Flint, MI—On June 14, 2022, Flint City Council and Flint Mayor Sheldon Neeley formally recognized June as ‘LGBTQ+ Pride Month’ for the city, the former with a resolution and the latter with an executive order.
In a June 14 Special Council meeting, a LGBTQ+ Pride Month resolution which had not made it out of a June 13 Special Affairs Committee meeting, was reconsidered and passed unanimously.
“I’m very proud of this council to have collaborated to be able to come to a consensus to honor our LGBTQIA+ brothers and sisters, who live in this community—many of which still do not feel accepted for who they are,” said Council Vice President Allie Herkenroder.
By the time of Council’s 11 p.m. vote on the LGBTQ+ Pride Month resolution, the remaining council members were Herkenroder, Councilwoman Ladel Lewis, Councilwoman Judy Preistley, Councilwoman Tonya Burns, and Councilman Dennis Pfeiffer.
Under five hours earlier, while Mayor Neeley was sitting with council to share his American Rescue Plan Act spending plan, his office also issued a “proclamation of support” for Pride Month, noting that he “looked forward” to Council adopting a resolution, too.
“”During LGBTQI+ Pride Month, we recognize the contributions of the community to our nation while acknowledging the ongoing fight for equal rights and justice for all,” the press release on Neeley’s executive order read. “Since becoming Mayor of the City of Flint, I have recognized Pride Month every year for the past three years because it is important to me that we are an inclusive community of supporters who listen and engage so that we hear the concerns of our residents.”
With these milestones, Flint joins the decades-long history of Pride Month’s development, which stems back to the Stonewall Riots of 1969 in New York City, when police raided a gay club and sparked six days of protests and violence—an event often cited as the catalyst for the gay rights movement.
From there, former President Bill Clinton formally declared June a national “Gay and Lesbian Pride” month in 1999, and former President Barack Obama expanded its inclusivity by renaming it “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month” in 2011.