The vote came in at 4 to 3, and the walkway will cost $367

This comes after Chilliwack city council passed on the idea of a rainbow walkway

CHILLIWACK (NEWS 1130) — The debate was heated at times, but in the end, the Chilliwack Board of Education has voted to move forward with painting a rainbow walkway in the school district parking lot.

This comes after Chilliwack city council passed on the idea of a rainbow walkway at their own meeting earlier this month, with some councillors worried it would be too divisive.

At Tuesday’s board meeting, Trustee Heather Maahs worried installing the walkway would be putting the needs of the LGBTQ community above other students.

“To spend this money on a crosswalk, that no students frequent, and to impose an ideology on our parking lot is actually an insult to other students, such as autistic students, dyslexic students,” she says. “It elevates one group of students above all the other students.”

However, Trustee Willow Reichelt took issue with this.

“My son is autistic. He loves rainbow crosswalks. So the idea that we should not paint a rainbow crosswalk in honour of my son is so offensive to me,” she says. “Human rights should not be divisive. If there are people in our community who do not believe that it’s okay to be gay or transgender, I cannot stop them from holding those beliefs. I can, however, do everything I can to make sure their discriminatory beliefs are not echoed by the board of education.”

Before the meeting, Reichelt says someone wrote to her suggesting the board avoids installing the walkway since it could lead to rainbows at every school.

“To that I say, bring it on. I want every school in this district to know that if you have a rainbow proposal, I will happily support you.

The vote came in at 4 to 3, and the walkway will cost $367.