Things need to be taken to the next step according to the group Queen City for All.
The organization says after a petition signed by 5,000 people to have Regina Public School Board Chair Katherine Gagne resign for comments made about LGBTQ and Pride events in schools was ignored, the community has to have a conversation on what to do moving forward.
Queen City for All’s Kent Peterson says the next step will be making sure she doesn’t win board chair in next year’s election.
Peterson says that may be the only thing she responds to. “So we are going to have a conversation about that. That obviously takes a lot of organizing and work and we wish we didn’t have to come together and talk about how to remove someone who has made such horrible comments about LGBTQ folks, but that’s what it has come to.”
“Ultimately this is about making sure kids in Regina public schools feel safe,” says Peterson. “And given the decision of the Regina Public School Board, there are questions about that.”
He says right now the ball is in the board’s and her court as to if she stays or goes. “We were hoping that we could, at the very least, get a response from her. Either a yes I will accept what over 5,000 people have asked me to do or no, that’s her decision. I just think it shows a level of disrespect to not even bother responding and that’s really where this frustration has come from.”
Queen City for All is meeting with other groups in Regina to potentially work with them and make local schools and the city in general a more inclusive and safe space.
The group was formed was formed in response to Gagne and the school board voting down a motion to recognize and celebrate Pride in schools.
