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Date: 3/15/2023
BELCHERTOWN — In a packed room at the March 7 School Committee meeting, parents, members and allies of the LGBTQ+ community joined together to express their views of the Belchertown schools’ flag policy vote.
The message was clearly stated by each speaker, “Please keep our flag up.”
The Belchertown School Committee discussed a flag policy at their last meeting and approved it on March 7.
On Feb. 7, Scott Day met with the School Committee to discuss why he thinks the progress pride flag should not be flying on school grounds.
He argued that students’ main goal in school should be to learn and not wonder why a certain flag is being flown and not every flag.
Day said, “I do not think the pride flag belongs to be flown in the courtyard. I know there is a gay-straight alliance. I think they should make a nice banner to say my school has a gay-straight alliance. By that reasoning, a confederate flag, Trump flag, Christian flag, Biden flag or all of them must fly.”
These comments made by Day led to the School Committee drafting a flag policy to state which organizations flags can and cannot fly.
After hearing these comments at the meeting and a video posted by Day on Facebook explaining his comments, the community came together to share personal stories and that the pride flag means more than just a piece of cloth.
Over 15 students, alumni and parents prepared speeches to explain what the pride flag means to them, their journeys, struggles and why the flag should continue to fly on school grounds.
Belchertown student Lex Pixico said, “I am both queer and transgender. I walk into Belchertown High School day in and day out to see the pride flag raised high in foyer. Before I came to this school, I knew I was not straight so to walk in that first day of freshmen year and see something that is part of who I am was great.”
Pixico added, “Although putting up small pride flags and pride stickers during Pride Month is great, we still do not get enough representation. The flag that we see when we walk into that building means so much to so many LGBTQ students here.”
Heather St. Germaine and a couple other speakers mentioned how the layout of the progress pride flag and each color has a deeper meaning to it.
Germaine said, “Red represents life, the lives of so many we lost for being ourselves and those who are currently trying to live as themselves. Orange represents healing. Specifically, the healing and repair so many students, LGBTQ and otherwise need to do after overcoming their hardships in life. Yellow represents new ideas and inspire new ideas in the future.”
Germaine added, “Green represents prosperity often in the face of negativity that comes our way. Blue represents serenity and all we want is peace with ourselves and our community. Violet represents spirit. This can came come in all shapes and forms but to me personally it represents the spirit of our community that uplifts everyone. The black and brown represents people of color in the LGBTQ community. White, blue and pink represents transgender people.”
The arrow on the progress pride flag is also placed on the left and pointing to the right to show forward movement but progress still needs to be made.
Many adults stated that they did not plan on speaking but added that they were inspired hearing from LGBTQ+ students and wanted to do their part to support.
After over 30 minutes of speeches, Day responded to everyone that was in attendance.
Day said, “It is great to see everyone supporting a cause they believe in. I have no hate whatsoever for gay people. If you listened to my whole speech on Facebook, my quote was that if a flag makes a kid feel safe, based on that you must fly any flag that a kid says makes them feel safe.”
He added, “My thing with the flag is that you are separating people. You are dividing people into groups. This is not about a person being gay. This is truly in my opinion, about flying one flag. Obviously, I do not want to see a Nazi flag. I would personally tear it down or any other hate flag for that matter. You just need to be ready to fly a Christian flag, heterosexual pride flag, etc.”
The flag policy was approved by the School Committee and reads, “The Belchertown Public Schools (“BPS”) shall not permit any individual or group, other than school administrators and approved student groups as set forth herein, to place any sign, banner, flag, advertisement, promotional/marketing material or other such items anywhere on BPS buildings, grounds, transportation vehicles, or other property.
“BPS administrators or approved student groups may be permitted to place such items on BPS premises, on the following conditions: Any such items must relate to or be in the furtherance of the district’s educational goals, programs, activities or events; and any such items must be approved in advance by a building principal, the superintendent of schools, or the School Committee, as appropriate under the circumstances. Final decision-making regarding any such items shall be at the School Committee’s sole discretion.”
School Committee Chair Heidi Gutekenst added, “I thank everyone for coming to speak tonight. This policy allows any clubs in the school to fly flags, so it is open to other flags.”
The rest of the School Committee shared their appreciation for the community coming out and shared how inspiring it was to see people come together for a united cause.