GTA school board upholds policy that prohibits flying the Pride flag

A rainbow flag flies at Queen's Park at the annual Pride flag raising ceremony at the official launch of Pride Month in Toronto on Wednesday, June 1, 2016. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Eduardo Lima

Trustees with the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board (DPCDSB) reaffirmed their policy that prohibits the Pride flag from being flown at schools.

During Tuesday night’s committee meeting, trustees voted against a motion introduced by Trustee Brea Corbet to revise the board’s flag police allow the Pride flag, and other flags, to be flown at facilities that have three flagpoles.

In the meeting, she said the board’s current flag policy has “caused significant harm.”

“When we remove rainbow flags or other heritage flags, we’re not protecting Catholic identity We’re revealing institutional fragility. The rainbow flag doesn’t threaten Catholic education. Policies of exclusion do. And exclusion is a strong form of bullying,” Corbet said.

“We have students, families and staff who are Catholic and identify as 2SLGBTQIA+. We must protect them. We’ve heard tonight that they experience increasing levels of bullying, harassment and mental health concerns, prohibiting these flags from flying outside the board office and removing them inside schools after an observance period ends does not make school environments more welcoming, safer, more inclusive. It doesn’t.”

Her motion was defeated.

Before the vote, Trustee Paula Dametto-Giovannozzi said she’s “unapologetically Catholic” and the cross is the only symbol that should be promoted by a Christian.

“The LGBTQ+ community is not our enemy. We all fall short of God’s glory. We are not judging, but we are also not promoting. We don’t want to outwardly promote, because our faith doesn’t allow us to. We are called to love all people, whatever their beliefs are. We are not discriminating against anyone,” she said.

“A Catholic school board should not promote any political or cultural beliefs that is not biblical. Everyone has free will to choose, but we don’t have free will to alter the teachings of the Bible or the Catechism.”

About 20 people, including parents, teachers and pro-life group representatives, delegated at the meeting, some opposing flying the rainbow flag and others urging trustees to amend the policy.

Tuesday night’s meeting ironed out the board’s protocol for schools that have three flagpoles.

As approved in November, those with one flagpole, which is 145 of the 151 DPCDSB schools, are required to fly the Canadian flag. For schools with two flagpoles, the Ontario flag should be flown on the second pole.

Initially, facilities with three flagpoles were supposed to raise a third flag associated with the current liturgical season of the Catholic Church. On Tuesday, the board approved a change that a ShareLife flag or a DPCDSB flag be flown on a third flagpole.

The board noted in November that other flags associated with observance periods were permitted to be displayed inside schools and facilities during the particular observance period, saying the rainbow flag “would be an example of what may continue to be displayed inside schools and facilities.”

The policy further states the use of those flags “shall be limited to the areas of the school or facility allocated to the activities associated with the corresponding observance and shall be removed when the observance period ends.”