Students behind gender-neutral washroom to be marshals of Halifax Pride parade

The students in Highland Park Junior High's Gender Sexuality Alliance have been given high honours for their work in creating a gender-neutral bathroom at their school, including a human rights award and a designation as marshals of Saturday's Pride parade in Halifax. 

But, for them, creating the bathroom was a no-brainer.

"We don't really call it a gender-neutral bathroom. You could go there even if you're too lazy to go upstairs to the bathroom," GSA member Ella Taylor told CBC's Information Morning.

"It's just for everyone."

'Make everyone feel comfortable'

The GSA began calling for a bathroom after one student at the school no longer wanted to be known as a girl. 

"We wanted to make everyone feel comfortable, including that person," said Haillie Barton, another member of the GSA.

But Barton said the bathroom — plus other initiatives, such as encouraging the use of people's 'preferred names' rather than the names they were assigned at birth — will foster acceptance for all of the school's 130 students. 

"We need to understand that we're all different, and that we all have similarities, and we need to find pride in our diversity," said Barton. 

'Pride in Pride'

The students said they were excited to participate in the festival dedicated to celebrating that diversity. 

"We have pride in Pride," said Barton.

Even if what they've done to make their school more inclusive has given the students a place of pride at the front of the parade, they said on Friday that they still had some work to do: crafting banners and T-shirts for Saturday's event, which begins at 1 p.m. 

"I think we stand out a lot, because we are kids and we're also the parade marshals," said Taylor.

"But it's always good to have that extra glitter."