MacLeod: Rainbow flag shows commitment to inclusiveness

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When the rainbow flag flies in cities and towns throughout the province -- and indeed the world -- in support of gay rights, the ensuing discussions can be painful and even embarrassing. But they're necessary.

It's unfortunate that some discussions degenerate into displays of narrow-mindedness because it undermines the solidarity that's intended to be symbolized by the flag: That nations agreed to participate in the Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia, but we do not agree with the way Russia treats gays and lesbians and we're going to say so.

Russia passed its anti-gay law in June prohibiting protests or displays of support for gay rights, supposedly to protect children. Calls for an Olympic boycott rightfully failed, but in cities and towns throughout the world, rainbow flags were raised.

Queen's Park gave unanimous consent this week to raise the rainbow flag. But many municipalities had already done so. In Greater Sudbury, where flag debates have a long history, the conversation -- through online posts and a telephone poll -- varied between cringe-inducing comments that argued the rainbow flag should represent leprechauns and not gays, to reasoned, if harsh, debate.

The city's history with flag issues goes back years, with the decision to fly the Franco-Ontarian flag, which was developed in Sudbury and recognized by the province as a symbol of Ontario's French-speaking community. While city council used to debate the merits of flying the flag at city hall each term, back in 2006 then-mayor John Rodriguez made a unilateral decision to do so, sparking a debate that carried some of the arguments we're seeing over the rainbow flag. Chief among them was the argument that the city's flag represents all people, regardless of their ethnicity.

But I wrote at the time that the flag recognized the contribution one of the two founding nations made to the city's heritage. "The decision to fly the flag at city hall merely recognizes that heritage, it does not exclude others," I wrote. "It does not deny the immense contribution made by other ethnic groups. Nor is it an insult to those groups."

And so it should be with the rainbow flag. Some threads of the conversation that took place in Sudbury:

* If you're going to want to fly a flag that represents a minority of people contributing to the Olympics, then you would need to fly the flags of all the minority groups, and not just one.

* The flag represents our acceptance of the LGBT who are denied in Russia.

* The Canadian flag represents our views as a nation, which include being OK with same-sex couplings.

* The Canadian flag doesn't include gay people outside of Canada. How do we show support for them?

* Why must you hijack the Olympics Games for your cause? Can it not just be about the athletes, regardless of who they have sex with?

The thrust of many comments focused on whether a rainbow flag was appropriate since the Canadian flag represented our people and our values. In this case, the rainbow flag is a symbol of protest by demonstrating our commitment to diversity and inclusiveness. It's a reasonable way to show countries who seek to hold world-inclusive events that we believe they should be inclusive themselves.

Russian President Vladimir Putin embarrassed himself on the world stage with his signature on the anti-gay law.

Flying the rainbow flag in Canada during the Olympics tells him that while he tried to use the event as a showpiece, some of what he showed was ugly.



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