High school students raising gender-sexuality awareness in Stephenville
More schools in Newfoundland and Labrador now have gay-straight alliances
Pride is spreading throughout western Newfoundland.
Inspired by a gay-straight alliance in Corner Brook High School, Stephenville High is forming its own Gender Sexuality Alliance.
"We have a lot of LGTBQ youth at our school and I feel like we need a safe haven for those people," says Faith Young, who helped organize the alliance.
Members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGTBQ) community were acknowledged during pride week and the International Day Against Homophobia in May, but Young said that's not enough for the students.
"We never had anything where a bunch of students could come together and fight for what they believe in," she said.
Big response
Young said she was pleased with the turnout for the group's first meeting, with about 20 students attending.
Right now our health classes are very hetero-normative and don't talk about a lot of LGBTQ-types of sexual interactions.- Faith Young
"I was surprised. I thought we were only going to have five people," Young told CBC's Corner Brook Morning Show.
Young said the group is now preparing for Stephenville's pride parade on Sunday.
Young also said the group also hopes to change awareness about LGTBQ issues in class.
"Right now our health classes are very hetero-normative and don't talk about a lot of LGBTQ-types of sexual interactions," said Young.
"And we also want to cover pronouns and different types of sexuality so that people are more educated."
'They can be themselves'
Corner Brook Regional High School has had a Pride Alliance for more than a year. Group member Jade Mackey said it's been important to many students.
"It's a space where they feel they can be themselves and a space where they are not feel like they are being demonized for who they are," said Mackey.
Mackey said the group in Corner Brook is currently raising money to go to a international conference called OUTShine, an international summit hosted by Egale in Windsor, Ont., in 2017.
With files from the Corner Brook Morning Show