PORT TOWNSEND – A proclamation marking June as Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Pride Month generated some opposition at Jefferson County Courthouse, but faced no acrimony at City Hall, where Mayor Mark Welch ceremoniously read the proclamation like any other.
The three Jefferson County commissioners on Monday signed the measure after two residents protested the move.
The City Council on Monday night, however, took no formal action before Welch read the city’s resolution supporting Pride Month.
The opposition at the commissioners meeting sounded like a whisper compared with what was met with the same proclamation last year.
That’s when then-County Commissioner Pat Rodgers, Republican from Brinnon, voted against the proclamation, saying he believed it to be divisive.
The proclamation was approved last year by a 2-1 vote, reflecting the Democrat-Republican spread on the Board of Commissioners are the time.
The same year, an upset group of protesters attended the commissioners meeting to speak against the proclamation’s merit.
