"It didn't matter to me if the flag was threaded in gold, it didn't belong on the same mast with the Canadian flag": A duoethonography of homonationalist discourses at Oromocto High School, New Brunswick


Katherine (KD) Merritt, University of New Brunswick; Void Clark-Nason, University of New Brunswick

On May 11th, 2015, Oromocto High School (OHS) in New Brunswick flew the gay Pride flag for the first time on campus grounds to celebrate the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, and Transphobia (May 17th). The intent was to keep the flag up for the week and take it down Friday afternoon. The decision to fly the Pride flag was met with resistance, hostility, and outrage by certain members of the school community and the town of Oromocto itself - home to 5CDSB Gagetown, the second largest Canadian Forces Base in the country (Government of Canada, 2021). On Wednesday, May 13th, 2015, an unknown individual scaled the OHS flagpole afterhours and stole the Pride flag, and was heavily rumoured to have burnt it. Both authors, Void and KD, were students at OHS when these incidents happened. In our duoethnography, we explore Void’s past as an outspoken queer student and KD’s past as a closeted lesbian student during the 2015 Pride flag situation. Reflecting from inside the closet, KD reveals how her internalized homophobia, shaped by compulsory heterosexuality, reinforced misinformation and her own skewed perception of acceptable queerness. Void draws from their history as a member of the OHS Gay-Straight Alliance and openly pansexual twelfth grader to unpack how teacher-led discussions fueled harmful rhetoric against the OHS 2SLGBTQ+ student body and created a volatile ‘us versus them’ mentality between the 2SLGBTQ+ community and the military community. In this paper, we employ a critical duoethographic approach. Researchers employing duoethnography use reflective research practices to critically examine how their lived experiences and personal histories entwine and contrast, while situating them in a socio-cultural context (Breault, 2016; Sawyer and Norris, 2013; 2015). Duoethnography provides a forum where researchers may engage in resistance and social change through narratives and counternarratives (Noreiga and Nason, 2023). Through our duoethnography we explore the homonationalistic discourses present in responses to OHS’s raising of the Pride flag in 2015, illustrating how this nearly decade old event provides insight into modern anti-2SLGBTQIA+ rhetoric in schools. Homonationalism refers to how queerness is co-opted and placed in relation to nation-states and national identity rooted in Western imperial interests, and solidifies a convivial relationship between queerness and militarization (Puar, 2007). Tied to ideas of patriotism, homonationalism only welcomes certain values which align with national values. This works to create national recognition for ‘palatable’ (white, cis) queer groups to the detriment and ostracization of queer people who do not fit within the boundaries of inclusion into the nation state (Puar, 2007). Together, our discussions provide a historical context to present day anti-2SLGBTQIA+ policy in schools, including New Brunswick’s (NB) Policy 713: Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (Policy 713), an educational policy aimed at ensuring safe space for trans and gender diverse students. These critical reflections show the ways in which public schools in Canada have consistently been a key institution involved in enforcement of discourses of queer hate. We argue that the homonationalistic discourses in reaction to OHS’s raising of the Pride flag in 2015 are crucial to understanding contemporary anti-2SLGBTQIA+ rhetoric and panic in schools.  

This paper will be presented at the following session: