Catholic School Board Dumps Gay Flag

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HAMILTON, Ontario (ChurchMilitant.com) - Catholic high schools in Ontario are ignoring their school board's vote against flying gay-pride flags.

All nine schools in the Halton Catholic School District took to Twitter this week, plastering rainbow flags all over their social media. This was in response to the Halton Catholic District School Board (HCDSB) rejecting, on Tuesday, the hotly debated motion to fly rainbow banners on school grounds in order to celebrate so-called gay pride during the month of June.

The pro-LGBT Twitter imagery varied from school to school, with some superimposing rainbow patterns on their school logos and others posting updated pride flags that promote transgenderism and critical race theory.

The protesting secondary schools include Assumption in Burlington, Bishop P.F. Reding in Milton, Corpus Christi in Burlington, St. Thomas Aquinas in Oakville, Holy Trinity in Oakville, Notre Dame in Burlington, St. Ignatius of Loyola in Oakville, St. Francis Xavier in Milton and Christ the King in Georgetown.

Student board trustee Kirsten Kelly remains committed to forcing LGBT symbols onto these schools.

"There's still a huge momentum going," she proclaimed. "There's [sic] still people in the community sending letters to our board trustees."

The driving force behind the HCDSB decision appears to be pressure from faithful Catholics.

Without taking a side, board chair Patrick Murphy admitted, "The reality is we received probably a thousand emails. There is polarization on this subject."

Some are also crediting the persuasive presentation made by local priest Fr. Janusz Roginski during a virtual discussion on the proposal last week.

"Unfortunately, the flag stands also for attitudes and behaviors and ideology that is contrary to the Catholic teaching, like promotion of homosexual marriages, adoption of children by homosexual people, also homosexual active behavior," Roginski asserted. "We cannot support something that represents that."

The pro-gay initiative began on April 6, with St. Ignatius of Loyola student Nicole Hotchkiss. She chalked up the recent board decision to cowardice. 

"The message that I got is that they're afraid," Hotchkiss charged. "The entire point of my motion and my original delegation was that people would know that Catholic schools support LGBTQ2+ students, and they denied us once again today."

Critics of the initiative, like Stefan Mandić, a guest speaker at the board meeting, discussed the flag's history immediately after Fr. Roginski's presentation. Mandić stated it's about more than treating people who suffer from same-sex attraction with dignity:

It first flew in San Francisco on June 25, 1978. It had eight colors (2 more than today's version) and was designed by Gilbert Baker. The original eight-striped flag designed by Baker had hot pink to represent [homosexual] sex — which was subsequently removed because it was difficult to source fabric of that color.

Several others involved in the anti-Catholic push were shocked by the board's decision, as the measure was quite popular. Even the diocese of Hamilton, home of the HCDSB, released a statement on April 20, supporting the flag's flight.

It claims, "Research has demonstrated that an inclusive school culture and climate is important for all students to achieve success and personal well-being."

But despite the best efforts of pro-gay activists, the diocese and some HCDSB board members; the voting body has seemingly lost interest in pursuing the initiative, an initiative that promotes a lifestyle mutually exclusive with Christ's teachings on chastity.

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