- by Anne Finlay-Stewart, Editor
I am back from a vacation in a country that is celebrating its 247th anniversary today. According to the pledge of allegiance to their flag, at least the version adopted in 1954, it is “one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all”.
But you can see it is a divided country, along many lines. And the cracks in our own community are becoming too obvious to deny.
When the eggs were thrown at the mosque, or the swastikas and confederate flags appeared – we wanted to believe that “we are not like that” or that “hate has no place here”. Increasingly it is in full view and it has our neighbour's face.
One day I put on my pink rubber boots and took myself down to Holland Chatsworth School to stand with a dad, three kids and a mom (who also happens to be the Director of Education for the Bluewater District School Board). We wanted the folks who were coming to the school to promote kindness and inclusion to know that they were welcome. The group of a dozen or so protesters with their well-worn signs were sending a different message. They stood at one driveway – we stood at another.
One of those protesters approached us and said, “We don't hate you.” What an odd thing to say to someone you have never met. Did she want to hear that we did not hate her either?
Later as I stood alone by the side of the road, wondering how long I should stay now that the protesters had left, a woman drove up to me and rolled down her window. “You,” she said, loudly and fiercely, “You are a hateful person.” Then she paused, taking in the pink boots and the small rainbow flag in my hand. “NO!” she said, and began apologizing profusely. “No, you are NOT a hateful person. You are a good person!” She had been expecting anti-Pride protesters, and had prepared her words for one of them.
The dividing lines had been drawn. Good vs. Hateful. Yet people see themselves on one side of that line while others see them clearly belonging on the other.
I read the letter that has now been sent to 'Prideman' at more than twenty addresses, including the homes of members of our 2S- LGBTQQIA+ community, allies of all ages, people who have recently chosen to move here and found it welcoming up to now, and even organizations including the M’Wikwedong Indigenous Friendship Centre.
The letter is typed and unsigned and reads like a not-so-veiled mafia intimidation threat - “...nice kid you've got there – it would be a shame if anything were to happen to them.” The recipient (or their non-hetero normative child or friend) deserves death, says the writer, quoting what Christians refer to as the Old Testament. They do not, as “true Christians”, condone violence, but....if it WERE to occur, it would be God's judgement and the victim's own fault.
And here is another dividing line. Many of them. This community is full of churches and each of them is, I presume, full of people who would identify as Christians. Yet while some have clergy who are single or married members of the 2S-LGBTQQIA+ community, another accepts only celibate men. Last year the Bruce Grey Catholic School Board, in keeping with its own Equity Action Plan and Catholic teachings, raised a Pride flag at St. Mary's High School while across the road the Pastor of the church for which the school is named denounced the flag in the parish bulletin.
Then there is our letter writer. This person is, almost without doubt, a member of a local church. One whose pastor may have preached on this subject – maybe even using this text from Leviticus – leading up to Pride month. The preacher may not have intended for their parishioners to take down addresses of those with Pride flags and anonymously intimidate their neighbours, but one or more of them did.
These people – all of them - the pastors and parshioners and Proud families – are our neighbours. This is our community. We are diverse, but we are not inclusive, and we are not all safe.
In the church of my childhood and young adulthood we would confess together that we had sinned “by what we have done and by what we have left undone”. That last part always had a deep impact on me.
I have a tattered quote on my refrigerator which I always thought was from Simon Wiesenthal, a survivor of the Shoah who dedicated his life to documenting and bringing to justice those who committed the crimes of the Holocaust. I'm now more careful about attribution, but I do know that it is a variation on words from an 1867 speech by John Stuart Mill.
“Let not any one pacify his conscience by the delusion that he can do no harm if he takes no part, and forms no opinion. Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing.'
So far we have had words about these letters and what they represent. From our MP and our mayor and some members of council, and from leaders of other communities taking common cause. Some have been heartfelt and powerful. I am disappointed, but sadly not entirely surprised, that our MPP Rick Byers has had nothing to say – or do - on the subject of these letters.
We expect leadership from those who hold office as our representatives. Now is the time to take part – to take strong action to root out this threat that communities within our community are experiencing so we can flourish together.
This quote I know is from Wiesenthal - "Violence is like a weed – it does not die even in the greatest drought."