{"id":3819,"date":"2014-05-06T16:10:30","date_gmt":"2014-05-06T21:10:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.une-sen.org\/press\/?p=3819"},"modified":"2014-05-06T16:10:30","modified_gmt":"2014-05-06T21:10:30","slug":"raising-the-bars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unesen.ca\/press\/?p=3819","title":{"rendered":"Raising the bars"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.une-sen.org\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/raisingthebars.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-3829\" alt=\"raisingthebars\" src=\"http:\/\/www.une-sen.org\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/raisingthebars.png\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unesen.ca\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/raisingthebars.png 600w, https:\/\/www.unesen.ca\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/raisingthebars-300x200.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The pride flag will be flown above the Gasp\u00e9 town hall this month, thanks to the actions of one dedicated human rights activist.<\/p>\n<p>G\u00e9raldine Fortin, our human rights representative for the Quebec region, approached her town\u2019s mayor last week to convince him to recognize May 17: the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI didn\u2019t have to do a lot of convincing,\u201d admits Fortin. \u201cI had all my arguments ready \u2013 I didn\u2019t need to use any.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt went really well. They were very open to the idea.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This won\u2019t be the first time that the town of Gasp\u00e9 will make a statement in favour of free expression. During the most recent winter Olympics, Gaps\u00e9\u2019s city hall was among countless others across the country that flew the pride flag in opposition to Russia\u2019s draconian anti-gay laws.<\/p>\n<p>For a town of just over 15,000 people, it\u2019s a very powerful statement.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt sends a message about openness to diversity,\u201d says Fortin.<\/p>\n<p>But this time, a UNE member will be the one hoisting the flag. That\u2019s right; the mayor is delegating the honour to Fortin.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m going to wear a shirt sporting the UNE logo,\u201d said Fortin, proudly.<\/p>\n<p>With May 17 fast approaching, Fortin is daring other members to do something similar in their communities.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m sure there are similar actions that can be done,\u201d said Fortin. \u201cI\u2019m sure I\u2019m not the only one who lives in a small community.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>If you take up G\u00e9raldine Fortin\u2019s challenge, please let us know by <a href=\"mailto:communications@une-sen.org\">sending us an email<\/a>.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_3824\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3824\" style=\"width: 515px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.une-sen.org\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Rencontre-mairie-Gasp\u00e9-012-3.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\" wp-image-3824 \" alt=\"In this photo: Daniel C\u00f4t\u00e9, Gasp\u00e9 mayor; Manon Minville, Local 10040; and G\u00e9raldine Fortin, human rights representative, Quebec.\" src=\"http:\/\/www.une-sen.org\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Rencontre-mairie-Gasp\u00e9-012-3.jpg\" width=\"515\" height=\"491\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unesen.ca\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Rencontre-mairie-Gasp\u00e9-012-3.jpg 735w, https:\/\/www.unesen.ca\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Rencontre-mairie-Gasp\u00e9-012-3-300x286.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 515px) 100vw, 515px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-3824\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">In this photo: Daniel C\u00f4t\u00e9, Gasp\u00e9 mayor; Manon Minville, Local 10040; and G\u00e9raldine Fortin, human rights representative, Quebec.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The pride flag will be flown above the Gasp\u00e9 town hall this month, thanks to the actions of one dedicated human rights activist. G\u00e9raldine Fortin, our human rights representative for the Quebec region, approached her town\u2019s mayor last week to convince him to recognize May 17: the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia. \u201cI didn\u2019t &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.unesen.ca\/press\/?p=3819\" class=\"more-link\">>><span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Raising the bars&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[7,12,19],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unesen.ca\/press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3819"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unesen.ca\/press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unesen.ca\/press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unesen.ca\/press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unesen.ca\/press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3819"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.unesen.ca\/press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3819\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3830,"href":"https:\/\/www.unesen.ca\/press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3819\/revisions\/3830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unesen.ca\/press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unesen.ca\/press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unesen.ca\/press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}