'Times are changing and they are not changing with them' — Brant Catholic won't fly Pride flag

Students and teachers in the Brant Haldimand Norfolk Catholic District School Board (BHNCDSB) were hoping Pride month 2022 would mark their first year flying the rainbow Pride flag. 

But efforts to make this a reality have once again proven futile. 

A student at Assumption College School in Brantford, Ont., expressed hurt and disappointment that trustees have rejected a request to fly the flag — something they feel would help foster inclusion and show support for members of the school's LGBT community.

"As much as I respect the decision, it makes me disappointed," the student said, adding that it "kind of caught me off guard."

"We had been discussing it for a while, even drafting and sending a letter to the trustees about flying the flag. Knowing that we put all this effort in towards this, just for it to be shot down, is discouraging."

"This is important to me, and to people like me, for representation. Knowing there are people in an environment you can trust and look to for help is important, and flying the flag would have done that for a lot of people," added the student.

The student said a lot of people would have felt much "safer and included" if the flag had been flown. 

"The trustees are set in their ways and they have that right, but the times are changing and they are not changing with them," the student said. 

"We are a Catholic organization, we are meant to treat people with kindness and respect. Jesus teaches us to respect and love each other. This denial of displaying a symbol of love and pride hurts my heart."

CBC Hamilton asked the Brant Haldimand Norfolk Catholic District School Board, as well as trustees, for comment on the decision not to fly the Pride flag but hasn't received a response. 

In 2021, at least eight Catholic school boards in some of Ontario's most populous areas voted for the Pride flag to be raised at all their schools for all of June to mark Pride month. That year also marked the first time some Catholic schools in Ontario flew rainbow Pride flags.

Assumption College School Council co-chair Fatima De Jesus says she wrote to board trustees on May 11 requesting that they be allowed to fly the rainbow flag for Pride month. She did not get a response, so she sent a follow up on June 9.

According to De Jesus, the only time she was made aware of any decision that was made on the board's refusal to fly the Pride flag was through an article in The Expositor — a local newspaper in Brant.

De Jesus says flying the Pride flag "has huge importance" and would help "promote inclusion" for students and teachers of the LGBT community.