By Mark Squibb/June 17, 2022
St. Kevin’s High School students want you to know that wherever you fall on the sexuality spectrum, you belong.
The school’s Gay Straight Alliance Social/ Justice Group hosted their second annual Pride Parade last Wednesday to mark Pride Month celebrations, while nearby St. Kevin’s Junior High held its Pride Parade on Friday.
“It’s important that people who are a part of the LGBTQ community be considered equal,” said St. Kevin’s High School student Keylie Chaulk. “You can love whoever you want to love.”
Students and staff, about 50 in total, many dressed in colourful outfits and waving LGBTQ flags, paraded the streets of the Goulds. From one student’s phone could be heard Lady Gaga’s inclusivity anthem ‘Born This Way.’
“It’s so important, especially now, for people to feel comfortable being who they are, especially in schools,” said another St. Kevin’s High School student, Julia Daley. “It’s okay to be who you are, regardless of what that may be. We got a lot of support from the community last year when we did this and again this year, so I think it just shows that everybody is very welcoming and very kind towards all of us.”
Pride Month is held each June across North America and Europe to honour the 1969 Manhattan Stonewall Uprising, a series of riots and protests that erupted after New York City police raided the Stonewall Wall, a Greenwhich Village gay club, and arrested several patrons.
At the time, engaging in homosexual behaviour (including holding hands, kissing, or dancing with a member of the same sex,) was still illegal.
In the United States, the Supreme Court did not rule consensual sexual conduct as a protected right until June of 2003. Prior to that ruling, same-sex activity was still illegal in 14 U.S. states.
In Canada, homosexual activity was decriminalized in 1969, and in 1995 the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that sexual orientation is protected under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
In 2005, Canada became the fourth country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage.
