Toronto Catholic school board votes to recognize Pride Month
by The Canadian Press
Last Updated May 7, 2021 at 5:58 pm EDT
TORONTO – The Toronto Catholic District School Board says it will celebrate Pride Month every June, starting this year.
The board’s trustees voted in favour of proclaiming Pride Month on Thursday night.
Pride Month honours the 1969 Stonewall Uprising in New York City, a rallying point for the LGBTQ+ community.
A Pride flag will be flown at the board’s office and all of its schools for the month of June.
The TCDSB joins Thunder Bay Catholic School Board, which has been flying the Pride flag in June since 2019.
All 9 Halton Catholic high schools show support for LGBT students after board says no to Pride flag
All nine high schools in the Halton Catholic School Board District tweeted messages of acceptance, tolerance and diversity after board trustees decided on Monday against flying the Pride flag at its schools in June.
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CBC News ·
Posted: Apr 28, 2021 10:25 PM ET | Last Updated: April 29
At a special meeting on Monday, Halton Catholic District School Board trustees voted against a motion to fly the Pride flag at schools in June, amending it substantially. All of the board s high schools, however, took to Twitter to show they disagree with the decision.(Eduardo Lima/The Canadian Press)
Student Nicole Hotchkiss says, the message that I got is that they re afraid.” Hotchkiss is a grade 12 student at St. Ignatius of Loyola in Oakville. Earlier this month she put forward a motion to fly the flag at all schools for Pride Month in June and to put safe space posters in every class. Last night, the Halton Catholic District School Board (HCDSB) debated and amended the motion removing the request to fly the flag and putting one poster in each school. The entire point of my motion and my original delegation was that people would know that Catholic schools support LGBTQ2+ students and they denied us once again today, says Hotchkiss.
Nic Hotchkiss didn’t feel seen as a queer student at St. Ignatius of Loyola Catholic Secondary School in Oakville, so when their class was invited to pick a social justice project to develop at the start of the school year, they asked if the school could fly the Pride flag.
While the principal was supportive, he said anything visible on the outside of the school would have to be approved by Halton Catholic District School Board, kicking off a fraught debate that this week culminated in a setback for Hotchkiss and other students, parents and teachers pushing for a more fulsome embrace of LGBTQ+ students and staff.
HAMILTON, Ontario, April 19, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) â The Diocese of Hamilton headed by Bishop Douglas Crosby has not only backed a move from the local Catholic school board to have the gay pride flags flown at Catholic schools within the board but has forbidden local parish priests from opposing the matter from the pulpit.
The Halton Catholic District School Board (HCDSB) within the Diocese of Hamilton will vote April 20 on a motion to fly the rainbow-colored homosexual pride flag at all board-run schools during the month of June, LifeSiteNews reported last week. More…