Students Urge School Officials to Relocate ‘Pride’ Flag, Citing Negative Impact

There was a time when gays and lesbians said they only wanted to be free to love like everyone else.

But the truth is, it was never about that.

Images of indecency at LGBT “pride” parades happening around the country prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that “pride” has nothing to do with love of any kind.

It has to do with pulling down moral standards and raising the flag of depravity over every section of society.

At Orillia Secondary School in Ontario, the Simcoe County District School Board decided to replace the Canadian flag with the “pride” flag in front of the school building last week — a decision that even some LGBT students said went too far, according to a local news outlet Orillia Matters.

A group of students that included Chris Hutton, a 12th-grader who identifies as transgender and bisexual, started an online petition calling for the national flag to be restored outside the school.

“Pride flag at Orillia school doing more harm than good”

Students ask for the Canadian flag to be put back up. https://t.co/7Xa9xoset7

— 🇨🇦 Jack (@JackDan110) June 7, 2024

“Pride” month displays “shouldn’t take over everything,” Hutton said.

“We are very proud of who we are, but as proud as we are, we are proud that our country has taken these steps and are proud of our country in its entirety,” the LGBT student said, adding that the Canadian flag represents people of all backgrounds who have served and sacrificed for the nation.

Hutton said the “pride” flag should be moved to a separate pole or placed beneath the Canadian flag.

The senior claimed there has been an increase in bullying of LGBT students since the national flag was removed.

“We are being blamed for the Canadian flag being taken down,” Hutton said. “We just want to see it put back up because it’s causing more harm than good.”

“Celebrating and acknowledging it is important, but you can’t force it into everyone’s faces,” the LGBT student said.

Hutton also said the “pride” mural on school grounds had “upset some students” because it had taken money from the school’s funding.

Jill Chalmers, a grandmother of seven, was one of the Simcoe County residents horrified to see the Canadian flag replaced.

“We’re Canadian. You do not take that Canadian flag down and replace it with a Pride flag — with any flag. If you want, put it on another flag pole or put it underneath the Canadian flag, but never take the Canadian flag down,” she told CTV News.

The Simcoe school board defended the move as part of its commitment to promoting “diversity, equity and inclusion.”

Jamie Campbell, the board’s communications assistant manager, said in a statement to Orillia Matters, “The SCDSB is committed to creating a culture of belonging for all students and staff and providing environments that are inclusive and free from discrimination.”

“The SCDSB values inclusive learning and working environments that promote the principles of acceptance,” she said. “To support these commitments, all schools and worksites in the SCDSB will raise the Progressive Pride flag and Every Child Matters flag at specific times during the month of June to align with Pride Month, National Indigenous History Month, and National Indigenous Peoples Day.”

Campbell pointed to a 2020-21 school census report that said 23 percent of students in grades 7-12 “identified as 2SLGBTQI+ or questioning.” (Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has promoted that acronym, which stands for “Two-Spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and additional sexually and gender diverse people.”)

Strangely, according to a 2022 report by Statistics Canada, only 4 percent of Canadians over age 15 are something other than heterosexual.

The stark difference suggests something within the school system might be prompting kids to embrace LGBT identities at an abnormal rate.

Perhaps glorifying membership in one of these groups above everything, including patriotism, has something to do with it.

“Raising the Progressive Pride flag in June aligns with Pride Month and is one action we take to demonstrate support and acceptance for members of the 2SLGBTQI+ community,” Campbell said in her statement.

With at least 500 signatures on the petition, Hutton’s group planned to formally raise its concerns with school administrators in hopes of finding a solution that represents both Canadian patriotism and LGBT “inclusivity.”

Never remove the Canadian flag, this is ridiculous.

— Mike (@TheNest705) June 8, 2024

It’s ironic that even a confused child can understand enough to know that glorifying any other flag over the national flag is wrong and does more harm than good.

Tearing down the fabric of a nation with forced ideological gestures is likely to create more resentment and discord — not to mention the confused messaging it sends to the impressionable students about what truly matters.