{"id":27083,"date":"2020-07-23T21:10:32","date_gmt":"2020-07-24T01:10:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=27083"},"modified":"2020-07-30T21:35:05","modified_gmt":"2020-07-31T01:35:05","slug":"rainbow-crosswalk-could-be-live-saving-for-lgbtq2s-community-pflag","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/rainbow-crosswalk-could-be-live-saving-for-lgbtq2s-community-pflag\/","title":{"rendered":"Rainbow Crosswalk could be \u201clive-saving\u201d for LGBTQ2S Community: Pflag"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A rainbow is a symbol of hope for many around the world, but it can also be an important and life-saving signpost for the LGBTQ2S community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These were the words shared with Council last week by Tristan Coolman, President of Pflag York Region, as local lawmakers signed off on the installation of York Region\u2019s first Rainbow Crosswalk at Yonge and Wellington Streets following a motion from Mayor Tom Mrakas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a leader within York Region\u2019s LGBTQ2S community, Mr. Coolman sees the struggle and fear some members of the community face every day. A very visible sign of support, such as the one approved by Council last Tuesday, will go a long way towards fostering a feeling of openness and respect, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor LGBTQ2 people, their lived experiences often involve repressing their true authentic self out of fear of being disowned, fear of being attacked, amongst other concerns,\u201d Mr. Coolman told Council. \u201cAurora isn\u2019t unique to these challenges as every hamlet, town and city worldwide faces similar obstacles. We, unfortunately, still live in a world and a community that is not always affirming and respectful of these lived experiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA rainbow crosswalk serves as a visible sign of support from our elected officials for the LGBTQ people. It is a sign to anyone who feels different to, quite frankly, educate themselves. As many of us have learned over the last few weeks, social literacy is a skill that many of us are lacking. In a way, it is a new currency for how we measure our engagement with others. Agencies like Pflag York Region can support those journeys and this Rainbow Crosswalk might be the start of that for many residents.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The statistics, he noted, make it clear that when LGBTQ2S people \u201csee visible signs of support, whether it be in their household, amongst their chosen family, or from institutions and elected officials\u2026their quality of life can improve. Their access to opportunities and to success greatly improves as well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor some, this may be another crosswalk and others may question [if] it is smart to invest tax dollars in this, but take it from someone who leads an LGBT organization, who has heard stories from LGBTQ2 folks, their friends and family from across York Region, take it from someone themselves who identifies within the community, this Rainbow Crosswalk could be life-saving. It has the potential to inject a dose of hope, validation and optimism into anyone who crosses over that. When it does that, even just for one person, it is completely worth it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not everyone was in favour of the initiative, however \u2013 albeit for different reasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aurora resident Jim Sinkovic, making a delegation to Council, questioned the wisdom of installing such a sidewalk at Yonge and Wellington from both a safety and cost perspective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c[The stated intent] is to have a large visual presence \u2013 we already have red light cameras at this intersection to promote safety, isn\u2019t it possible drivers will be even more likely to misread a light due to being distracted and looking down at the road instead of at light signals?\u201d he questioned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. Sinkovic also questioned the use of thermoplastic required to make the rainbow crosswalk a reality. As a motorcyclist, he said he was concerned the rainbow stripes would make things more slippery for cyclists and pedestrians alike.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhile others say this might be lifesaving for the community, this may also be deadly to a motorcyclist,\u201d he said, before Al Downey, Aurora\u2019s Director of Operations, said that the present intersection already uses the same materials at its crosswalks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An additional concern, he noted, was the proposed $12,600 budget to make the Rainbow Crosswalk a reality. Not only did the cost seem excessive, he said, but it didn\u2019t take into account the Region\u2019s plans to install new turn lanes at Yonge and Wellington in the years ahead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat benefit is spending $12,000 on a display that will last for a year or two rather than something more permanent or something reaching a wider audience like an information campaign, for example? Why not install one or more flags like most other communities do? What does it say about our priorities when we spend $12,000 on this frivolous display rather than doing more to help out our local businesses?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In response, Councillor Harold Kim said he did not see a Rainbow Crosswalk as a \u201cfrivolous\u201d display and said when it is a matter of \u201chuman rights\u2026there is no price tag.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOn principle, I would support the Rainbow Crosswalk,\u201d he said. \u201cRainbows have many symbolic interpretations for the LGBTQ community and it means acceptance. For other faith-based groups like Christians, it means God\u2019s covenant of grace, and, for the general population, it might mean hope and prosperity. For all of these reasons, having it on our main street sidewalk would be visually and symbolically appealing to a wide-cross-section of Aurorans.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking to his motion, Mayor Mrakas reiterated his position that a Rainbow Crosswalk would, in his view, show Aurora as \u201can inclusive, diverse community that is welcoming to all.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was a view shared by the majority of Council, who passed the motion on a vote of 5 \u2013 2. Voting against the motion were Councillors Wendy Gaertner and John Gallo, who questioned the project\u2019s $12,600 budget without knowing until the end of the meeting, nearly an hour after the vote was taken, that an anonymous donor had stepped up to kick in $10,000 towards the plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Had this been revealed during the discussion, they contended their votes would have in favour of the Rainbow Crosswalk. (For more on Council\u2019s discussion, see Page 15 of this week’s Auroran)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following Aurora\u2019s decision, Mr. Coolman said Pflag plans to partner with other LGBTQ2S organizations across York Region to encourage other Councils to adopt Rainbow Crosswalks across every York Region municipality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir<\/strong><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A rainbow is a symbol of hope for many around the world, but it can also be an important and life-saving signpost for the LGBTQ2S community. These were the words shared with Council last week by Tristan Coolman, President of Pflag York Region, as local lawmakers signed off on the installation of York Region\u2019s first […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":27072,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/2020-07-23-01.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-72P","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-25 06:11:33","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27083"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27083\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}