Lise Merle is a mother of six and a concerned parent of four children in Regina Public SchoolsRegina Public Schools Trustee Adam Hicks’ sanctimonious email to concerned parents about a permanent Pride crosswalk, set to be repainted at Harbour Landing School in Regina the afternoon of June 3, is a masterclass in bureaucratic gaslighting. His patronizing tone and flagrant misrepresentations, equating Pride with cultural celebrations like Diwali and Ramadan while ignoring the concerns of hundreds of parents, reveals a school leadership hell-bent on shoving woke gender ideology down the throats of families who reject it. This isn’t about inclusivity. It’s about ideological bullying, and Hicks’ response is a slap in the face to every parent fighting to protect their kids from activist agendas in public schools.Hicks has the gall to write, “The purpose of this event is to celebrate diversity and inclusivity, which are core values of our school community, and additionally personal values I believe in to my core.” How dare he assume his personal crusades are universal? .Hundreds of parents have made it crystal clear they don’t want their children subjected to Pride’s deeply disturbing socio-political baggage. This movement is steeped in contested views on gender and sexuality.Unlike Diwali, Holi or Ramadan, which celebrate rich cultural and religious traditions with centuries of history, Pride is a modern activist platform, pushing ideologies that clash with most families’ values. To pretend otherwise is either deliberate deceit or staggering ignorance.Hicks’ attempt to liken the Pride crosswalk to other school initiatives is an insulting false equivalence. He smugly notes, “Cultural Heritage Month: Schools often celebrate various cultural heritage months, such as Black History Month or Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, to educate students about different cultures and histories.”.Horse manure. Those events teach about our shared human experience, not divisive social theories. Diwali doesn’t demand allegiance to a worldview; it celebrates light and family. A permanent Pride crosswalk, by contrast, is a blatant endorsement of a specific and highly contested ideology, plastered across a public space where kids and families can’t escape it. It’s not education. It’s propaganda aimed at a community comprised of mostly new arrivals to Canada.Even more infuriating is Hicks’ claim that “math, reading, and writing have always remained the core of the school teaching.” Does he think parents are idiots? The issue isn’t paintbrushes stealing math time. It’s the school’s relentless push to normalize a highly contested agenda. His assertion that the painting is “100% an optional activity and does not impact the normal learning experience” is a bald-faced lie..A permanent crosswalk isn’t optional. It’s a loud, in-your-face act of dominance that screams institutional approval of Pride’s grotesque ideology, trampling on the rights of parents who want their kids’ schools to stay neutral.Hicks’ condescending sign-off. “I hope this clarifies the intent and educational value of the rainbow sidewalk painting activity” drips with arrogance, as if parents are too dim to understand their own objections. They’re not confused; they’re furious. They see through the school’s flimsy “diversity” excuse for what it is: a Trojan horse for woke Marxist indoctrination. By dismissing their concerns, Hicks and his ilk are spitting in the face of families whose human right it is to determine the moral and educational direction of their own children..Regina Public Schools needs to have their heads pulled out of the ideological slop bucket. If they truly cared about inclusivity, they'd respect the diversity of beliefs in their community instead of ramming their perverse personal values down everyone’s throats. A permanent Pride crosswalk isn’t a celebration — it’s a middle finger to parents who dare dissent. Schools should be neutral ground, not battlegrounds for activist crusades.Until the Government of Saskatchewan disbands the rogue lunatics at Regina Public Schools, God knows we've given them ample reason. They’ll continue indoctrinating the children of Saskatchewan, one paint can at a time. Lise Merle is a mother of six and a concerned parent of four children in Regina Public Schools.