As many schools across Canada began flying the Pride flag on June 3 and scheduling various events for Pride Month in June, some parents opted to keep their children home in protest.
The flag isn’t about “inclusion” as some frame it to be, said Josie Luetke of Campaign Life Coalition (CLC), a socially conservative group that organized school walk-outs. “It comes with a very controversial ideology,” she told The Epoch Times.
That ideology, she said, goes against Christian beliefs about how God created man and woman. It teaches about a spectrum of genders, and has children discuss their sexuality and gender at a young age. Ms. Luetke said she expects many Muslims also kept their children home, as happened during last year’s walk-out.
“At the very least, the pride flag confuses a lot of students,” she said. Catholic schools in particular should not hold Pride events or fly Pride flags, she said, though many do.
Ms. Luetke attended a CLC-organized “pray-in” at the Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB) headquarters on June 3. This and other pray-ins across Ontario were held in conjunction with the school walk-outs nationwide.
“It’s important to let everyone know within our Catholic schools that they’re welcome, that they’re loved, and that they’re cared for,” said Mr. Campbell, who is an assistant professor of education at the University of Toronto.
“The Pride flag, the rainbow flag, represents love and inclusion. Well, I know you know what the opposite to that is. The opposite to that is hatred and the opposite to that is making people feel unsafe,” he said.
In 2019, TCDSB first voted to include “gender identity” protections in its code of conduct. At the time, the Archdiocese of Toronto spoke out against such policy.
CLC also held a pray-in at the Archdiocese of Toronto.
One suggestion was that teachers read books aloud to their classes about gender and sexuality. One suggested book is “10,000 Dresses” by Marcus Ewert. It’s a story about a boy who identifies as a girl and dreams of wearing extravagant dresses.
Ms. Luetke estimated about 100 participants province-wide for the pray-ins. The walk-outs involved parents keeping their children home from school, and the number of participants may only become clear as absence rates at schools are reported in the coming months.
Last year, Ottawa-Carleton District School Board saw a major drop in attendance on June 1, the day of the national walk-out. Board spokesperson Darcy Knoll told The Epoch Times at the time that two schools in the board had up to 60 percent of their students absent, and nine other schools had 40 percent or more absent. Some absences were attributed by parents to Pride events and some to other reasons, such as wanting an extra long weekend ahead of a PA day on June 2.
