For no uniform day, a secondary school in Meath has encouraged students to wear “pride” colours representing bisexual, transgender, non-binary, demisexual, and genderfluid identities, leading some parents to express their discomfort.
For “Stand Up Awareness Week 2021” last week, St. Peter’s College in Dunboyne, Co. Meath, held a “Pride Non-Uniform Day” on Thursday the 25th of November.
The day involved a competition where classes were encouraged to have each student wear a different colour so that each class represented one of a range of pride flags.
“Reminder that tomorrow there is a flags competition for Stand Up Week,” the school said on their Facebook story.
“Wear the colours of any of these flags with students in your class and you can enter the competition.”
The post then proceeded to list “a few of the many pride flags.”
The list included “Agender, Aromantic, Asexual, Bisexual, Demisexual, Genderfluid, Genderqueer, Intersex, Lesbian, Pansexual, Polysexual, Progress, Non-Binary, Traditional, and Transgender” identities.
Notably, the “progress” flag includes black and brown bars symbolising solidarity with “people of colour,” and is usually associated with Black Lives Matter.
One post on the school’s story includes an LGBT pride variation of the BLM black power fist, and explained:
“Don’t forget to wear your pride colours tomorrow! A prize will be given to the class who display the most pride! Also reminder to get your designs in for the LGBTI+ sticker competition!”
As one school bulletin said:
“Show your pride to win a prize: Represent a pride flag as a group in your base room by wearing an array of pride colours with your class to celebrate those in the LGBTI+ community and show you are an LGBTI+ Ally! Class groups with the best representation of a pride flag wins prizes.”
School principal Deirdre Maye added that “There will be prizes galore for your participation in this day.”
Additionally, the school foyer was decked out to “celebrate LGBTI+,” with pride flags added around the school.
One parent told Gript that she felt “aggrieved,” “pressured,” and that there was a “sense of over-the-top indoctrination” being directed towards her children.
“Some children who have started 1st year are barely 12 years old,” she said.
“They are just settling into secondary school. They are still only children, with no real sexuality or sense of themselves as sexual beings. Yet they are forced to engage in a week of celebrating gay, bi, lesbian, pansexuality, polysexuality, etcetera, before they’ve even figured themselves out as a human being, never mind their sense of sexuality.
“Some have not even started puberty and have children’s bodies still. I felt it is over the top indoctrination, like a recruitment campaign.”
She also objected to the competitive nature of the event, saying that she felt this went “way too far.”
“They are now pitting one class against the other to see how much pride they portray and how much you pledge allegiance to the Pride flag. This is absurd and morally very wrong.”
The mother told Gript that she texted a few other parents about her concerns.
“They also felt the same way and thanked me for having the courage to bring it up,” she said.
Gript contacted the school for comment, with a mind to ask how the school would handle children or parents who wished to opt out of the day’s events. However, the school declined to answer any questions, saying they did not wish to discuss the matter.