Some members of the community want the Peterborough Victoria Northumberland and Clarington Catholic District School Board to know, “in God’s eyes, we’re all gay”.
That’s one of a series of messages painted on rocks and signs which, along with Pride flags, adorn the sidewalks at the entrance to the Catholic school board’s headquarters, located at Holy Cross Catholic Secondary School and the Catholic Education Centre at 1355 Lansdowne Street West in Peterborough.
Last Tuesday (June 22), members of the school board voted 4-3 against a proposal to install secondary flagpoles at Catholic schools for the purpose of displaying ‘special purpose’ flags — most notably the Pride flag representing the LGBTQ2S+ community.
That decision prompted Jewel McDonald, whose children are in the Catholic school system, to launch an online petition at change.org/p/pvnccdsb-we-want-the-pride-flag-at-our-pvnccdsb-schools demanding the board reconsider the “infuriating” decision.
McDonald originally set a goal of obtaining 1,200 signatures. As of the date of this story, the petition now has more than 12,200 signatures and is likely to hit 15,000, making it one of the most-signed petitions at change.org.
As for the painted rocks, signs, and flags installed at the board’s headquarters, the theme is one of love and inclusion, with messages including “Love is love”, “Be kind”, “Queer is beautiful”, “God loves everyone”, and “God loves all the children”.
In addition, a Pride flag hung on the Holy Cross and Catholic Education Centre sign reads “God loves gay!”, with another Pride Flag on a bench reading “Happy Pride Month!”.
kawarthaNOW was unable to find out who organized the display.
