Raising Pride Flags and Awareness

Written By: Ms. Turnbull

Photos By: Frankie Jean Raye and Ms. Turnbull

Interviewer: I'm interviewing Mr. Houston regarding yesterday's pride flag-raising ceremony in the front parking lot of T.A. Blakelock High School. Mr. Houston, what are your thoughts? How did it go?

Mr. Houston: It went really well! It was awesome to see a whole bunch of kids there. It was pouring rain about half an hour before it was gonna happen and I was nervous but literally as the custodian, Doug, was raising that flag, the clouds parted ways and the sun came out. It was a wonderful moment.

It was great to have all of the principles there as well. Ms. Baird, Mr. Williamson and Mr. Shoss, all three of them were there. Williamson did the coordinating. So that was great. And a whole group of kids that were all cheering as the flag was going up.

Interviewer: As one of the teacher leaders for the GSA (Gender & Sexuality Alliance), did you get good participation from the GSA and allies?

Mr. Houston: Oh, yeah, the allyship at Blakelock is through the roof. We really love it. And yeah, a lot of members of the GSA were there. It was kind of a last-minute thing in the sense that we weren't able to put a lot of announcements on before we were doing it, because I wasn't sure if we were going to be able to do the midday flag-raising but it worked out.

So it was great and it's awesome to see the Catholic District School Board doing the exact same thing for the very first time this year. It's really monumental! It was all student-led. The campaign started about five years ago with a handful of students advocating for the raising of the pride flag for the month of June on Halton Catholic District School Board property. And there was a lot of resistance from the Catholic Board for the last few years. And finally, enough lobbying and enough activism pushed them to realize that they needed to honour and respect the month of June as Pride Month. So they're doing it now which is awesome to see.

Interviewer: Excellent. So the weather cooperated, we've got all Halton schools on board with the flag-raising, definitely a great story and outcome. Thank you for your participation.

Mr. Houston: Thank you for your interest.