You’d be hard-pressed to find a symbol more divisive among Ontario Catholic school-board leaders than the rainbow. For years, school-board trustees across the province have debated the merits of flying Pride flags or slapping rainbow stickers on windows — demands that have come from exasperated students doing all they can to make their schools more inclusive.
But nowhere has the debate been so unnecessarily uproarious than in York Region. In March 2023, parents disrupted a York Catholic District School Board meeting over rainbow stickers, created by the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association, with the words “safe space.” One parent told the board, “Catholic schools should not allow transgender or LGBT students to attend.”
Then, last summer — at a time when several of Ontario’s Catholic school boards, including Toronto’s, had agreed to recognize Pride Month — tensions boiled over about Pride flags at another trustee meeting. Police were called; security escorted angry parents, who hurled obscenities at speakers, out of the board room. In May 2023, trustees voted against flying the flag at the board’s main office during Pride Month.
If that vote wasn’t already damning enough to LGBTQ2S+ students and teachers, then came a January 30 motion from YCDSB trustee and former chair Frank Alexander. He proposed an effective ban on rainbow flags and related Pride insignia at all YCDSB schools; only flags representing the province, the country, the Vatican, and the school would be free to fly. “No other flags shall be displayed within school premises,” the motion reads. (Trustees opted to defer a vote on the motion earlier this month to seek legal advice.)
Alexander’s motion claims it’s an attempt to “bring unity and peace to the YCDSB,” after the chaos that unfolded last summer. But it appears to disregard the unity and peace of its most important stakeholders: students.
Time and again, Ontario Catholic school boards have prioritized the values of trustees who refuse to support their LGBTQ2S+ students. Recall that, just over a decade ago, former premier Kathleen Wynne and her Liberal government had to enshrine rights into law so LGBTQ2S+ students and allies could form gay-straight alliances in their Catholic schools, where they were often barred from doing so. Without political allies — especially school-board trustees — students are unable to make much progress on LGBTQ2S+ inclusivity in their schools.
And that’s perhaps more important than ever before. Youth are increasingly more comfortable identifying as queer or trans. (As adults, Gen Z, Generation Alpha’s predecessor, is the queerest cohort to date.) But we also know that young queer and trans people experience a great deal of bullying and harassment as a result of their sexual orientations and gender identities — an issue that leaves LGBTQ2S+ youth at a higher risk for suicide. Often, having a safe space in schools can be a beacon of hope for these young people. At the very least, the proud display of a symbol, like the rainbow flag, might make an LGBTQ2S+ student feel a sense of belonging in their school community.
The trustees who have entertained Alexander’s motion have chosen instead to place their personal values over the safety and care of students. It’s not just a difference of opinions; it’s a blatant disregard for the young people whom it is their job to protect.
(They’re also seemingly throwing their support behind a man in hot water over an email he allegedly sent to the YCDSB gender, sexuality, and Catholic education committee in which he suggested a link between LGBTQ2S+ communities and pedophilia. The Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association filed a complaint with the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario in November 2023 and is seeking damages.)
There’s a reason Pride flags are so divisive: quite contrary to Alexander’s motion, they seek to unite people from the margins. And, in unity, marginalized people find power — not simply to exist, but also to thrive. LGBTQ2S+ students in all schools deserve to thrive.
In an interview with the Toronto Star on the heels of the Alexander motion, Erika Cordeiro, a Grade 12 student at a Catholic school in Thornhill who is part of her school’s gay-straight alliance, said she and her community are “tired of fighting” the battle for LGBTQ2S+ inclusion. Still, they trudge on — for themselves and for the students who will come after them. In doing so, Cordeiro and her classmates have shown what it really means to be a leader. Perhaps YCDSB trustees could learn a thing or two from them
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