York Catholic District School Board (YCDSB) is navigating how to support its 2SLGBTQIA+ community amid an ongoing battle over Pride flags.
After a confrontation between those who support and those who oppose raising the flag went viral at a school board meeting April 25, the board is giving serious consideration to raising Pride flags across its schools for the first time.
However, those upset by inclusivity initiatives toward the 2SLGBTQIA+ community have made delegations at three consecutive board meetings and have shouted down supporters, leaving some students in tears.
PFlag York Region is threatening to designate York Catholic schools as unsafe, although president Tristan Coolman said he is hopeful there will be action after a conversation with the board’s director of education.
“We’ve had to face that opposition for decades as a community and that’s putting it lightly,” he said, adding they hope for “allyship, joining us in that fight. We hope that they’re willing to do that. It’s not going to be easy.”
The board has an office of human rights, equity, diversity and inclusion, including a 2SLGBTQIA+ pillar. But it has faced critique from PFlag and others as far as its inclusivity efforts, particularly as some parents pushed back on 'safe space' Pride stickers and flags in schools in the last three months.
Notably, the board does not yet raise Pride flags across all of its schools, something the Toronto Catholic School Board began doing in 2021. York Region Catholic School Board parent Paolo De Buono said it is a request he had made as a delegate to the board of trustees in years past, with no clear response.
“They never explain why,” he said. “How can a school board in 2023 continue to drag its feet on something so simple? If you really think about it, the reason is what we don’t want to talk about. There’s likely deep, systemic homophobia and transphobia issues in that board and students are at risk.”
De Paolo posted a video of a confrontation he had with upsets parents at the board office April 25, with one calling him “devil incarnate.” In another video posted on social media April 28, he said some parents in that group attended the school he works at in another municipality to protest him.
“I will not be bullied,” he said. “I will not stop trying to promote teaching inclusively.”
The board released a statement after the April 25 meeting, recounting the disruption that occurred after student delegates asked for the Pride flag to be raised at the board's schools.
“The York Catholic District School Board is committed to our Catholic faith and to the well-being of our students and staff. The YCDSB believes that 2SLGBTQIA+ students are loved by God and are valued members of our school communities,” the board statement said.
The board has reached out to students and stakeholders about the April 25 meeting, YCDSB senior manager of brand, marketing and communications Mark Brosens said. It has also been speaking with boards across the province who have similarly faced polarized situations.
Still, Pride flags and others 2SLGBTQIA+ issues remain contentious in the Catholic faith. The board allowed a delegation at its April 25 meeting saying as much, with Myles Vosylius professing that Pride flags would only bring more “confusion” and hurt to students and that the faith-based teachings should be enough to help those who may question gender or sexual identity.
Asked for comment, the Archdiocese of Toronto — which has parishes Newmarket and York Region — sent a link to a statement it made in May 2021. The statement came as other Catholic school boards discussed raising Pride flags, but the archdiocese opposed the idea.
“The appropriate symbol that represents our faith, and the inclusion and acceptance of others, is the cross, which is visible at the entrance of every Catholic school,” the church said, adding that many boards “wisely fly” only a Canadian flag. “There is a belief among some that unless one embraces secular symbols, one cannot be inclusive or accepting. This is simply not true. Where there are cases of injustice and mistreatment of any student, whether they are bullied or rejected due to their sexual orientation, appearance, race, sex, or any other reason, we must seize the moment, address the situation and ensure that we lead by example, as we foster a culture of care and love for every individual.”
Brosens said the board has a policy about only flying the Canadian flag, but has received requests and discussed changing the policy for several years. On such a topic, the board sought to have a range of opinions considered at the April 25 meeting.
“It is unfortunate in this case some members of the community have been unwilling to engage in that process in a way that is going to be respectful,” he said. “We know there’s a range of views on this particular issue and we would like to have a respectful and productive conversation with our community.”
Differing interpretations of the Catholic faith are at play regarding 2SLGBTQIA+, Brosens said. Adding that he is not expressing his own opinions, he said there is the interpretation that although those who identify that way are children of God and worthy of love, engaging in acts of same-sex activity is still a sin.
“So some members of community are concerned that the showing of the Pride flag promotes behaviour which they see as sinful,” Brosens said.
But others interpret that all are loved by God and we are should love our neighbours, reach out and care for them. With suicide rates higher in the 2SLGBTQIA+ than in the general population, he said some in the York Catholic community see raising the Pride flag as a needed step to show support.
As a publicly funded board, York Catholic District School Board is legislated to prevent bullying. The Accepting Schools Act of 2012 requires boards to encourage positive climates and prevent inappropriate behaviour, including incidents rooted in homophobia, transphobia, or biphobia. It also requires the board to support students who want to establish Gay-Straight Alliances in schools.
However, the legislation does not require schools to fly Pride flags and use symbols like the classroom safe space stickers that also garnered controversy in YCDSB.
Coolman said the board policy needs to be stronger on these issues. Comparing YCDSB to York Region District School Board, Coolman said proper planning can better guide inclusivity.
“When you don’t have that institutional capacity, there’s a lot more ambiguity at play, and the ambiguity at play is always falling back on the values of the Catholic faith,” he said. “They need to be more specific with giving themselves the guardrails that are needed to better support students.”
Egale Canada, which advocates on 2SLGBTQI+ issues, responded to the situation at the York Catholic board by citing its national study from 2021 that found students attending Catholic schools were about twice as likely to experience verbal harassment based on sexual orientation or gender identity than those not attending Catholic schools.
“Catholic schools, like all educational institutions, have a responsibility to create a safe and inclusive environment for all students, families, and staff, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity,” the organization said. “The disruptive parents’ extreme views are not in line with the official policy, nor with the human rights obligations, of Catholic school boards in Ontario.”
School boards throughout the country and the U.S. have faced controversies over 2SLGBTQIA+ issues, Brosens said. As for board meetings to come, he said YCDSB is working to put more measures in place to ensure safety, but did not want to disclose them before they are finalized.
“Schools boards are supposed to be places where neighbours come together and seek solutions in an open format to help their kids,” he said. “The mechanisms of how these meetings happen and how people are welcomed into these spaces aren’t really set up to respond to the types of disruptions that not just York Catholic is seeing, but school boards right across the continent are seeing.”
YCDSB will need to be realistic about how those opposed to inclusion will respond, Coolman said, and the disruption from having a “so-called balance” of views in the delegations allowed.
“There should be no room for hate and bigotry,” he said. “But there is room for coming to common ground on different understandings.”
