Members of St. Kevin’s High School’s Gay Straight Alliance/Social Justice Club are wearing their pride on their sleeves this month, as students and staff celebrate Pride Month. From left are teacher Tracy Nixon, teacher Donna Walsh, Hannah (Ace) Stanley, Autumn Clarke, Brianna Howlett, Leah Marsh, Em Putt, teacher Nicole Clake, teacher Matthew Judd, Melanie Lush, and Alex Fisk. Mark Squibb photo
By Mark Squibb
Rain, drizzle, fog, and some more rain, drizzle, and fog forced organizers to cancel the annual St. Kevin’s High School Pride Parade this week, but the sour weather did little to dampen the students’ spirits.
Instead, they celebrated inside, with decorations, a pride swag table, colourful outfits, and more.
Along the walls, words of affirmations attributed to gay icons from Audre Lorde to RuPaul encouraged students to be true to themselves, a major theme of Pride Month.
“Be who you are,” said student Brianna Howlett. “Be your authentic self. And it’s okay if you’re not ready to come out —just know there are people around for you.”
Howlett said Pride Month is a time for people to express themselves, a sentiment seconded by student Leah Marsh.
“I think Pride Month is a time when people in the LGBTQ community can come out and represent themselves and get the support they need, because they don’t usually get that support,” said Marsh.
Teacher Donna Walsh, a primary organizer of the school’s pride events, said it’s important for schools to recognise Pride Month and celebrate all students, gay, straight, or somewhere in between.
“These events show that we are inclusive, and that we are going to stand by our students,” said Walsh. “These events show students that school can be a safe space.”
Weather permitting, the students will raise the school’s Pride flag later this month.
Students will also repaint the rainbow crosswalk outside the school this month.
“Last year we were donated some paint and we got to put a crosswalk down for the first time in our history, but the foot traffic has just mangled it, so we’re going to repaint that and make sure that it’s fresh, not just for the end of the year, but for next year too,” said Walsh.
June is recognised as Pride Month in many westernized countries around the globe. Gay Pride events are banned in most Muslim countries where homosexuality is considered a crime under Muslim’s religious Sharia law, in some cases punishable by stoning to death, and not celebrated in some other traditional cultures. In China and Russia, the governments generally frown on public celebrations of homosexuality. Some 70 countries around the world have laws criminalizing gay sex.
In North America, Pride Month commemorates the Stonewall riots of 1969, when some people took to the streets to protest a police raid of the Stonewall Inn, a Manhattan gay bar, in June of that year.
The first Pride events were held the year following the riots and marked a watershed moment in the fight for LGBTQ rights.
