Fairfax City Mayor Scott Silverthorne reads aloud a proclamation he will present to members of Northern VA Pride recognizing June as LGBT Pride Month (Photo: Northern VA Pride, via Facebook).
The respective mayors and City Councils of Alexandria and Fairfax City issued proclamations on Tuesday night declaring June as LGBT/LGBTQ Pride Month for the third year in a row, in a symbolic show of solidarity with the Northern Virginia LGBT community. In issuing the proclamations, they join the City of Falls Church, the Town of Herndon, Arlington County and Fairfax County, who have all recognized the historical significance of the month for LGBT people in this country.
“It’s a small gesture, but it’s a really important one, to send a signal to LGBTQ people in each area that their community welcomes them and appreciates the contributions they make as citizens,” says Brian Reach, the president and executive director of Northern VA Pride. “It removes stigma, and it’s very important. Even if it’s just a piece of paper, it’s a lot more than that to the people who might be feeling outcast or rejected.”
Nearly all of the proclamations received unanimous approval from local councils or boards of supervisors, save for Fairfax County and the Town of Herndon, where there was one empty seat. In Fairfax County, that seat belongs to supervisor Pat Herrity (R-Springfield), who has made it a point to walk out before the vote in each of the four years the proclamation has been brought before the board.
Reach says Northern VA Pride reached out to other local governments to ask them if they’d consider proposing similar resolutions. In the City of Manassas and the City of Manassas Park, some government officials supported the idea, but there are not enough votes to bring such a proclamation to a vote. Next door, Prince William County’s Board of Supervisors has not responded to inquiries from Northern VA Pride.
But perhaps the most blatant disrespect comes from Loudoun County, where Democrats had three surprise victories in the 2015 elections. As such, they have enough votes to bring a resolution or proclamation up for a vote, but cannot guarantee it will pass the nine-member board.
Reach says allies on the Council are expected to bring up the issue at the board’s July 5 meeting, but also notes there is a strong push by conservatives to block any motion having to do with LGBT rights. The Republican Party of Loudoun previously wrote a letter to the board objecting to any resolution that did not have to do with fiscal issues, accusing Democrats on the board of politicizing the issue.
“Loudoun residents are tired of Democrats on the Board of Supervisors using their positions to play politics rather than focusing on their responsibilities to manage the county,” Will Estrada, the chairman of the Loudoun County Republican Committee, said in a statement.
But Democrat Kristen Umstattd told LoudounNow.com that she had brought up the resolution after being approached by more than 30 county residents following the mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla. She likened the resolution to others the board has taken up to recognize cancer survivors, Black History Month, and equal rights for women.
Reach says that, regardless of the political gamesmanship going on behind the scenes in Loudoun County, his organization is not phased, and plans to lobby for a resolution or proclamation next year.
“If we can’t get it passed, we’d at least like to have our leaders make their positions known,” says Reach. “It’s progress just to even get a response from Loudoun. Because this is the third year we’ve tried to approach them, and this is the first year we’ve heard back.”
An estimated 160 rainbow Pride flags lining the Stonewall National Monument in New York City were vandalized as the city has begun ramping up for its annual celebration of LGBTQ visibility later this month.
Sometime between the evening of June 13 and the morning of June 14, someone broke flags both inside and outside the monument, which includes Christopher Street Park and the Stonewall Inn, the historic gay bar across the street that was the site of the 1969 riots widely considered to be the seminal event in the modern-day LGBTQ rights movement.
The vandals snapped sticks holding up 250 Pride flags that lined the fences surrounding Christopher Street Park, littering the ground with about three-quarters of the flags.
On a recent hazy Saturday summer morning, the husband and I set out for D.C.'s Wine Country. I was on assignment, dispatched to day-drink with journalistic integrity as a guest with Vineyard Voyages, a gay owned-and-operated winery tour company founded in May 2024 by wine enthusiast and educator Christian Hoeffel.
Hoeffel also serves as host and guide on each tour, two per weekend. "I tell everybody on my tours, I didn't grow up thinking I'd own a wine tour company," says the Indiana native, who discovered his love for wine tourism during his travels. Now, he's sipped wines of the world on six continents.
An Idaho bar is rabidly trolling the LGBTQ community by celebrating "Heterosexual Awesomeness Month" throughout the month of June, during which it will offer specials to patrons who identify as heterosexual.
The Old State Saloon, in the city of Eagle, announced in a May 29 Facebook post it would offer the promotion throughout June, which the LGBTQ community recognizes as Pride Month.
"June will be OSS's inaugural Heterosexual Awesomeness Month!" the post reads. "Come join us all month to celebrate heterosexuals, for without them, none of us would be here!"
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