NATICK, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) — Beginning this month, the Natick School District will hang the Progress Pride flag outside all school-owned buildings year-round.
The town's School Committee voted unanimously Tuesday to fly the flag underneath the American flag throughout the year at its public schools, saying in its proclamation that it "affirms, supports, and values the gender identities and gender expressions of all students and staff and will continue to further efforts in our schools to create a welcoming safe, and inclusive learning environment for our transgender and all LGBTQ+ students."
The Progress Pride flag incorporates the six horizontal stripes of the Pride flag (red for life; orange for healing; yellow for sunlight; green for nature, blue for serenity and peace; and purple for soul and spirit) with five diagonal stripes that meet at an angle: White, pink, and blue for trans, non-binary, intersex, and other people on the gender spectrum; brown for LGBTQ+ people of color; and black for those who died during the AIDS epidemic.
"We want to send a message that every student and every adult is welcomed regardless of how they identify, but also to send a message that it’s all our responsibility to make everyone else feel welcome," Natick School Committee chair Shai Fuxman told WBZ NewsRadio Wednesday.
"A lot of our students who identify as LGBTQ are struggling with a sense of isolation, discrimination," Fuxman continued. "LGBTQ students are more likely to express mental health challenges, suicidal thoughts."
Fuxman said with anti-LGBTQ sentiment still a strong issue in the country, the hope is to have the display of the flags outside the school buildings encourage "conversations in schools at age appropriate levels, so that it’s not just a flag outside, but a conversation and a teaching experience."
WBZ's Kim Tunnicliffe (@KimWBZ) reports.
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