Community responds to mayor’s decision not to issue Pride Month proclamation
About a dozen people attended the June 4 City Commission work session to voice their disagreement with Mayor Cory Reeves’ decision not to issue a proclamation for LGBTQ+, or Pride, Month.
In a June 3 Facebook post, Reeves wrote that he had made that decision as mayor.
“While I firmly believe in equality for all individuals, I also believe that the government should not be involved in matters concerning personal and private relationships, whether they involve straight individuals or members of the LGBTQ+ community. My goal is to ensure that all citizens are treated with equal respect and dignity, without government interference in personal matters. The government should never condemn nor celebrate who should love who; those are personal life choices that the government should not interfere with.”
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According to city records, 2023 was the first time an LGBTQ+ proclamation was issued.
Proclamations are issued at the mayor’s discretion, “to honor, celebrate or create awareness of a noteworthy event, milestone, or achievement generally related to a community benefit,” according to the city. “Proclamations are ceremonial and do not carry any legislative or legal value, and are not statements of policy.”
An LGBTQ+ proclamation had been requested of the city.
During the June 4 work session, Jasmine Taylor, a local activist, said that in the 1930s and 1940s, Nazis were marking people they considered undesirable, to include a pink triangle identifying men as gay.
She said the city commonly provides proclamations in recognition of minority groups and they’re important.
The decision to not issue a Pride Month is discriminatory and “this decision is a mistake and is hurtful.”
Matt Pipinich, owner of Luna Coffee and new president of the LGBTQ+ Center, said that Reeves’ decision not to issue a proclamation was “extremely harmful and hurtful for our community,” nevertheless, he said they were willing to move forward with compassion.
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He asked that the when the city leadership makes decisions, to involve the LGBTQ+ community.
Pipinich said he’s know Reeves a long time and knows he’s not homophobic, but hopes that city leadership reach out t to the LGBTQ+ Center for safe space training and to have conversations.
Kelly Quick said she should be home watching the Cubs game rather than having to speak on this issue again.
She said she was tired of leaders saying they wanted to support the LGBTQ+ community but then taking action that said otherwise.
Quick said it’s an “undisputable fact that June is Pride Month” and it was delusional to say otherwise.
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She said she wanted commissioners to know that “it’s discussions like this and conversations like this that create environments that…have people say they would rather be dead than queer.”
Rev. Lynne Spencer-Smith of First Congregational First Church of Christ, said they are compelled to recognize certain populations, not because they should get special treatment, but because of the opposite.
“I would rejoice to know that our city leadership is taking steps to equally affirm the rights and safety of all its citizens,” she said.
Spencer-Smith said that members of the LGBTQ+ community suffer more discrimination and “such discrimination has substantial adverse effects. A Pride Month proclamation could be one step toward righting these wrongs.”
Stacy DeKoning was emotional as she told commissioners that she wore a rainbow so others felt safe and “because there’s a young person in Great Falls who believes they’d be better off dead than gay. I wear a rainbow because you would have them hide”
Isaac Bacon said that the point of a proclamation was to draw attention to a person or group of people often marginalized and the LGBTQ+ community was such a group.
The neutrality, he said, makes a statement of indifference, or worse, condones discrimination.
Jeffrey Brainard said that the mayor had the option not to issue a proclamation, but that in his Facebook post, he had said the government didn’t belong in relationships.
He said “this is about identity” and that the city has issued proclamations for other minorities.
Brainard said there’s nothing you can see to identify an LGBTQ+ person.
“By this silence, you enable people to harm this minority group,” Brainard said. “Your complicity is within your silence and your silence, I’m sorry is deafening.”
Commissioners didn’t respond or address the proclamation during the public comment portion of the meeting.
At the end of the meeting, Commissioner Shannon Wilson said the LGBTQ+ community needed their support and recognition.
Commissioner Susan Wolff said that she felt Reeves’ decision not to issue a proclamation “made all of us complicit in that decision. It was upsetting to me for all of the reasons that we heard tonight.”
Commissioner Rick Tryon said he supported Reeves’ decision not to issue a proclamation and agreed with his reasoning.
He said he objected to people speaking during commission meetings and implying that commissioners were dishonorable or leading people to commit suicide, or were homophobic or bigoted.
“That is reprehensible,” Tryon said. “Nobody up here is homophobic or wants to see anybody for any reason commit suicide or be hated on anybody in this community.”
He said the city doesn’t discriminate on the basis of sexual identity and “to imply otherwise is simply wrong and ignorant.”
Tryon said there are dark corners here and people with hateful tendencies toward minority groups, but that doesn’t reflect on the official business of the city.
