UBC pride flag burning shows hate, needs to be addressed

Over the B.C. Family Day long weekend UBC’s OUTweek pride flag was burned in what the university condemns as an act of hate. After an investigation the police have found the alleged perpetrator and believe that the flag burning was an isolated incident. Fear plagued the pride celebrations at UBC this year, and the university’s Pride Collective felt it necessary to cancel a transgender support parade and to enhance the security at other events.

It may be tempting to dismiss this flag burning as inconsequential, but for a group that is already marginalized and violently victimized it can spark new anxieties in a campus community where they should feel safe. If homophobic sentiments like this are allowed to fester and grow tragedy could occur.

One tradition of intimidation stands out in UBC’s history: the Lady Godiva ride. The legend of Godiva says she rode on horseback through the streets of Coventry clothed in only her long hair to convince her husband, the Earl, to stop his oppressive taxation of the people. Apparently she is the patron saint of engineers because, “her story captures the essence of selfless dedication to the betterment of society, which all engineers are bound to.” In her honour UBC engineering students had a naked woman ride on horseback through the campus for many years, only stopping after the École Polytechnique massacre in 1989.

In a time when engineering was even more of a boys club than it is today, a spectacle like the Lady Godiva ride would not only make female students feel unwelcome in the faculty but downright afraid. It might be easy to laugh off the ride or the flag burning as just a prank, but as we ignore stunts like these it may escalate into violent acts against people.

The École Polytechnique massacre was an act of violent hate against female engineering students. It may not have been at UBC but it just as easily could have been. Despite some labelling the gunman Marc Lépine as a lone mad man, he declared himself anti-feminist and specifically targeted women — he blamed them for ruining his life. This may seem like an extreme example and something that couldn’t happen 27 years later (at least in Canada), but I would argue that if we allow this homophobic incident at UBC to be swept under the rug we risk normalizing threats against a group of people, and we could pay for it down the road.

I’m not against flag burning as a form of speech. But whoever did this didn’t go buy a pride flag and burn it, they stole the UBC OUTweek pride flag and incinerated it, leaving behind just the brass rings. This isn’t about flag burning, it’s not about freedom of speech, it’s about threats and intimidation. So let’s not allow this to be seen as a waste of police resources or just another example of university students being too coddled. Let’s see it for what it really is: dangerous.