It was the kind of act that should make your stomach turn and your skin crawl.
A Pride flag at the Stoughton Central School was burned this week, less than 48 hours after it had been raised during a ceremony as part of Pride Month activities at the school.
This flag raising is the sort of thing that has happened in schools and communities across the country this month. It has happened in schools throughout the South East Cornerstone Public School Division.
It’s good to see it happening, to see the schools embracing diversity among their students, but raising the Pride Flag in Stoughton wasn’t going to receive national attention.
The decision by somebody to tear down and burn a Pride Flag in Stoughton is getting national coverage. The outrage is thankfully much greater than the cries of support.
The incident is under investigation. We don’t actually know who’s responsible.
We don’t know if they’re from Stoughton or if they go to the school. There were apparently people opposed to the flag at the school, but there’s a big difference between being opposed to having the Pride Flag in front of the school, and tearing it down and burning it.
Most of the people in Stoughton are good, hard-working, law-abiding and reasonable citizens who are proud of their town and deserve better than to have this brush applied to their community.
Most of the students at Stoughton Central School are good kids who will make their families proud and represent their community well, regardless of whether they stay in Stoughton or move elsewhere to pursue their dreams.
It’s sad that this had to happen, especially it happened right before graduation day for the Grade 12 class on June 27. The day before one of the biggest celebrations of the year for any small town in Saskatchewan, Stoughton was forced to deal with this incident.
Let’s remember to celebrate the good in that community, not one unfortunate incident.
Regardless of where you stand when it comes to gay rights (and those who are opposed to gay rights are a diminishing number), it’s hard to defend this sort of action.
You’re in favour of discrimination against people based on sexual orientation? That’s how you see the world. Don’t complain when you become the target of criticism or even ridicule for it.
But burning a Pride Flag takes it past being opposed to something. At best it’s an action of stupidity and vandalism; at worst, it’s an example of hate.
While it’s still not easy being gay in a small community, acceptance is growing in towns and villages. Stoughton and other schools in small communities now have gay-straight alliances. Ten years ago, certainly 15 years ago, nobody would have thought it would be possible.
We’ve seen changes as a society in the language that we use and the attitudes that we have.
More and more people are realizing that discrimination against sexual orientation is no different than discrimination based on race, gender, faith, disability and more. But every once in a while, we get a reminder that a lot of progress still needs to be made.
The good people in Stoughton had that unfortunate reminder this week. One person, or a few people, have spoken in favour of discrimination, and have given a bad mark for a community.
But this won’t discourage the residents of Stoughton or those at Stoughton Central School of being open and embracing diversity. If anything, it would further their resolve to embrace diversity.
And for that reason, whoever is responsible for burning the flag has failed.
