The freshly painted rainbow crosswalk on a private driveway in Chilliwack, B.C. spans 38 feet in length.

sa国际传媒淭o me, diversity is important.sa国际传媒�

Thatsa国际传媒檚 how Chilliwack homeowner Marty van den Bosch explained in a Facebook post why he and his wife, Kristy, decided to have a brightly coloured rainbow painted on their property.

A photo of the new rainbow from last week received a whopping 750 likes and other emoji reactions, along with 131 shares.

sa国际传媒淲e have a large cross-section of people that live in our country, and in our city,sa国际传媒� wrote van den Bosch. sa国际传媒淓ach and every one of us are different, often in many ways.sa国际传媒�

They watched with dismay as city council quashed the rainbow crosswalk proposal in a 5-1 vote at city hall last week, he said.

Council took the vote without allowing the advocates to speak, despite a petition signed by more than 800 people, and 100 letters of support.

sa国际传媒淚 do my best to treat people based on their actions, and their words, not on things like their sexual orientation, race or any other attributes they were born with,sa国际传媒� continued van den Bosch.

Hesa国际传媒檚 not trying to change anyonesa国际传媒檚 mind, but said they felt it was important to show that the acceptance and inclusivity effort was worthy, and the rainbow advocates should have been given a chance to at least address council with hundreds of people supporting them.

sa国际传媒淟ook, I am a middle-aged and heterosexual male who has no investment in this, and at first when I heard about the effort to get a rainbow crosswalk approved, I was neither strongly for or against,sa国际传媒� van den Bosch said.

READ MORE:

But he changed his view since then.

sa国际传媒淚f it wasnsa国际传媒檛 contentious, then something like this wouldnsa国际传媒檛 be needed,sa国际传媒� van den Bosch said. sa国际传媒淭his is not about getting attention.sa国际传媒�

READ MORE:

It comes down to respect.

sa国际传媒淚 support the belief that everyone should be treated with respect, regardless of our differences,sa国际传媒� he said.

He offered thanks to painter Lorna Seip, manager of Two Girls On A Roll, for providing the labour to paint the crosswalk at no charge.

It didnsa国际传媒檛 cost much for the project materials, about $410 for all the supplies including paint, van den Bosch estimated.

sa国际传媒淚t can be done inexpensively,sa国际传媒� he said about painting on private property.

Of course for a city crosswalk it would cost much more, to pay for flaggers, signage, cones and other costs.

jfeinberg@theprogress.com
Like us on and follow us on .