was responded to with a watered down blanket solution that does not adequately provide acceptance for the LGBTQ2S+ community.”

L’Hirondelle says work will continue in order to show the world, “we are now in a time where being our authentic selves should be celebrated.”

Members of the Red Deer Queer Community Association (RDQCA) say they are also disheartened, as well as ‘disgusted’ with the school board’s decision.

Board Chair Rhys Pugatschew and Vice-Chair Alex Pugatschew call the decision to ‘hide behind a catch-all term like diversity’ an ego-stroke.

“It is frankly homophobic and transphobic because it refuses to acknowledge the LGBTQ2IA+ community as valid and worth educating their students on, many of who are queer and trans themselves,” they write. “This [decision] fails to acknowledge the unique discrimination and prejudice that LGBTQ2IA+ people face on a daily basis.”

The RDQCA says the youth who would benefit most from an in-school Pride Week are at higher risk for mental illness and suicide because of the discriminatory actions they face.

“We strongly urge the Red Deer Public School Board to reconsider their vote.”

A petition started late last week on Change.org calling for the same thing has just under 1,200 signatures as of Sunday night.

Red Deer Public Schools Board Chair Nicole Buchanan told rdnewsNOW on Thursday that the division is aware there are concerns around the timing of Diversity Week being in June, and that it’s possible they could look to change that.

Author’s note: LGBTQ2S+ stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Two Spirit and other. A variation with ‘I’ and ‘A’ stands for Intersex and Asexual.