“My identity is not your politics,” was a statement echoed by many in speeches and on hand-painted signs last Tuesday. Durango School District recently implemented a policy many weren’t happy with. 

According to the Durango Herald, the policy was made after a parent complaint that said certain symbols don’t belong in school and indoctrinate students. The policy states that the two symbols to be removed were the progress pride flag, which often includes pink, white, and blue stripes for the transgender community and the intersex flag, and the Black Lives Matter Flag. Students were formally told of the decision Monday, October 14, but teachers at schools had to take down these symbols the Friday before. The reaction from the community was huge.

On Tuesday, October 15, nearly 100 DHS students walked out of class towards Buckley Park to protest this decision. Many carried signs and flags. Junior Norah Jones said that this may not change the district’s minds right away, but it will certainly start a dialogue about the policy. “That’s the first step, is just having a conversation,” added sophomore Maya Fontenot.

Politician Vivian Smotherman, currently running for the Colorado Senate District 6, spoke at the walkout to the crowd of high school students and community members. “The last thing these students need is to feel like they are the problem: they are not the problem: you are not a problem,” she said, met with cheers from the crowd. 

At the school board meeting that night, students and the community flooded the Impact Career Innovation Center for the school board meeting. Many were there to speak in opposition to the ban but two spoke in favor.

The board normally allows thirty minutes for public comment, but they decided to extend the time to one hour to honor all those that turned up to the meeting. Community member Georgie Sullivan, who has a transgender daughter in the district, said, “You cannot be an ally and ask children to be invisible.” To that statement, many flags were waved in the air, the community’s way of showing support for the speaker at the meeting. Similar things were said by many of the speakers that night, but parent McKenzie, who did not give her last name, spoke in favor of the ban. “It has to be inclusion of everybody, okay? Where’s the inclusion for the straight kids?” But her stance was drowned out by the many others who spoke, saying the opposite. 

That night, the board voted unanimously to suspend the ban for two weeks and then reconvene to make a decision. Student board member Tava Gilpin Reynolds opposed the ban, saying that, “The fact that a single parent was able to override all of these people, just because they had a loud voice, it’s a message to the district and the students.” 

The very next day, the flags were back in teacher’s classrooms across the high school.