EDMONTON -- A decision by the Red Deer Public School Board to celebrate Diversity Week instead of Pride Week is being met with fierce criticism by LGBTQ advocates.

Trustee Dianne Macaulay presented the idea to hold a division-wide pride week during Wednesday's board meeting but only two of six trustees supported it.

"Frankly I was surprised. We are a board that is very proud of GSAs and our LGBTQ community and I really thought it would have passed," Macaulay told CTV News Edmonton Friday.

She said she had been wanting to bring forward the idea for some time.

She said several people approached her in the summer of 2019 – while she was volunteering at an event called Central Alberta Pride – and asked whether the school division would consider holding something during the school year.

"I received emails and texts and phone calls and just conversations in the parking lot so this isn't about me," she said.

OPPOSITION TO THE MOTION

The chair of the school board told CTV News Edmonton part of the reason trustees didn't support the motion is because students already have the ability to spearhead a pride celebration in their schools.

Nicole Buchanan pointed to the district's Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Policy which states if one or more students asks for support in leading this kind of event the principal "must immediately grant permission" to hold the activity "within a reasonable time".

"Therefore a motion does not need to be made by an individual trustee to have it in every single school," said Buchanan.

DIVERSITY WEEK PICKED AS ALTERNATIVE

After the motion was voted down, a different trustee said she was "inspired" to propose a district-wide Diversity Week instead.

In Bev Manning's rationale, she listed several examples of how school leaders have previously bolstered diversity including inviting Holocaust survivors to share stories with students, creating a student social justice group and organizing an outdoor event called the Dye-versity Relay. 

Manning's motion passed and states "all activities and observances" of the event will be "at the discretion and direction" of the superintendent.

Macaulay called the move a "slap in the face" to the LGBTQ community.

"I stated in the public board meeting that this is very comparable to being at a Black Lives Matter rally and seeing the people across the street with the All Lives Matter," she said.

'THE PLAYING FIELD IS NOT LEVEL': LGBTQ ADVOCATE

A local LGBTQ advocate and associate professor tells CTV News Edmonton he's "very concerned" by the message this sends to LGBTQ youth.

"The reality is that many LGBTQ youth still experience bullying and discrimination and violence on a daily basis in their schools and communities," said Kristopher Wells, Canada Research Chair for the Public Understanding of Sexual and Gender Minority Youth.

Wells said there's a reason for the specificity of events like Pride Week and Black History Month.

"You don't get to the point of equality – of understanding that everyone has the same rights and responsibilities – until you take up the issue of equity," he said.

"Recognizing that the playing field is not level, that there's been historical discrimination and systemic barriers to the full and equitable progress and treatment in this case of LGBTQ people." 

Wells said the school board should reconsider its decision.

A petition has been created by a woman who tells CTV News Edmonton she was bullied as a child.

It aims at getting the school board to reverse the decision and as of Saturday afternoon, had about 800 signatures.