BOARD AGENDA MEMORANDUM
SUBJECT:
Title
Resolution Recognizing June as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Pride Month.
End
RECOMMENDATION:
Recommendation
Adopt the Resolution RECOGNIZING JUNE AS LGBT PRIDE MONTH.
Body
SUMMARY:
The month of June is nationally recognized as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month (LGBT Pride Month) to commemorate the Stonewall riots in Manhattan, which occurred at the end of June 1969. A year after the Stonewall Riots, members of the LGBT community began to celebrate the anniversary of that significant event, which brought widespread attention to discriminatory laws and policies and gave birth to the modern LGBT civil rights movement.
Each year between 2000 and 2016, the consecutive presidents of the United States issued a proclamation in recognition of LGBT Pride Month. In 2016, the last year this has been proclaimed, President Obama's proclamation acknowledged that, despite the extraordinary progress of the past few years, LGBT Americans still face discrimination simply for being who they are.
In the past year, President Trump announced a military ban on transgender individuals wanting to volunteer their lives for our country. Anti-LGBT bills that would enable taxpayer-funded adoption agencies to deny placement of orphaned or foster children to LGBT homes are heading toward passage in Oklahoma and Kansas. Similar laws based on religious objections already exist in Michigan, South Dakota, Alabama, and Texas. Colorado had a similar bill proposed that was subsequently rejected. Nonetheless, we see the arc of equality shine in the Illinois Senate who on May 2, passed a bill that would require public schools in the state to teach LGBT history, as well as use inclusive and "non-discriminatory" textbooks. In other states, Hawaii, Maryland, New Hampshire and California, the arc of equality continues as legislation to ban conversion therapy for youth is anticipated or has already been approved.
Durin...
Click here for full text