National Pride Flag Walk-Out Day went ahead for the third year running as a response by anti-2SLGBTQ+ activists to Canadian pride month celebrations in schools.
The movement was started in 2023 by the Campaign Life Coalition, a Canadian lobbyist organization who advocate for conservative values including the opposition of same-sex marriage, transgender rights legislation, abortion and euthanasia. National “Pride” Flag Walk-Out Day was started in response to many schools across the country choosing to raise pride flags in support of Pride Month. Parents opposed to Pride Month participated by keeping their kids home from school on May 30 and June 2.
Alberta and especially Westlock have been a flashpoint for 2SLGBTQ+ issues recently, with “pride” flag walkout day creating some concerns amongst the Westlock Pride community.
“I don't think it's called for. I believe they're very misguided and misinformed with the pride community and what we strive for,” said Jasmin Lee Boutin, a member of the pride community in Westlock.
A plebiscite in Westlock in February 2024 led to a bylaw on the banning of pride flags on municipal property and the rainbow crosswalk in town being painted over.
“Our communities have gone quite quiet since the bylaw. People would say they’ve gone back in the closet, fearful of being who they truly are within their community,” said Boutin.
Benita Pedersen, who ran for council in the last Westlock byelection, has expressed her support for the National “Pride” Flag Walk-Out Day movement.
The inclusion of 2SLGBTQ+ content in Alberta education has also been a hot topic recently with the announcement of a survey on “age appropriate” material in school libraries by Alberta education minister Demetrios Nicolaides. The survey was motivated by parental concerns surrounding four graphic novels: Gender Queer by Mike Curato, Fun Home by Alison Bechdel, Blankets by Craig Thompson and Flamer by Mike Curato. Most of these novels contain sexual 2SLGBTQ+ content.
“I think it's wonderful and we're encouraging our supporters in Alberta to take part in that survey and give their feedback to the government,” said Jack Fonseca, a member of the Campaign Life Coalition. “If you go to any pride parade, it's really a sex parade so it's not surprising to us that a lot more LGBT themed books would be sexually explicit and pornographic in nature. It goes with the territory.”
Boutin reiterated that Westlock Pride is a safe space for people in the community who feel threated by the recent legislation and animosity towards their group.
“If there’s two heterosexuals walking down the street holding hands, why can't two gay people do that?” said Boutin. “Why can heterosexual couples raise families and enjoy life, but a gay couple are told that they can't because they're grooming a child and that child's going to grow up to be a horrible person just because it has two moms or two dads.”
The Campaign Life Coalition has emphasized its commitment to parental rights within the school system, interpreting the teaching of topics related to the 2SLGBTQ+ community to be pushing controversial values which many parents are opposed to.
“What people expect from schools is not a lot of political and sexual propaganda. They expect reading, writing and arithmetic,” said Fonseca. “Why can't they just leave us alone? People who are not in their family are shoving stuff down their kids throats. Live your own life and leave us in peace.”
Although numbers for participation are not publicly available, research conducted upon the movement’s launch in 2023 saw absence rates greater than 50 per cent in some Ontario schools.
No schools in Westlock currently fly the pride flag but R.F. Staples has the pride flag painted on the steps leading to its front entrance.
