To the editor:
“Aren’t any of you going to do something?”
Fifty years ago this week those words—shouted by a lesbian woman named Storme DeLarverie as she was arrested for the “crime” of being herself in public—sparked the Stonewall Uprising and launched the LGBTQ Rights Movement.
Despite that movement’s many victories, much remains to be done.
Today 20% of reported hate crimes target LGBTQ Americans. 80% of LGBTQ youth report experiencing harassment at school based on their sexual orientation. Most distressingly, LGBTQ youth are four times as likely to attempt suicide or abuse drugs as their non-LGBTQ peers.
These grim statistics recall DeLarverie’s words: “Aren’t any of you going to do something?”
Our communities can do something simple yet profound by flying the LGBTQ Pride flag each June to both celebrate LGBTQ Americans’ many victories of the past 50 years and show solidarity in the struggles still ongoing.
Recently, municipalities across the Pascack Valley have debated whether and where to fly the Pride flag. As mayor of Westwood and council president of Emerson, our answer to this question is simple: The flag belongs in the center of our community. It belongs in a place of civic engagement. Put simply, the Pride flag belongs at Borough Hall.
Unfortunately, many local elected officials seem reluctant to take this simple step. We are pleased to offer our towns’ experiences as proof that they need not be afraid.
When the flag first flew at Westwood’s Borough Hall in 2017, the mayor’s office received many citizen responses—all but three of them expressing congratulations or gratitude. One Westwood teen said it best by writing:
“Driving by Borough Hall and seeing that flag hung so obviously in the center of town made me not only proud to be who I am, but it showed that my town was proud of me too.”
In Emerson, Gerald introduced a resolution to prominently fly the Pride flag for the first time this June. It passed unanimously and the flag was raised in the center of Emerson the very next day.
As municipal leaders, we will continue to work to send an essential message to our LGBTQ residents and their loved ones: You needn’t hide who you are or who you love. Not here. Not in our town.
As candidates for State Assembly, we will fight for these same principles on the campaign trail and as your representatives in Trenton.