“We pride ourselves on creating an environment that is welcoming to all. “South Madison School Corporation welcomes and celebrates all its students and does not tolerate harassment or discrimination based on any protected class,” Superintendent Mark Hall wrote in an email to IndyStar. South Madison Community Schools officials say that the district isn’t anti-LGBTQ but that teachers are supposed to remain neutral and not engage in political speech. Inclusion effort: As pushback on Carmel schools' diversity efforts continues, supporters speak up at meeting “We’re tired of having people act like our feelings don’t matter, like our mental health doesn’t matter.” “We’re tired of having so little representation,” he said. Having it prohibited, he said, has been upsetting. Seeing the rainbow stripes of the pride flag made him and his friends feel seen. It’s not easy being gay in a small Indiana town, Bryce said. I knew we had an ally here at the school.” “I remember walking by her classroom, glancing at it and just being happy.
“She had it right on the wall so when you were passing by and looking into her room you could see it. “As a freshman, I remember walking by (a teacher’s) classroom,” Bryce said. He had hoped for several dozen supporters - he had received nearly 3,000 signatures as of Thursday morning. Students at Pendleton Heights High School are asking their district to reconsider its policies after several teachers were told to remove pride flags from their classrooms last month.īryce Axel-Adams, a junior at Pendleton, started an online petition to allow the flags to be displayed again. Obviously, this list is not exhaustive, and there are regularly more pride flags being created to reflect different groups, but hopefully this information can prove useful as you learn about and champion the LGBTQ+ people in your life.Watch Video: Indiana Youth Group has a new home to help young LGBTQ Hoosiers "Though I started reading about gender and sexuality right away in my college library the first semester I started there, the online component allowed me to browse through forums and articles and to chat with people who seemed to identify like I did when I was in the process of figuring it all out." "Online communities have been tremendously influential, giving people a virtual space to do research on possibilities and especially to find others who feel similarly," they said. Marilyn Roxie, the designer of the genderqueer pride flag, told Majestic Mess that the rise in social media platforms and other internet hubs for queer people has been hugely important in leading to the creation of new flags. There has been a meaningful uptick in new pride flags since 2010, with variants for intersex, non-binary, and agender people produced. Some, like the two-spirit pride flag and the updated pride flag, incorporate Baker's original design while adding more colors and elements to acknowledge both Native Americans and the broader POC community, respectively.
Since Gilbert Baker first created the original rainbow pride flag back in 1978, designers and activists of all genders, identities, and sexual orientations have made different iterations to reflect unique communities.
It's also a celebration of the beauty and diversity of the experience, flown at pride events all throughout the month of June. Over the last 40-plus years, the rainbow pride flag has become a symbol synonymous with the LGBTQ+ community and its fight for equal rights and acceptance across the globe.