Pam Gerber
From Staff Reports
Pam Gerber, a member of District 1 Councilwoman Delia Jasso’s LGBT Task Force, announced Wednesday, May 30, that the city of Dallas will host an unprecedented series of events in June to mark LGBT Pride Month. The series is titled “Honor, Educate & Celebrate: Pride Wednesdays in June with the City of Dallas.”
According to a city flier provided by Gerber, the events begin Wednesday, June 6, with a “June Pride Kick-off” in the flag room at City Hall. Other events will be “City Services with the LGBT Community,” a conversation with representatives from city service departments, at the Oak Lawn Library on June 13; “LGBT in the Public Eye,” a conversation with out elected officials, at the United Black Ellument Cultural Center on June 20; and “Lift Every Voice,” a conversation about LGBT contributions to the city, at City Hall on June 27.
A reception in the flag room at City Hall last year marked the first time the city has hosted an event in honor of LGBT Pride Month.
In an email announcing this year’s events, Gerber recounts how she first asked City Council candidates at a forum last spring whether they would support the idea of raising the Pride flag at City Hall.
Gerber said all 15 candidates in attendance said yes, but “some wanted to implement more than just a gesture — they expressed interest in building an educational process so that Dallas residents would understand the ‘why’ behind Pride month, using education to break down the barriers of one of the last bastions of accepted bigotry in our country.”
“Well it’s now a year later, and thanks to the leadership of Councilmember Delia Jasso and her LGBT Task Force, the idea discussed during that election cycle has become a reality, and this June we will have a series of events to ‘Honor, Educate and Celebrate’ LGBT Pride month,” Gerber wrote.
“Thank you for all that you have done over the years to make this historic series of events possible. Clearly, we have a lot to be proud of in Dallas.”
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition June 1, 2012.
