Pride flag vote sparks outrage in York

Catholic board won’t fly banner at its head office

In a move that has outraged parents, teachers and students, the York Catholic board will not fly the Pride flag outside of its main office in June — a decision the province has no plans to reverse.

Dina Mayr has been a teacher with York Catholic District School Board for 23 years and is the parent of a transgender child, who went to a school she taught at. She feels “utterly ashamed” to be a part of a system that made this decision.

“It seems to be a worldwide movement of hatred that has just infiltrated school boards, including our own,” she said. While her son has now graduated, Mayr used to feel like he was safe with her advocating behind the scenes.

“If he was here today, in this climate, I would not feel the same way,” Mayr said. “I know of parents who had to pull their children out of our school system. I think that is a travesty. I can’t believe that a Catholic school, a Catholic system can stand by and allow that to continue to happen.”

Education Minister Stephen Lecce said he is disappointed with the decision but stopped short of forcing the board to reverse it.

Speaking to reporters at Queen’s Park Tuesday afternoon, Lecce said he expects boards to support LGBTQ+ students by raising the flag or holding events, and noted other Catholic boards already showcase the flag outside their headquarters or schools.

“I’ve expressed my disappointment with the decision,” said Lecce, who did not directly answer questions as to why he isn’t going to order trustees to change course.

“We have been clear and consistent since this issue first arose,” Lecce also said. “Our message to children in our schools, particularly the LGBTQ+, is that we see them, we value them and we are proud as a government to stand with them. Every child in a publicly funded school should be supported, should feel affirmed and should feel safe.”

Trustees at the York Catholic District School Board — which serves Lecce’s King-Vaughan riding — voted 6-4 Monday night against flying the flag at its education centre during June, which is Pride month. The motion they voted on was specific to its main office, and did not include any schools.

The board has a long-standing policy that allows only the Canadian flag to be flown on school properties; however, a gender, sexuality and Catholic education committee had recommended that the rainbow flag be raised at the head office in Aurora.

The committee’s report noted that “would be consistent with the pastoral mission of the Catholic Church,” wouldn’t undermine Catholic teachings and would be supportive of students.

But board chair Frank Alexander told reporters that trustees were advised by two archbishops that the flags don’t “align with our Catholic values.”

“That’s fundamentally why I voted against it,” he said, noting schools that fly the flag would face consequences.

He said the board supports LGBTQ students and “we do have a safe place, there are some things we need to fix, and certainly we will do that.”

Paolo De Buono, a Catholic teacher in another board who advocates for LGBTQ inclusion in Catholic schools, worries this decision might prompt school boards that currently raise the flag to reconsider their decision.

De Buono was at the Monday night meeting and was seated near a former YCDSB student who after the vote began shaking, had difficulty standing and appeared to be having “a breakdown,” noting “my sense is that they felt erased.”

The flag ban sparked controversy among students, staff and parents — and at Queen’s Park, the opposition New Democrats pressed the issue.

“Suicide is the lead cause of death for young people and that number is multiplied many times for the 2SLGBT community” and there continues to be a number of concerning hate-related incidents “and yet this government remains silent,” said New Democrat MPP Kristyn Wong-Tam.

NDP MPP Chandra Pasma, her party’s education critic, said under the minister’s proposed Bill 98, the Better Schools and Student Outcomes Act, Lecce is “more than happy to dictate rules and practices to school boards when it involves funding that he’s not providing, like on mental health and reading and math.”

“Here’s something the minister could do that would actually protect kids, that doesn’t require any resources and suddenly he’s powerless to act?” she said at Queen’s Park. She asked why Lecce doesn’t “simply direct all schools in Ontario to fly the Pride flag?”

In a memo to school board chairs sent late Tuesday afternoon, Lecce said all publicly funded schools “must be safe spaces for all children, regardless of race, heritage, faith, sexuality, and gender.”

He added that “recognizing that many 2SLGBTQ+ students face increasing levels of bullying, harassment, and mental health issues, it is my expectation that school boards will redouble their efforts to protect these students and ensure their inclusion within Ontario schools,” he said in the memo, obtained by the Star.

Pride month, which starts Thursday, must be celebrated “in a constructive, positive and meaningful ways,” noted Lecce.

Last month, former premier Kathleen Wynne — the province’s first openly gay leader — took to social media to criticize Lecce saying he “can’t have it both ways” and urged him to “take a stand.”

On Tuesday, she posted that the YCDSB’s move “is a cowardly, shameful decision. It emboldens and validates homophobia and transphobia.”

Although some have demanded the government order the board to fly the flag, under the constitution Catholic schools are guaranteed control over non-denominational issues.

York Catholic trustees Theresa McNicol, Maria Iafrate, Joseph DiMeo, Angela Saggese, Michaela Barbieri and chair Alexander voted against the flag flying.

Meanwhile, trustees Elizabeth Crowe, Jennifer Wigston, Angela Grella and Carol Cotton supported the motion, which was put forth by student trustees Anthea Peta-Dragos and Jonah James, although the students’ votes don’t officially count.

James said the final decision was a “slap in the face” to students. Initially, he and Peta-Dragos wanted the flag raised at all schools within the district, but lowered their expectations to just the Catholic Education Centre.

Toronto teen Stephanie De Castro, the Catholic board council president for the Ontario Student Trustees’ Association, said “creating safe spaces” for LGBTQ students should be a priority.

“We’re really committed to ensuring that students’ leadership on this issue is heard and valued and we want to see progress continue,” she said.

She’s a student at Toronto’s Catholic school board, which in June raises the Pride flag at all schools and main office.

At York Catholic, Alexander was asked why the YCDSB is one of a few remaining boards that won’t fly the flag, and he said “what’s different about us is that we stand for our faith, we stand for Christ.”

PFLAG, an advocacy organization that supports LGBTQ youth, called the YCDSB “unsafe” for LGBTQ students, parents and community members seeking employment there.

A gender, sexuality and Catholic education committee for the board recommended that the Pride flag be raised at the Aurora head office, noting that it ‘would be consistent with the pastoral mission of the Catholic Church’