By Canadian Press

Students still hope Newfoundland town will recognize LGBTQ citizens in some way

May 1, 2018 | 10:00 AM

SPRINGDALE, N.L. — A students group that won national attention with an unsuccessful bid to convince a small Newfoundland town to permit a rainbow crosswalk are now looking to their next move, their vice-principal says.

“If we can find another way of indicating to the LGBTQ, and everyone, that everyone is welcome here we will go ahead and do that,” said Ruth Cameron of Indian River High School in Springdale, N.L.

Cameron and the group’s teacher sponsor, Christina Pelley, said members of the Gender Sexuality Alliance are pleased that their campaign drew attention to the issue and will be considering some ideas of their own before the end of the school year.

Springdale town council rejected the students’ bid last month, arguing it would set a “precedent.” Mayor Dave Edison has said he feared it would create division rather than promote inclusion of the LGBTQ citizens within the community.

After meeting again with the students, the council stood by its decision in a letter Monday. But councillors said they looked forward to further discussions with the students to explore measures such as placing a rainbow picnic table on school grounds or flying the pride flag during pride week.

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Pelley said Tuesday that the group had hoped the crosswalk would proceed. But she says they are encouraged by the tone of the latest letter from council, and want to keep pushing messages that promote inclusion.

“Or course they’re disappointed … but they’re looking at in a positive way. Part of our mandate as an alliance is to educate, and we accomplished that to a larger degree than we ever anticipated,” she said in a telephone interview from the school.

“They’ve been mature and handled it with respect and haven’t lost respect for the council or the mayor,” she said.

Cameron said she can’t comment on the reasons for the rejection of the student’s motion, as this is a matter of municipal politics. However, she said municipalities across the country have created rainbow sidewalks as a show of inclusion for LGBTQ communities.

Cameron said the students are open to any suggestions from the town that will reflect well on the LGBTQ communities in the area.

“As the Gender Sexuality Alliance we have our own initiatives that are in the works that we’re going to focus on,” she said.

However, Cameron said so far the specific ideas haven’t been worked out, and it’s unclear if it will involve going back to the town council.

“It would be jumping the gun to announce activities that the students haven’t confirmed on their own. We’re looking at things that would build inclusion within the community and things we could do in the larger community and we’re more than happy to involve the town in those,” said Cameron.

“We may need to seek their input or it may be just an invitation to come out and hang out with us.”

There are about 25 regular members of the alliance out of a student population of 230, making it the largest single extracurricular group in the school, the teachers said.

Prominent Newfoundlanders criticized the rejection on social media, while a different Newfoundland town council decided to install rainbow crosswalks without being asked.

A Go Fund Me page dubbed “Paint the Town Gay!” set out to raise $500. It had just over $2,445 by Tuesday afternoon.

The students have consistently said it’s important not to condemn the entire community, said Cameron.

“This is a group of kids that came out of this town and they’re fairly amazing. It’s not the Springdale some think it is. There’s a lot of support here and a lot of good youth programming happening,” she said.

— Story by Michael Tutton in Halifax.

The Canadian Press