I am submitting this letter in response to the article on the front page of the Advocate on Feb. 13 announcing the decision of the Red Deer Public Schools board to reject Pride Week celebration and the subsequent opinion piece on page 11 by William Langille.
I would like to say that I applaud and commend the board for their decision.
I agree with the schools celebrating the unique culture, personalities, race, etc of all students.
I believe that teachers should be polite and respectful, I am not aware of any law that says teachers are required to make people feel good about themselves.
I should say I agree with the Langille’s opinion that it was very wrong to have his close friend slammed against lockers after gym class just because they had recently come out as gay.
That is not appropriate and is considered discriminatory and hateful.
I support the decision of the Red Deer Public schools though, because in my opinion, it is the job of the people school staff to support academic excellence for Red Deer students. It is not the job of the school board to endorse a group of people. If they chose to support Pride Week in spirit of acceptance and diversity, then where does it stop?
Whether or not you agree with me, I am trying to have a dialogue as to why I support the school board’s decision.
Wes Stickel, Red Deer