ST. ALBERT: The St. Albert LGBTQ+ community will be travelling to Westlock this weekend to support the town’s youth in the face of a protest of the painting of a rainbow crosswalk in the community.
A Westlock secondary school’s gay straight alliance (GSA) fundraised to paint a rainbow crosswalk, a common symbol of LGBTQ+ pride, in the community for the first time.
But the planned painting event, slated to happen on June 18, drew the ire of a handful of local community members, who mobilized against the youth and tried to get the town to stop the crosswalk from being painted.
Bekah Marcellus, community outreach worker with St. Albert’s LGBTQ+ support organization, Outloud, said the group will be going to Westlock to support the town’s youth against the protests. It’s rare protesters target kids, Marcellus said, which is why it’s important for Outloud to go show their support.
“We as queer adults are kind of stepping in to be like, ‘Hey, pick on someone your own size,’ and trying to wrap around these kids as much as possible,” Marcellus said.
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“We're trying to get people to come out to the painting with us on Sunday, just to build a wall of love around these kids while they have fun and paint their crosswalk and we can kind of shield them from all the angry people sending hate and misinformation.”
Marcellus, who has been to Westlock to visit the school organizing the event, said the local teens are putting on a brave face and making jokes about the protests.
“But you can tell that it hurts them quite deeply,” Marcellus said.
Terry Soetaert, executive director of Outloud, said the protests are “out of control” for something as simple as a rainbow crosswalk.
“(The crosswalk) isn't going to affect anybody. But (the protest) affects those kids who see that as their sign,” Soetaert said.
The Westlock GSA fundraised to get the money to paint the crosswalk, Soetaert said, and “did all the right things.”
Support from town council
While there is a segment of the Westlock community that is planning to protest the painting event, all seven members of town council spoke in support of the GSA and the rainbow crosswalk at a council meeting on June 12. The meeting also drew members of the public, who spoke against the painting event.
Those who spoke against the event said it will cause division in the local community, but Westlock Mayor Ralph Leriger pushed back, saying there were already divisions in society.
The crosswalk, which the protesters called a “sex symbol" and said is an affront to the majority of the community and their tightly-held religious beliefs and will only create a wedge.
But Leriger said the crosswalk is a “way to bridge an existing division within our society.”
Coun. Jon Kramer, a Christian and former pastor in the community for 10 years, admitted he was “a bit disappointed this past week about the turn things have taken regarding the initiative.”
“My mind has shifted in that now I find myself thankful for the opportunity it’s afforded council to communicate even more clearly to the public as to why this crosswalk is so needed.”
Rural Alberta hasn’t always been a place LGBTQ+ have felt welcomed, Kramer said, and the local youth deserve to feel safe in the wider community. The crosswalk painting will be an opportunity for the kids to see they have support from the wider community.
Protests against rainbow crosswalks aren’t unique, Marcellus said, and communities like Ponoka and Spruce Grove have seen backlash. But noted this event is unique as the protesters are targeting the community’s youth.
Marcellus encourages anyone who wants to support the Westlock youth to come to the event in Westlock on 106th Street on Father’s Day, June 18 between 10 a.m. and noon.
- With files from George Blais
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