Pride Month
Rick Hansen Secondary would like to wish everyone in the community a happy Pride Month! As we navigate this month, we would like to recognize historic injustices and celebrate the growth within the 2SLGBT+ community. We celebrate our individual differences and take a stand to prevent discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
What do we do to help?
One of the big ways we do this is to provide students with a GSA (gender and sexuality alliance). Running a GSA in Abbotsford is rewarding but can have some challenges. At Rick Hansen Secondary we call our club the “Pride Alliance” and we meet weekly. It is a place for students to voice concerns, share opinions, and try to make a difference around the school. We get to explore school policies, current events, and historic impacts of homophobia.
The club is built to support student choice and voice, where individual students get a chance to be heard on topics that directly impact them. Having a place like this for the students is extremely important as it allows them to feel seen, heard, and accepted. Our club is more than just a place for queer students, it draws in allies and other supportive students. By having a place to congregate and share, the rest of the school benefits from having a safe place to ask questions and learn without the fear of the response.
Voices of those helped by these supports:
“As a queer teacher I would have loved a GSA when I was an SD34 student, and I take pride in offering these opportunities to students that I wish I had. Seeing these resources in use makes me proud of the progress that Abbotsford has made in the past 20 years.”
“Having a GSA at school lets me know that I am not alone, it gives me a sense of community, and has helped build many friendships.”- GSA member.
“The pride alliance gives me a sense of belonging to share openly and be my true self without worry.” -GSA member
“The complexities of identity and how we feel about our identity are challenged and formed during high school, and it is for this reason that I’m so grateful that we have a GSA as strong as ours, which is supported by an equally as strong teaching staff at Rick Hansen. Without our GSA it is in my opinion that many of our students needs would be left unmet; therefore, I’m both thankful and grateful to our GSA community and the safety and security they have brought to Rick Hansen Secondary.”-RHSS counselling team.
Happy Pride Month, Lukis Kind (RHSS SOGI rep)