Dear Editor:
RE: Community members clash over Pride banners in Minto, May 16.
Public spaces are never neutral. The ways we design, use and inhabit the spaces around us say much about our collective values. We act upon space continuously, and we endlessly define the spaces we move in and make for ourselves and our community. In turn, how we use space defines us, too.
Much has, can and will be said about the national, provincial, town and Legion flags that adorn many a flag pole. No credible opinion would hold that they are neutral. In the end – even from the outset – flags and other visual symbols give life to community history, represent (accepted) values, stand for collective goals and promote certain aspired and hoped-for futures.
They always stand for something.
With this in mind, it is discouraging to see that some writers to the editor and the many signatories to the petition to neutralize public spaces in Minto believe that this neutralization of public space is possible. The flags they would accept, those they would prohibit, and any they might outlaw in the future all represent the community in some way: its values, principles, history and future goals.
To call obviously, if not explicitly, for the removal of Pride flags, banners, crosswalks and other visual representations of equality, acceptance and inclusion in public spaces does speak volumes about the petition’s signatories and its supporters.
If only they were brave enough to publicly own their bigotry – to stand by their hatred and small-mindedness – rather than to feebly attempt to hide behind the shallow, intellectually hollow claim that this was somehow in the aim of “neutrality.”
Perhaps then we would approach something of an open and honest discussion about the meaning and use of public space.
Connor Maitland,
Centre Wellington