Pride Day celebrated at Red Deer High Schools
Two Red Deer high schools celebrated Pride Day this week.
On Wednesday, at Hunting Hills High School, students and staff celebrated Pride Day by hosting a Pride Day picnic. Event organizers handed out cupcakes while wearing their Pride colours, and the Progressive Pride Flag was placed in the cafeteria. The picnic was spear-headed by Dorain Doran, a member of the queer-straight alliance (QSA) at the school.
“It’s really important for people to see that they’re seen, and they are welcomed and recognized,” Doran said.
The decision to have a Pride celebration was left to students and staff at individual schools after the Red Deer Public School Board, earlier this year, voted against a district-wide Pride Week. Instead, they voted in favour of a Diversity Week which would take place in June.
“We were pretty upset about Diversity Week feeling that it made us sort of less important or not as seen,” Doran said.
“I feel like everybody should have their chance to be in the spotlight.”
Celebrations were also underway at Lindsay Thurber High School: the first school in Alberta to have a gay-straight alliance (GSA) which was formed in 2000. However, on Wednesday, the school celebrated its first ever Pride Day, more than 20 years after the formation of the GSA.
“I’ve been here since 1997, and I’ve been waiting since 1997 for this to happen,” said Trina Penner, learning assistance teacher and staff supervisor of the QSA.
Students and staff at Lindsay Thurber raised the Progressive Pride Flag and chalked positive messages of Pride onto the sidewalk. Teachers were also supplied with an educational slideshow that they could share with their students.
“Our LGBTQ+ students need a place where they feel welcome and where they can be their authentic self and we strive to accept that at Thurber,” Penner said.
The school board’s decision to not have a Pride Week also left members of the QSA at Lindsay Thurber frustrated. QSA member Ava Lelond said the board did not consider that many students may find it difficult to approach their schools to set up a celebration for Pride.
“I’m very disappointed in the school board because now we as students have to come forward and we as students may have to out ourselves,” Lelond said.
But, Grade 12 student Lelond was grateful to experience a Pride Day before graduating.
“This is definitely a very good first step and it shows respect,” Lelond said.
“I feel very happy. I feel energetic. It’s a good feeling.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
Toxic testing standoff: Family leaves house over air quality
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
Decoy bear used to catch man who illegally killed a grizzly, B.C. conservation officers say
A man has been handed a lengthy hunting ban and fined thousands of dollars for illegally killing a grizzly bear, B.C. conservation officers say.
B.C. seeks ban on public drug use, dialing back decriminalization
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
OPP responds to apparent video of officer supporting anti-Trudeau government protestors
The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) says it's investigating an interaction between a uniformed officer and anti-Trudeau government protestors after a video circulated on social media.
An emergency slide falls off a Delta Air Lines plane, forcing pilots to return to JFK in New York
An emergency slide fell off a Delta Air Lines jetliner shortly after takeoff Friday from New York, and pilots who felt a vibration in the plane circled back to land safely at JFK Airport.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau on navigating post-political life, co-parenting and freedom
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
Last letters of pioneering climber who died on Everest reveal dark side of mountaineering
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
Loud boom in Hamilton caused by propane tank, police say
A loud explosion was heard across Hamilton on Friday after a propane tank was accidentally destroyed and detonated at a local scrap metal yard, police say.