Police were called after a meeting held at the York Region Catholic District School Board on Tuesday turned turbulent.
A number of delegates, including students and faculty, called on the Board to raise the Pride flag at schools in the region in solidarity with 2SLGBTQ+ students and the broader community.
But their proposal was met with flaring tempers, with a number of people yelling ‘shame’ in the board chamber. While rowdy attendees were ejected by security, the apparent heckling continued in the atrium.
Teacher Paolo De Buono posted a video on Twitter appearing to show dozens of angry adults shouting at him.
“I was surrounded in the lobby by York Catholic parents against flying the Pride flag, & I told them: “I am not afraid.” (And then a York Region superintendent escorted me back into the board room.)” he said in one tweet.
Buono added “I saw students crying, in fear, in the board room, as they heard York Catholic community members shouting angrily from the lobby.”
Buono, who wants to see the Pride flag raised, says his delegation was on the brink of being cancelled, while more ‘insensitive’ delegations were allowed.
Isio Emakpor and Patrick Mikkelsen, who also made presentations, say they needed to be escorted out through a safe room.
“Cruel things…a lot of hate was being shouted at us,” Emakpor said. “It was a little scary at one point. The parents were getting very rowdy.”
Mikkelson shared a similar experience, telling Global News he’s “pretty disturbed.”
“They really made it clear that there are still people against raising the pride flag…we need visibility and we need people to see that we’re here and we’re not going anywhere.”
The board would not confirm to Global News whether those who were kicked out were parents or community members, but did say a number of attendees were familiar faces.
“Last night we didn’t think that there would be a large concern going into that meeting and we were clearly wrong. We want to go back and figure out how we can do better,” said YCDSB spokesperson Mark Brosens.
Brosens adds the board is currently discussing ways to better support 2SLGBTQ+ students.
“The YCDSB believes all our students are children of God and are worthy of love and respect and that is true for 2SLGBTQ+ students. We are working to ensure that they will feel safe and know that they are valued members of our community.”
But Tristan Coolman, who was also at Tuesday’s meeting, is critical of the board’s efforts. His advocacy group, Pflag, is considering designating the YCDSB as unsafe for the region’s queer community.
“When you elevate hate, you provide a platform for people to act, and that’s what happened last night,” Coolman said. “It’s very surprising over the last three months the board hasn’t learned that lesson.”
The YCDSB tells Global News it hopes to provide a definitive answer on flying the pride flag at its next meeting on May 29th.