Maple Ridge/Chilliwack (Josh Olund BCIT Radio A&E) – Lorna Seip,from the Maple Ridge Senior Secondary grad class of 1991,was proud of her high school, as she watched the Rainbow Club painting a new emblem on the wall outside the main entrance.
Designed to be an image of diversity and inclusion,it combines colours of both the SOGI(sexual orientation, gender identity) and BIPOC (Black,Indigenous, people of colour) flags, and written beside it is a quote saying “None of us are equal until all of us are equal.”
Seip owns the Chilliwack-based painting company, Two Girls on a Roll and supervised the work for the Rainbow Club while the lighthearted activists painted, listened to music and had pizza.The kids proposed the idea and came up with the design,and Seip thought it was fantastic.Seip talked about her personal journey, and what that symbol would have meant had it been present when she was attending MRSS in 1991.“I would have been able to come out a lot sooner if I had support like this,” Seip said. “A visible sign is so important.”Seip was in the school Bible club at MRSS and an admittedly homophobic teen. After she graduated, Seip was working as a missionary in Baja,Mexico when she fell in love with a young woman who was also her best friend.
Seip talked about her feelings and was referred for conversion therapy.“That was definitely a harmful thing. I built a self-hatred and experience the world differently because of that.”Seip said the symbolism of acceptance can help other people spare that kind of pain and she was happy to put it on the wall at her alma mater.
Seip has painted rainbows for residents of Chilliwack,where there was 2019 controversy after the city had denied the painting for a rainbow crosswalk. Maria Trudeau, who is a teacher who oversees the Rainbow Club and said it is a way of marking May 17, which is the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia.“When people walk in the door, they need to know this is the place they’re walking into,”Trudeau said.“It is important that each student feel a sense of belonging in the school, and the new image fosters that,” Trudeau added.
Seip had her 18-year-old son Caleb, a 2020 grad, work with her as well. As a boy who grew up with a straight mom, she said, until she came out when he was 11. Wednesday as the mural took shape, and she talked about what it meant for her, Caleb came and hugged her.“I’m so proud of you,” he said.
