PORT TOWNSEND – A proclamation marking June as Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Month is expected to generate little or no opposition today when it goes before the Jefferson County commissioner and Port Townsend City Council.
Last year at this time, while the City Council swiftly and unanimously approved the proclamation, the Jefferson County commissioners approved it on a split 2-1 vote.
Some cheered in support at the commissioners’ meeting in May 2006 as two of the three Jefferson County commissioners – Democrats David Sullivan of Cape George and Phil Johnson of Port Townsend – voted to approve the proclamation.
Others applauded the reasoning of Commissioner Pat Rodgers, R-Brinnon, who voted against the proclamation.
While Sullivan and Johnson said they were happy about the proclamation because it would make all feel welcomed in Jefferson County, Rodgers said he saw it as divisive.
Rodgers said he did not think there was discrimination in the county.
With Rodgers gone from the commission this year after finishing his four-year term and moving out of the county, his successor, first-year Democratic Commissioner John Austin of Port Ludlow, has already made it clear he sees it only as a proclamation.
“It’s a pretty benign thing,” Austin said Friday, indicating he would support it along with his commissioner colleagues, Johnson and Sullivan.
“It shouldn’t hurt anybody.”
That’s good news to the chairwoman of the Peninsula Pride Alliance’s board, which plans events for this month’s North Olympic Peninsula Pride Celebration in Port Townsend.
“No major headlines this year,” Ragan said on Friday.
Ragan, in an e-mail to the Peninsula Daily News, recalled the news last year’s Pride Month Proclamation generated.
“This year please join us for this historic event. We anticipate that all three county commissioners will sign the proclamation,” Ragan said in the e-mail.
Events to mark Pride Month include a June 30 speaking engagement by Sen. Ed Murray, D-Seattle, said Ragan. Murray, a proponent of gay marriage, will address a rally.
The county commissioners will accept public comments at 9 a.m. Monday and action at 9:30 a.m. The commissioners meet in their chambers on the ground floor of Jefferson County Courthouse, 1820 Jefferson St.
The council will consider the proclamation as the first agenda item when the council meets at 6:30 p.m. in its chambers on the second floor of City Hall, 520 Water St.
The June 29-30 North Olympic Pride Celebration event schedule can be found at www.peninsulapride.org.
