WESTLOCK — Following a narrow loss for the supporters of the 2SLGBTQI+ community and the No campaign in Thursday’s plebiscite, Town of Westlock Mayor Jon Kramer said he and the council are “deeply disappointed but not discouraged.”
“My heart’s heavy. My heart is heavy for people who are struggling with this and for whatever reasons they are,” said Kramer early Friday morning, noting students in the Thunder Alliance gay-straight alliance (GSA). “This is their life. This is these kids lives, it’s their identity.”
While the mayor’s recognizes that people are struggling with inclusion overall and with the 2SLGBTQI+ community as a whole, he noted that it’s not about ideology but reality. “But it is what it is. It’s not going away because it’s their life,” he added.
“I still firmly believe that Westlock is a kind and caring community, but this is proof that change is incredibly hard for some people,” said Kramer, noting part of an elected official's job is helping the community work through challenges like this while holding space for one another. It’s tough he said.
“The promise is this, that having this bylaw on the books will not affect our council’s commitment to inclusion at all.”
He said although the bylaw is binding and will restrict how “we are able to show our commitment to inclusion” there are several other avenues available to them to show support.
“Inclusion is a deeply creative act and so we’re not out of options just because crosswalks and flagpoles are out of the question,” said Kramer. “We’ve made it clear to the Thunder Alliance gay-straight alliance (GSA) that our council is unwavering in our commitment to making sure they have a sense of belonging and safety in the community.”
Kramer noted the other options will be up to the GSA, as that is how this whole thing began, with an idea that they brought forward to paint a rainbow crosswalk.
“That’s how the crosswalk got painted in the first place. These kids got together and they had a plan, they had a fantastic presentation, they raised some money and made a great submission to council,” he said. “So, I don’t see why whatever is next, won’t be exactly the same … if there is any doubt in people’s minds that that crosswalk was needed in the first place, there’s no doubt now,” explained Kramer.
When asked about the polarizing nature of the issue and plebiscite and how the community will move forward, the mayor said things like this do not create division, they reveal “the division that was already there below the surface.” He also pointed out that an inclusive future was part of the mandate he ran on in the Jan. 10 byelection.
“Honestly, what this has done in the community (is that it has) brought to the surface what was already there,” he said. “That’s my true belief, and as you go through this, you hold space for one another, and you try to sort through it as you go.
“When diversity makes a home in your community, you have both an opportunity and a responsibility to respond in an inclusive way. There’s no other way of looking at it to me, but that said, the path forward isn’t always a straight shot because change is hard for people.”
Kramer was talking with some of the GSA members yesterday and likened the outcome to a family’s reaction when a child comes out.
“I think what’s happened in our community is really similar to what happens in families when somebody comes out,” he said. “Some people get it right away. [For] others, their response pushes them the other way, but at the end of the day, reality is reality,” said Kramer.
“This is the way that our community is headed and so we’ll absolutely find ways to keep embracing those in our community who find themselves as minorities, including the Thunder Alliance GSA. It’s non-negotiable, that’s the only way that I can look at it.”
He noted things will take time and that is the hard work before them, adding that the youth in the GSA have the patience to endure and have seen it “in their own families and now they see it in the community too.”
“But we’ve assured them that … we’re not discouraged and we’re not changing course.”
He said regardless of whether the result was yes or no, he knows “that there’s still work to be done” in terms of educating the community about the values of inclusion and stressed that council went to great lengths to educate the community on what they felt was a “bad bylaw that puts our community at risk.”
“We also went to great lengths to try to educate our community about the values of inclusion so at the end of the day, we want to be clear that this is a resident-driven and resident-passed bylaw, not council,” said Kramer, noting many recent positives for the town, including funding from the Housing Accelerator Fund. “And this is going to make our job more difficult, to make our community one that flourishes and that’s sustainable … we are working hard for the community, but the community yesterday made a choice that is going to make our jobs more challenging.”
