It takes a community to battle homophobia.

Calan Breckon knows the importance of inclusion firsthand. Breckon spent his high school years fearful that he would be discovered for being gay. Six years later, he returned to Centennial Secondary to launch a gay-straight alliance club. Nearly 25 students regularly attend the after-school meetings, and the school community has also been welcoming.

"We've had tons of support, especially from parents," Breckon said. "We also had four students come out on the same day at the same club meeting."

The club is planning to attend the Wave of Pink rally at the Burnaby School District office on June 14th, when trustees are expected to vote on a policy that supports lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning individuals in an environment free from harassment and exclusion.

Many parents have vocally opposed Burnaby's draft policy over the 14-week public input period, citing concerns that ranged from moral matters to lack of consultation.

Breckon said club members will be at Tuesday's rally to hand out flyers and show support for fellow students.

"We're going to be letting them know that there's a place and people who care," Breckon said. "We can help them out any way that we can."

In the Tri-Cities, School District 43 is already working towards promoting a diverse learning environment.

Spokesperson Cheryl Quinton said the district code of conduct was amended in early 2008 to align with a ministerial order regarding provincial standards for codes of conduct. "It was well-received in our district," Quinton wrote in an e-mail. "While no one can assure a workplace or school is 100-per-cent free of discrimination of any sort, we work hard as a district to reinforce that discrimination of any type is unacceptable."

SHARE Family and Community Services is also taking strides towards a similar goal. The non-profit organization completed an overhaul to make the agency more inclusive for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) individuals. Lynda Edmonds, SHARE's director of programs and services, said the agency focused on the goal for the past 18 months.

"The overall theme we had was that SHARE will be a safe and respectful place for people who identify as LGBT to use services, work and volunteer," Edmonds said.

The organization began by creating both physical and cyber spaces that would reflect LGBT friendliness.

"We wanted to be mindful of washrooms because people who are trans can find that very awkward and uncomfortable. We wanted to make sure that we had washrooms that were more gender neutral," Edmonds said.

SHARE also developed inclusive policies and procedures. For example, forms now ask for "parent and parent" rather than "mother and father."

Forms no longer ask people to indicate whether they're male or female. "We ask them to tell us if they're male, female, transgender or if other, please specify," Edmonds said.

"So we've gone through all of our forms and our documentation with a lens to be more respectful."

A graduate student worked with staff to examine the cultural bias towards heterosexism, and staff underwent LGBT training sessions.

Another initiative invites people from LGBT groups to apply for jobs and volunteer opportunities. Similarly, the organization aims to develop strong reciprocal relationships with LGBT organizations and people.

"It's really quite an exciting process that we're going through and we're learning," she said. "I think other agencies and other organizations might be triggered to say, 'What can we do?'"

Simon Fraser University criminology professor Brian Burtch said these efforts can all make a difference.

"These initiatives are welcoming when you get community agencies being part of this mix," said Burtch, an associate member of SFU's department of gender, sexuality and women's studies, adding school-based endeavours, like Centennial's Diversity Project, also make an impact.

"It provides people of different sexual orientations with a sense that they belong, that they're actually part of the school and that they're not unwelcome or marginalized in the school from day to day," Burtch said.

"I think what's really important is that it's not just a single factor. It's not just that you would form a diversity club or a gay-straight alliance and then things would magically get better. ... Sometimes you would have, for example, a very supportive teacher or a counsellor, someone in the school. There would be some leadership taken from school administration in which they foster a sense of inclusiveness and perhaps appreciate that this sort of bullying and harassment is often very widespread and somewhat under the radar."

Along with SFU professor Rebecca Haskell, Burtch co-authored a book addressing some of these issues, entitled Get That Freak: Homophobia and Transphobia in High Schools.

While some improvement has been made, Burtch said, there are also initiatives that are less progressive.

"But it's not getting better on every single front," he said. "Not everybody is welcoming of this kind of move towards inclusiveness."

Ann Travers, an associate sociology professor at SFU, reflected on the backlash from Burnaby parents over the anti-homophobia policy.

"I think it must be terrifying and concerning to see the mass of parents trying to stop the policy because they believe homosexuality is a sin. It must be really terrifying," said Travers, who spoke as a delegation before the Burnaby school board.

"But to see their peers, other high school students, demonstrating in support of that policy -- I'm convinced that just the presence of those high school students who are visible allies or visibly queer has saved a couple kids they don't even know."

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