‘Thrilled’ with flags
Dear Editor:
RE: Rainbow criticism, June 9.
I’m actually thrilled to see the steps at the Wellington County Museum and Archives painted in a rainbow. I’m thrilled to see flags flying about town.
Because then I know the places displaying the flag or painting their stairs are welcoming, safe spaces for my child to frequent. That she won’t face hatred from the owners.
You want to know what you tell children? You tell them the rainbow is celebrating love. All love. How is celebrating love leading children astray?
If my business had a storefront I’d be flying that rainbow flag loud and proud – in celebration of love – which my business deals with on a daily basis. I have both wisdom and clear-headed thinking. And both tell me that we have a long way to go so that the 2SLGBTQIA+ community is able to be themselves and feel safe, no matter where they go.
And if a few rainbow flags and some rainbow steps help that process along? Then I give a standing ovation to the people involved.
Kellie Barclay,
Fergus
‘All love is love’
Dear Editor:
RE: Rainbow criticism, June 9.
I would not normally respond to someone else’s Letter to the Editor. But I felt it was necessary to balance out the intolerance and lack of caring, expressed in “Rainbow criticism.”
It saddens me that the writer uses Christianity as the justification for her comments. I am a Christian and an active member of Melville United Church. I am also the proud parent of a transgender woman. I am grateful to say that my congregation has shown my daughter love and acceptance and has offered my husband and I love and support.
So what do you say to a six-year-old child when he or she asks about a rainbow flag? You explain that over time our society has come to understand that “love is love.” That all people have value. That when connecting with someone else you should consider the person and not just the package.
My only concern with rainbow flags is that we will begin to treat them the same way we do other forms of recognition, like Black History Month.
That by putting up a flag for a month, we will think that we have checked that off for another year. That we will let frequently marginalized people go without the acceptance, tolerance and support that they deserve every day of their lives.
That we will forget that “all love is love.”
Joanne Mitchell,
Fergus
It’s about love
Dear Editor:
RE: Rainbow criticism, June 9.
This letter expresses concern about rainbow colours everywhere, including the steps of the Wellington County Museum and Archives.
The writer asked the question “What do we tell our children?’ or how do we answer when a six year old asks, ‘Mom, why did they paint the steps in the colours of the rainbow?’”
Here’s my suggestion: “Those rainbow colours that you see everywhere in June represent love. The love that God had for his people after the flood and a sign that He would never again destroy the world. Those rainbow colours also represent the love that God’s people have for each other, in many different forms.”
And we can be reminded of that love when we see the colours painted everywhere. I’m in favour of that.
Frank Walsh,
Centre Wellington
‘Couldn’t be prouder’
Dear Editor:
RE: Rainbow criticism, June 9.
My rainbow flag is blowing and dancing in the wind as I type this, bringing a smile to my face.
It lets my children and all children, and all people for that matter, know that they are accepted. The “current rainbow-themed movement” is brilliant. I could not be prouder of the people in our community for being open and welcoming of the changes in our society.
I am, however, saddened that there are people, so close to home, that would look at a beautiful rainbow flag and be disgusted by the thought of love and equality for everyone.
For anyone that needs a lesson in what to tell a young child when they ask what the rainbow flag represents: tell them it relays the plain truth that people don’t fit into a box anymore, and that they never did. And that maybe the people that once upon a time had to hide who they were don’t need to feel any shame whatsoever for who they were born to be.
Maybe when a young child asks what the rainbow flag (in this situation means) you could simply say, “Love, just love.”
Samantha McDougall,
Fergus
‘Nothing to hide’
Dear Editor:
RE: Rainbow criticism, June 9.
Diane Breukelman bemoans the brightly-coloured displays of rainbows that dot our community and questions their necessity. It’s therefore ironic that her letter denouncing the practice instead underscores exactly why such displays are needed.
The act of raising those flags, painting those steps or putting up those signs is one of love, compassion, welcome, friendship, inclusivity and understanding. For many, it’s also an act of Pride.
Breukelman is not alone in her thoughts, and it is for this reason that making welcome spaces obvious to all is so important.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if children could ask the questions she lists and be told the answers matter-of-factly and without prejudice? A wise frog once sang, “rainbows have nothing to hide…”
Elysia DeLaurentis,
Elora
‘Just like you’
Dear Editor:
RE: Rainbow criticism, June 9.
Once again I see letters which let us all know that we still have problems. Why wouldn’t everyone embrace and support Pride Month, along with all the other special days and months we celebrate, to say “we had it wrong and now we include you into our world and celebrate your uniqueness?”
I spent 13 years in the military fighting your battles and for our way of life, which is to say every single person is important and should be shielded from bigotries, ignorance and hatred.
We are all in a world we share with one another; come out from under your rock and welcome everyone to the party, not just your kind, and you will see they are all just like you: they bleed, they love, they cry and they want to be accepted.
Sorry anyone has to listen to anything else that doesn’t share these ideals, because you don’t know what it is to be a human being and you surely don’t understand religion and acceptance.
Steve McParland,
Fergus
‘Teach kindness’
Dear Editor:
RE: Rainbow criticism, June 9.
I was deeply saddened at reading this letter last week in the Wellington Advertiser. The contrast for me is rather striking, having recently attended a concert presented by the Rainbow Chorus of Waterloo/Wellington at Harcourt United Church in Guelph.
It has been my privilege to be connected with the 2SLGBTQIA+ community as an ally for many years. They are a group whose music and lives seem to reflect love, support, acceptance and harmony. They honour similarities and differences, as I believe Jesus did.
To be confronted with a belief system that suggests children need to be protected from these honourable values seems to me an affront. I would suggest that rainbow symbols in our community unite. They do not divide. Children know.
It is adults who seed dissension and mistrust. Allowing children to engage in compassionate inquiry can go a long way towards increasing their understanding and empathy towards other people and their own developmental wonderings.
As adults we have the opportunity to teach kindness. That is what children need.
Jean Brown,
Guelph/Eramosa
‘Respect is due’
Dear Editor:
RE: Rainbow criticism, June 9.
I am a defender of free speech and freedom of faith, but when I read a letter like the one published last week from Diane Breukelman without a disclaimer from the editor, my soul dropped.
Picking on rainbows is the most absurd thing I have read in a long time, and believe me that I have read and heard a lot of absurd things in the past four years from right- and left-winged fanatics to science deniers, but discrimination against putting out rainbows during Pride month is offensive to me as a gay married man.
For almost 40 years I have been “in the closet” because of people like this. Why are homophobes so afraid of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community? Being gay is not something you learn or acquire, you are born this way, so rainbows do not influence anyone to become gay.
It’s not something you can “catch” or learn in school and before someone comes up to me and says it’s “not natural” or worse, that “God will not forgive me,” let me remind you that homosexuality has existed for thousands of years thoughout human history. It does exists in nature and if you believe God created all of us, well then he created me and many other gays as well!
Here is some advice to those who are offended by the rainbow or don’t know what to teach their children about it – tell them this: The rainbow flag was created to symbolize a peaceful movement to defend the rights of those who are gay (and later LGBT+) and have suffered discrimination, hatred or violence. It is not an advertisement to “enlist heterosexuals” to become gay and it does not “magically convert” people.
No one is forced to like anyone they do not want, but in a civilized society all us Canadians work for, at least respect is due. It is with respect that I refuse to bash someone for expressing their opinions, but it is my obligation to educate them.
Much evil and harm has, and still is done in the name of God so choose the hard path to go above all the discrimination and hatred. Make a friend of someone that is gay and listen to their struggles and hardship and you will find a human being just like you.
Joao Da Silva,
Elora
Love and acceptance
Dear Editor:
RE: Rainbow criticism, June 9.
While eating breakfast I often read letters to the editor, which is a habit I should probably give up in favour of proper digestion. I usually survey my neighbours’ thoughts on the world and discuss them within my household.
But the letter submitted by Diane Breukelman upset me so deeply I felt it was time to take discussion beyond the dinner table.
It would be easy to go on the attack and counter many of the ideas expressed, but I would like to take a different approach. Shouting matches are polarizing and do little to move us in a positive direction.
Instead, I’d like to attempt to answer the important question Ms. Breukelman has posed, “What do we tell our children?”
How about … Our county museum wants everyone to know that even though we are all different people (like all the colours of the rainbow) our community sticks together and supports each person for who they are. How we feel on the inside can be different than the way we look on the outside, and that’s not something to feel ashamed about, in fact it should be celebrated. Some children and adults don’t feel safe being themselves in public places because others have been taught to be angry and afraid of what appears to make us different, but we can change this.
I agree with Diane on at least one thing: that we should “Let our children be children.’’ If we did let them be who they are, and not load them up with notions of fear and distrust, we’d be living in a better world.
Maybe then we wouldn’t feel the need to fly flags and paint rainbows on stairs if we truly loved and accepted each other, and 2SLGBTQIA+ folk wouldn’t feel the need to fight just to be themselves … but then again, who doesn’t love rainbows?
Michael van Huisseling,
Fergus
Compassion
Dear Editor:
Last week my 91-year-old mother was returning the grocery cart at Foodland in Palmerston when she was knocked to the ground by another woman shopper who just left the scene, leaving my mother with a bloody leg and needing help.
You know who you are – shame on you!
Thank you so much to a woman and daughter and a cashier who witnessed the scene and helped my mother, later that day showing up at her residence, again to check on her.
Thank you so much for your help, kindness and compassion.
Susan Loft,
Elora
‘Honest individual’
Dear Editor:
Re: Muted MPP, June 2.
Further to the letter(s) to the editor concerning Wellington-Halton Hills MPP Ted Arnott not exercising his position for his constituencies. The author of the letter alluded to Arnott’s position as Speaker, then chose to comment on his salary and further attacked his pension.
One of the complaints is that various candidates make promises and then when elected the voters may indicate the candidate is not keeping his promise. The author of this letter criticizes Arnott for taking a positive position of “making promises to work for the constituency he represents” – that is precisely what he is elected to do.
I would prefer an honest individual such as Arnott who does not lie and is dedicated to assist those he serves. I have had the opportunity of contacting the support staff of Arnott and found them to be extremely helpful.
Kudos to the electorate who chose to return Arnott to Queen’s Park, and those who chose not to vote for him, may they realize Arnott and his staff will represent you to the best of their ability (that is a promise Arnott made).
He not only walks the talk but his actions speak for themselves.
Robert Plamondon,
Mount Forest