A Christian advocacy group is organizing its third annual “walk-out” student protest against the display of Pride flags at the beginning of June. The protests will take place at public and Catholic schools across Canada and are in opposition to gender ideology.
The Campaign Life Coalition, a Christian group that describes itself as pro-life and pro-family, is calling on parents and grandparents to withdraw their children from school on Friday and Monday to protest schools that opt to raise the Pride flag to mark the beginning of Pride Month.
The CLC said its first protest in 2023 led to up to 75 per cent absences at some schools, citing legacy media reports. Data for the second year was not released by legacy media.
After the first “Walk out” protest, some school boards said absences were due to pride celebrations, while others cited heat warnings.
Jack Fonseca, the director of political operations for CLC, told True North that he hopes the “resistance” to LGBT ideology in schools becomes so large, measured by student absences, that schools across Canada return to a policy of neutrality, only flying national and civic flags.
He said the protests will take place on Friday and Monday to protest “whichever day the particular school raises the symbol,” as June 1st falls on a weekend this year.
Fonseca said that previous years had achieved great success in many schools across Canada, with absence rates ranging from 35 per cent to 75 per cent.
“People just seized it as, ‘wow, what an easy way to protest this flag that we don’t agree with, this flag that’s being held over our children’s heads as if they’re hostages to express domination over them and over their minds and what they believe,’” he said.
“Now this is our third year. We’re hoping it just continues to grow and grow to a point where the school board administrators themselves and the government officials in the Ministry of Education say, ‘Okay, there’s too much rebellion. It’s not worth it,’” Fonseca said. “(They have to say) ‘let’s stop pushing the LGBT pride flag and all of this indoctrination on families.’”
The CLC is also planning “pray-in” style protests at Catholic school administration buildings and the Archdiocese of Toronto, calling on school boards to refrain from flying the flag and for church leadership to play a more active role in the debate. One “pray-in” is planned at the Durham Catholic District School Board headquarters in Oshawa, where three months prior, trustees voted against allowing members of the public to bring up the issue of Pride Flags at their schools.
June, the month declared by Canada and many other Western countries and institutions, is also known as the “Sacred Heart of Jesus month” in the Catholic Calendar. Fonseca said raising the Pride flag during this month is especially offensive when the school board purports to be Catholic. He said Catholic schools have “lost their way.”
“It’s a form of blasphemy that in an institution where they should be honouring the Sacred Heart of Jesus throughout 30 days of June, they’re instead doing the opposite and literally celebrating one of the seven deadly sins,” he said. “The most deadly of the seven deadly sins, pride (as well as) sexual sin. It’s really disturbing and disrespectful.”
He said the CLC “agrees with parents” that Catholic schools should be “authentically Catholic,” and shouldn’t fly “symbols of sin” condemned by the church.”
He noted several victories for the anti-Pride in schools movement in Canada, with schools such as the York Catholic District School Board and the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board voting against the raising of the Pride flag.
In the case of the Dufferin-Peel board, the cardinals of the Archdiocese of Toronto became involved, stating that images of the Cross and the Sacred Heart of Jesus were sufficient symbols for inclusivity.
“The Waterloo Catholic school board, just narrowly, last month, narrowly failed to pass a motion banning the LGBT pride flag in a five-to-four vote,” Fonseca said. “So we’re seeing momentum. And, I want to believe that a part of this momentum is the national pride flag walkout day and that it’s helping to fuel that resistance.”
He said parents and grandparents can play a role by pulling their children out of school during those days and can indicate their participation by visiting the CLC’s website.
Pride groups, teachers’ unions, and parents concerned about the anti-Pride movement in schools have said that without the Pride flag, bullying will increase, children may be led to commit suicide, and students with same-sex attraction and who identify with diverse gender expressions won’t feel included.