The flag the Waterloo Catholic District School Board will fly to mark Pride month is “insulting” and “disrespectful” to the LGBTQ+ community, says trustee Melanie Van Alphen.
On the flag is a drawing of a figure with outstretched arms, standing in front of a rainbow-coloured crowd of people with the words, “We are all wonderfully made — we love because he first loved us (1 John 4:19).”
The board heard Monday that the flag is in production and will be flown outside Catholic schools in the region for Pride month in June.
Trustee Van Alphen criticized the decision and a lack of consultation with students, staff members and the LGBTQ+ community that went into choosing the flag.
“People will not recognize this to represent Pride because it’s not the Pride flag,” she told the board.
In the report about the flag presented to the board on Monday, it said students have previously expressed a desire to see schools fly “some outward symbol that reflects our lived reality of inclusion,” but Van Alphen took issue with that, saying that was not how she understood the student requests.
She said two petitions were circulated by students last year — one at St. David’s Catholic Secondary School in Waterloo and one at Resurrection Catholic Secondary School in Kitchener — with a specific request that the rainbow Pride flag be flown at the front of the schools during Pride month.
Some board members agreed with Van Alphen, stating while the image that was put forward represented inclusiveness, it was not an appropriate symbol to mark Pride month.
“I don’t think it’s going to represent or meet the needs of the Pride community in June,” said Tracey Weiler.
Trustee Greg Reitzel was also supportive of the image that will fly in front of schools in June.
“I think this shows that we care about everybody, everybody is made in the image of God, we are to love everybody,” he said.
He also said he would have to resign if the Pride flag was flown at schools, telling the board that his belief is that “Pride is the deadliest of the deadly sins.”
“I could not support a decision to actually fly a Pride flag,” he said.