This June, public high schools in Windsor-Essex will do something they've never done before: fly the Pride Flag.
Last year, the flag was hoisted at Walkerville Collegiate Institute, but trustees with the Greater Essex County District School Board have approved a motion to fly the flag at its board offices and all high schools in Windsor-Essex.
Walkerville teacher and chair of the Gay-Straight Alliance for teachers, Walter Cassidy, says it's a big step forward.
"If we're going to be in the community, and talking to our youth to get them to raise awareness of all these different things than I think that the people that are the leaders should be doing the same thing," he says.
When in June the flags will be flown hasn't been set, but Cassidy says there will be an event to mark the occasion.
He says recent laws passed in American states, like Mississippi and North Carolina forcing transgender people to use the washroom that corresponds with the gender they were born with show why the display is needed.
"There's still issues that still happen. That's why we have pride festivals," he says. "The more we can do, the better."
He believes the school board may be the first in Canada to fly the Pride Flag.
