Why the Rainbow Heart?

The Rainbow LGBT heart has been added to the Simcoe Tennis Skyhawks website header and will appear on all pages that you enter while on www.simcoetennis.ca. The heart is there to show our support as a tennis community and as an organization to the equality of all persons regardless of their gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, marital status and same-sex partnership status. But if there was a symbol for it we would also post something to show our support for people of all race, ancestry, place of origin, colour, ethnic origin, citizenship, creed, age, record of offenses, marital status, family status, or handicap status.

Now more than any other time it's important that organizations that desire to be 'safe places' need to make the extra effort to let those who are threatened feel welcome. A small rainbow heart in the corner of a website might not mean much to most of us, but to those who are living in fear of being judged; that little icon can make all the difference in the world.

It's also there for those who are predators and bullies and feel the need to shame those who are not the same as them. It's a symbol that states this will not be tolerated or accepted in our safe space.