Everyone Welcome

Liam Galaugher ’23 & Varen Bautista ’23

Contributors

Everyone Welcome is a mission rooted in our values of education, commitment to justice, and the Jesuit value of “youth lead-ing in a hope filled future,” and is spearheaded by students of the Human Rights Initiative (HRI).

Our mission is to spread awareness and educate staff and students about the 2SLGBTQ+ community, the harm of homophobia and transphobia, and how we can build a more accepting school environment. We aim to dispel stereotypes, discrimination, and marginalization not only within our school community, but also in our wider St. Paul’s community.

Everyone Welcome is not a campaign but a mission. St. Paul’s takes pride in its embrace of the brotherhood, community, and inclusivity. These core values at St. Paul’s are something you may identify with as a student, and our mission is part of continuing this embrace. We do not aim to wave a rainbow flag for a shallow trend without genuine in-tent or context. Our mission is to demonstrate that everyone with-in our community—regardless of how they identify—is welcome.

Everyone Welcome was created last year to address homophobia and see changes many students hoped for in our school community. This message is the foundation of the symbol we use for Everyone Welcome, which is heavily inspired by the rainbow pride flag. The history and the symbolism of the pride flag dates back to 1979, when American artist Gilbert Baker created the first rainbow flag to symbolize strength and resilience after the Stonewall riots that took place 10 years earlier: The red represents life, orange-healing, yellow-sun-light, green-nature, blue-harmony, and violet representing spirit.

St. Paul’s is a Jesuit school that aims to embody Jesuit values within the community and with-in our education. One value of the Jesuits which Everyone Welcome embodies is cura personalis. Meaning ‘care for the wholeperson’ in Latin, this value of Jesuit education emphasizes every person is a unique creation of God. Cura personalis calls for respect for diversity, and pro-motes holistic care for the mind, body and spirit. Taking care of the marginalized and promoting justice requires love, compassion, empathy, and understanding, all principles of the Catholic faith and Ignatian spirituality. Here at St. Paul’s, we are committed to magis, meaning ‘more’ in Latin.We encourage you to do more, take these values and see them into your own life.

You may think homophobia and transphobia doesn’t exist in our school, or, you may think it is acceptable as long as it is just a joke. But heavy discrimination does exist in our school. Just because something does not directly affect you does not mean it does not exist. If you would not say something out loud in public, do not say it at school, or online. This includes homophobic slurs said in our hallways, or malicious rumours spread online or behind someone’s back. Our school community has no room for blatant ignorance, homophobic or transphobic bigotry, or disrespect for one another. The creation of a more tolerant, understanding, empathetic, and supportive school community is through you—the students. Everyone Welcome is a continuous effort to build more acceptance, understanding, and love with-in our school community. Let’s make everyone truly welcome at St. Paul’s.