Despite having issued proclamations in 2021 and 2022 recognizing June as Pride Month, Denton Mayor Gerard Hudspeth declined to do so this year, according to reports by KERA.
Pridenton, a local organization that has a number of events planned for June, had submitted a request on May 3 for a Pride Month proclamation from Hudspeth and the city. On May 28, the group got an email from the city saying that Hudspeth “has passed on this opportunity at this time.”
With that news, the rally Pridenton had planned for Tuesday night, June 3, to celebrate the proclamation turned into a rally to protest Hudspeth’s decision.
KERA notes that Denton City Council members Brian Beck, Vicki Byrd, Paul Meltzer and Brandon Chase McGee attended the rally outside City Hall on Tuesday before the council meeting that night. Then from the dais, Meltzer and Beck acknowledged Pridenton members attending the meeting. The two council members described their remarks as “statements of fact,” since they are not allowed to discuss items not on the meeting’s agenda.
Beck noted that “June is Pride Month,” from the dais, while Meltzer applauded the courage of Pridenton members to “openly be who they are and love who they love, especially given today’s political climate, when Republican politicians have been openly attacking them,” according to according to KERA.
Meltzer added that he and other supportive council members “see you, appreciate you and celebrate Pride Month with you.”
Pridenton board member George Ferrie addressed the council members during the meeting, telling them that by denying the request for a Pride Month declaration Hudspeth and the city were contributing to a “climate of fear” among the LGBTQ community and sending a message to the city’s LGBTQ residents that Denton is “not a safe haven for all.”
Ferrie added, “When a community is told that their identities are not worthy of recognition, that their struggles are invisible, it causes immeasurable harm. And this harm is not abstract; it is lived by real people.”
Pridenton’s Pride Month activities include Pride Path, with TEA Fund, on the courthouse lawn from 8-10 a.m. on Saturday, June 7; Big Gay Swim Day at 7 p.m. on Saturday with OUTreach Denton at the city’s Civic Center Pool; Night Out at the Civic Center from 6-10 p.m. Friday, June 13; bingo at Harvest House, 331 Hickory St., at 5 p.m. Sunday, June 15; an Open Mic Night with Spiderweb Salon at 7 p.m. Tuesday, June 24, at Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studio, 411 E Sycamore St., and a dance party at 7 p.m. Saturday, June 28 also at Rubber Gloves.
— Tammye Nash