Pride Month may kick off on June 1, but Catholic schools in Windsor-Essex work towards making students and staff from the LGBTIQ+ community feel welcome and safe throughout the entire year, according to Rosemary LoFaso.

“It’s not about celebrating one day or one month out of the year,” said the Superintendent of Education whose portfolios include equity and diversity, and safe schools. “What we try to do throughout the year is incorporate programming, initiatives, events and opportunities for students to really feel like they belong in the community, and that’s a day-to-day thing.”

An essential part of that comes in providing support to school GSAs, which may stand for Gay-Straight Alliance or Gender Sexuality Alliance.

“It’s really a chance for us to feel that we can just be ourselves without judgement,” Angelina Boschin, a student at Holy Names Catholic High School, said of the GSA at her school. “It’s a way to remind ourselves that we’re not alone and also that we can work together to hopefully make a better tomorrow for anyone who does feel alone.”

Having a GSA in a school goes a long way to make it a more accepting place, according to Danielle Desjardins-Koloff.

 “The presence alone of a club is a source of support to students and it’s not always students who identify as LGBTIQ+,” said the Principal at St. Joseph’s Catholic High School. “So the presence of the club itself definitely makes a statement about how we feel about taking care of our students, and upholding the dignity of every student.”

“I think the message really is that June might be Pride Month, but I think we’re proud all year long of all our students, and they’re accepted and they’re loved and they’re supported,” said LoFaso.

Check out this great video we produced about GSAs in our schools: