Pride Month may begin on June 1, but Catholic schools in Windsor-Essex are working to make LGBTIQ + students feel welcome and safe all year round, according to Rosemary LoFaso.
“It’s not about celebrating one day or one month a year,” said the head of education, whose portfolios include equity and diversity and safe schools. “What we try to do throughout the year is to include programming, initiatives, events and opportunities for students to really feel like they belong to the community, and that’s a day-to-day job.”
A significant part of this comes in providing support to school GSAs, which can mean Gay-Straight Alliance or Gender Sexuality Alliance.
“This is really a chance for us to feel that we can just be ourselves without judging,” Angelina Boshin, a student at Holy Names Catholic High School, told the GSA at her school. “It’s a way to remind ourselves that we’re not alone, but also that we can work together to hope for a better tomorrow for anyone who feels alone.”
Having a GSA at school is a long way to make it a more acceptable place, according to Daniel Desjardins-Coloff.
“Only the presence of a club is a source of support for students and students are not always identified as LGBTQ +,” said the director of the Catholic High School “St. Joseph. “So the presence of the club itself definitely makes a statement about how we feel about caring for our students and upholding the dignity of each student.”
“I think the message really is that June can be a month of pride, but I think we are proud of all our students all year round, they are accepted, loved and supported,” LoFaso said.
Check out this great video we made for GSA in our schools:
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