Activists gather in droves in support of Pride events in N.L. schools

Serena Paine has been here before. She's held the signs, chanted the slogans, marched the streets.

Back then, it was the AIDS crisis. Then came the fight forequal marriage.

Now?

Paine was among hundreds of people who rallied Friday in support of LGBTQ inclusion in Newfoundland and Labrador schools, adirect response to a planned protest that urged parents to complain about Pride-themed classroom events and participate in a "day of action" against LGBTQ material in the school system.

That anti-LGBTQ protest didn't materialize Friday, with no evidence of its organizers being present. Instead, LGBTQ advocates and allies filled the steps and sidewalk outside the province's House of Assembly.

But the overwhelming turnout, which included community leaders, politicians and Premier Andrew Furey,is only a small victory for Paine: she'd rather not have to show up at all.

"Once again we're facing hate," Paine said, wrapped in a rainbow flag."We thought this was a battle that we won 30 years ago."

Back then, activists always said education was the key to ending discrimination, she said.

"But education is not necessarily the key anymore. It is speaking up, it is fighting back again. These people I know they're smaller in numbers than we are,but they're loud. And sometimes you just gotta speak over them."

Friday's rally mirrors similar tensions across the continent. From California to New Brunswick, a rise inanti-LGBTQ sentiment has sparked rallies like this one.

Cheyenne Edmunds-Cull, an 18-year-old student at St.Kevin'sHigh School, said they've been bullied for being non-binary.

Things have improved these days,Edmunds-Cull says, with Pride days and pronoun days to normalize sexual and gender diversity. To take that away, they say, is to endanger LGBTQ kids.

"This is something that's really important to me. I grew up in a pretty rural community. This kind of stuff wasn't talked about a lot," Edmunds-Cull said.

"And the way things are going now, I feel like people are getting more comfortable with being transphobic, homophobic. And we need to condemn it as soon as possible."

Teachers' association, child advocate speak out

Members of the Newfoundland and Labrador Teachers' Association, which represents 6,500 teachers across the province, spoke at the rally, including president Trent Langdon, who called his few minutes at the microphone "the most important speech" he's done to date.

"I feel so honoured and proud to be here," he told the crowd, noting that safe learning environments are "now under attack."

"A province that prides itself on being the nicest and most soul-searching province has a lot of friggin' soul searching to do," he said.

The office of the province's child and youth advocate released a statement Friday to "emphasize that [LGBT]rights are human rights."

"Educating children and youth on their gender expression, gender identity, and sexual orientation is not only helping them identify themselves in this world, but is also raising awareness of human rights, and importantly, children's rights," the statement said.

"We applaud the Newfoundland and Labrador English School District for creating safe spaces for students to exercise their right to an identity."

Paine, thinking back to her own school days, agrees.

"If Ihad had the ability to talk to somebody, it would have made a world of difference in my life," she said.

"I was lucky that Iwas a strong kid, and Iknew, hoped, someday it would get better. But it sure as heck would've helped if someone would've talked to me."

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