‘No place for haters’: Oscar Romero celebrates diversity during Rainbow Week

The so-called ‘haters’ often respond anonymously. The school reported reactions such as ‘yuck’ and puke emojis. ”It is difficult to leave certain things in place, but you don’t want to take away freedom of expression. We remove comments that are really harmful,” says Van de Hoef.

The rector also indicates that there has been a complete change in bullying or nasty reactions through platforms such as Facebook and Snapchat. ”Social media makes bullying something very different than it was ten years ago. As a school, you have to move with the times and respond to them. This also has to do with safety within the school.”

Kindness, safety and responsibility. These are the three points that the school emphasizes. ”You can disagree with each other, but that does not mean that you are each other’s enemies. Everyone can be whoever they want to be, and that is what we stand for,” says Van de Hoef.

Maud (14), a student who has been attending the school since this year, notices a lot of difference from her old school. ”There it felt like a warm bath if you declared that you belonged to the community. Students do not talk about this among themselves. Things are going well in the classrooms and the teachers are willing to talk about it, but things are going wrong in the corridors. I regularly hear swear words such as ‘gay’, which are out of place here.” Fortunately, Maud herself has not had any unpleasant experiences with fellow students.

Also positive reactions

In addition to negative reactions, there are also certainly positive reactions regarding Rainbow Week. A group of five students and a supervisor from Oscar Romero who together want more attention for the community, also called the Gender and Sexuality Alliance (GSA), have come up with the idea of ​​hiding colored erasers throughout the school.

When you return the eraser to the specially equipped GSA room, you will receive a muffin or something else tasty. You can also come and discuss the community. When leaving the classroom, students receive a brochure about Rainbow Week.

“Some people find it quite exciting to walk in, but we get a lot of nice reactions. Both from students and teachers,” says Floris Kneppers, Dutch teacher and supervisor of the GSA. “Teachers come to us to give compliments and ask if they can do anything extra. We have already had a few teachers who came to pick up a container of erasers to hide in their classroom.”

Visibility

The students of the GSA are having a great time organizing the week. “We hope that there will be a permanent place for the GSA, and that people can just drop in there if they want to talk about it. Actually, something like what we have this week, something where we are visible.”

“Engage in conversation with each other” is the most important thing that Rector Van de Hoef wants to convey to the students. “Everyone is entitled to what they think about everything, but have respect for others. We want everyone to feel welcome in our school.”