Burlington middle school pride celebration mocked as students ‘destroyed rainbow decorations,’ advocates say
By Web staff
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BURLINGTON, Massachusetts (WBZ) — What was supposed to be a celebration of LGBTQ+ pride at the Marshall Simonds Middle School in Burlington was instead met with “intolerance and homophobia,” advocates said at a Select Board meeting Monday night.
Nancy Bonassera, co-chair of the Burlington Equity Coalition, said that students were invited to wear rainbow clothing on June 2 in celebration of Pride Month.
“On that same day there was a counter-demonstration in response to what should have been a day to celebrate,” she said. “Students wore red, white and blue clothing, chanted ‘my pronouns are USA’ and destroyed rainbow decorations at the school.”
The coalition is calling for “consequences” for the students who participated in the counter-protest and is urging the district to fill a diversity, equity and inclusion role that they say has been vacant for almost a year.
“We also believe that without any direct and concrete action, these incidents will occur again and increase in severity,” Bonassera said.
Former School Committee member Carl Foss testified that he was “surprised that incidents like this could happen in Burlington.”
“I thought Burlington was a safer place than Texas or Florida,” Foss said. “Obviously I was wrong.”
Select Board member Michael Espejo said a “bad light has been cast over our town.”
“I was very upset, I’ve lost sleep over it,” Espejo said about the incident. “It kind of shocked me to my core. I didn’t think something like that could happen in Burlington.”
Select Board Chair Michael Runyan said the board “takes this matter seriously” and will continue to have conservations about the issue over the coming weeks.
The Human Rights Campaign recently declared a state of emergency for LGBTQ+ people, saying dozens of anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been signed into law this year.
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