WESTLOCK – For some Westlock-area residents, the Rainbow crosswalk that's to be painted June 27 across 106th Street is proof of the region’s “acceptance of its citizens who are a part of the LGBTQIA2S+ community” with the symbol specifically representing “safety, respect and inclusion.”
And yet for others, the crosswalk, which they called a “sex symbol”, is an affront to the majority of the community and their tightly-held religious beliefs and will only create a wedge.
Representatives of R.F. Staples School’s gay-straight alliance (GSA), the Thunder Alliance, along with Edmonton Centre MP Randy Boissonnault, opened the June 12 council meeting detailing why the Rainbow crosswalk is important to not only members of the LGBTQIA2S+ community, but for all.
On the flip side of the coin, residents David Thomas and Stephanie Bakker both argued against it, with Thomas’ letter asking if, “council actually understands the deeply divisive and damaging agenda underlying this seeming innocent gesture” while Bakker’s correspondence stated that displaying Pride symbols in public spaces could be potentially seen as “endorsing a particular viewpoint, potentially excluding or alienating individuals who may hold different perspectives or beliefs.”
See more on town council’s response here.
Crosswalk supporters didn’t “expect the level of hatred” targeted at youth
Pembina Hills School Division student-and-family advocate Heidi Mills, a married mother of two who lives in Westlock County, is a member of the Thunder Alliance which is a “small but mighty group” and said their goal in celebrating Pride Month is to “be loud, proud and colourful” in the hopes of making just “one person feel safe and accepted.”
Ultimately, Mills said the crosswalk is to show all residents “ … that they are welcomed and accepted” and while they expected some pushback, they didn’t expect “the level of hatred targeted towards our youth” across social media and in person.
“So, when people say that we’re putting it down your throats, we really encourage that because we want people to see us and want people to know they’re OK,” said Mills, who considers herself an ally to the LGBTQIA2S+ community. “Our goal is to spread kindness, awareness and inclusion and we do that by hosting community activities in our school, volunteering at community events and this month we get to celebrate in Pride.”
Mills said they’ve been accused of “grooming” and “divisiveness” and nothing could be further from the truth and wished that people “could really understand the true meaning of Pride.”
“It’s the expression of self, celebrating all genders and sexuality spectrums, as well as opposing the social stigma and shame that has been historically around being gay.”
Graduating Grade 12 student Shaylin Lussier, whose pronouns are she/him, is “proudly queer” and has “lived in Westlock my entire life and as such, have seen the very best and very worst my home has had to offer.”
“I’ve had to stand idly by so many times as me, my friends and my family have been the targets of hate speech, discrimination and threats of violence for who we are and who we love,” said Lussier, a self-described activist who was “taught to stand up for what’s right and for what’s kind.”
Lussier, a student at R.F. Staples, detailed the fight for the Thunder Alliance as well as helping to organize a school-wide walkout for every student “who was ever harassed, called slurs in the hallways or threatened until they didn’t want to be at R.F. anymore.”
“We work hard every day to make the world around us a little more colourful and we’ve received incredible amounts of support the past little while with a petition I started to show kindness and support receiving over 626 signatures as of today,” said Lussier.
She/him was completely unaware of “the existence of my community until I was old enough to use the Internet on my own” and even then “the hateful speech I had experienced my entire life was so deeply ingrained into my brain that I was horrified when I’d see a pretty girl on TV.”
“I had to discover myself alone and terrified in a world of people who want me dead. I don’t wish that on anyone and that is the reason for our crosswalk and that is why we’re painting it, so kids like I was when I was only eight or nine will know that they will never feel alone in our small town,” said Lussier.
Government shouldn’t support any special interest groups
Thomas opened by saying the “peace and prosperity of our town” depends on a sense of “calm, unity and understanding” between many different groups and then quoted former prime minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau who said the state has no place in the bedrooms of Canadians.
“Yet here we are today, having bedroom activities and sexual proclivities of a minority being flaunted in public with the consent and approval of the state in the form of this town council,” said Thomas. “Bedroom behaviours historically considered deviant, abhorrent and harmful are soon to be graphically represented and visually forced on every resident who wants to do business downtown, even if it is deeply offensive to them, as it is to me.”
Thomas said he was trying to “accurately capture the sentiments of hundreds, maybe thousands” of residents who share “traditional, historic values.”
“This alphabet soup of labels and symbols creates divisions, not unity and understanding. There are people who do not want to change their minds. They’ve considered the options … this is a social-engineering experiment and our town doesn’t have any business doing social engineering,” said Thomas.
He claims the crosswalk to be painted is a “progressive” version and contains a blue, brown and pink chevron that implies “the LGBT movement wants yet more progress, more categories and more intrusions into society.”
“What more is to be asserted? Bestiality, pedophilia, necrophilia, perhaps drag queens in public libraries showing their genitalia to pre-schoolers? Or perhaps a cooking class instructor at our own youth centre promoting pronouns to 10 year olds and deliberating attempting to implant ideas of gender dysphoria to naive young boys and girls … oh, my mistake, that progress has always been made,” said Thomas.
“To do business at the town office I’m going to have to walk across something that I consider offensive to me. Why should I have to do that? To me it’s an idol. To me it’s an image that represents a flaunting of sexuality into my face. Why do we have sex symbols on the street?”
Thomas, as well as Bakker, made the case that “painting a flag, a symbol of power, advances one community at the cost of the equality and the rights of others.”
“I appeal to elected officials of Westlock to focus on the duties they were appointed to uphold, to reject any further appeals to support the Pride political agenda and respect the equality of all Canadians,” said Bakker.
She argued that words like “safe, caring and inclusive” are being used to “effectively shut down opposition” and those who stand up are “labeled homophobic or transphobic.” She also contended that public spaces should remain neutral and cited other municipalities that have either rejected Rainbow crosswalks or flying the Pride Flag and asked whether the town is planning to paint “Muslim, Christian, pro-life, BLM, feminist, climate justice, Indigenous and Ukrainian crosswalks as well?”
“I grew up in the community raised by my white mother and my white grandmother with my white half-sister. My father’s half of the family was not in the picture, so my whole family, as I knew it, was white. At that time there were very few other people of colour in Westlock and my friend group was predominately white, with a few Indigenous friends,” said Bakker.
“Do you know how my friends treated me? As Stephanie, not as the black friend. They treated me as my actions and personality determined and I can say with certainty that had they constantly highlighted and even celebrated my differences, I wouldn’t have felt as much of the group at all. Let’s treat all people equally without labels and the constant harping on their differences.”
She concluded by saying that while it “might be easy to slap a phobic or bigot label on people who oppose the crosswalk” she doubted that “anyone here hates or fears anyone else here and even those on the opposite side of this issue are our neighbours.”
“I’m simply asking for the government and its officials to stay neutral and keep from creating hierarchies,” she said.
Mayor calls for civility
In a June 14 release, mayor Ralph Leriger thanked all for attending the June 12 meeting, as well as the presenters and reaffirmed that that they recognize “there is a division within our community regarding the rainbow crosswalk” and that the “difference in beliefs has been inflamed by a few who have been spreading hateful messages intended to widen the space between us all.”
“Their actions have caused division and heightened fears among people. It is disheartening to witness how some individuals can be intolerant and uninformed towards others who are simply trying to live their lives in peace,” said Leriger.
He implored the public to “consider that this rainbow crosswalk request came from a group of our youth” and “their goals and hopes for this rainbow crosswalk are for acceptance and inclusion.”
“On the day of painting, whatever belief you hold close, we ask that you are mindful that these are our children. Everyone deserves to be treated with respect and kindness. This rainbow crosswalk is a start towards creating a more inclusive and accepting society where everyone feels safe and valued,” he said.
