The City of Morgan Hill hosted a Pride Flag raising ceremony May 21 at the city’s civic center campus on Peak Avenue. The rainbow flag, which represents the LGBTQ community, will fly over several of the city’s facilities throughout June, which is celebrated as Pride Month.
The City of Morgan Hill started flying the Pride flag over City hall in June 2017. Other nearby communities soon followed suit.
Morgan Hill City Councilmember Rene Spring, who was elected as the city’s first openly gay official in 2016, helped attach and hoist the Pride flag at the May 21 ceremony.
He said in an email that the Pride flag sends a message of acceptance and tolerance.
“The raising of the Pride flag in our community throughout the month of June makes me feel so proud of our community,” Spring said. “As our city’s first openly gay elected Councilmember, I don’t take it for granted that so many love and stand behind us here in our city!
“The Pride flag sends out a strong signal that we are a welcoming and inclusive city that embraces diversity, and acknowledges our LGBTQ+ community members. The fight for equal rights, for respect and dignity for our LGBTQ+ community needs to continue: suicide rates and homelessness are the highest among LGBTQ+ youth, which is so heart-breaking; many of our LGBTQ+ community members, especially young ones, still get bullied, shunned or banned. We need to stop that! Let’s all be nice to our LGBTQ+ community members! Let’s embrace our diversity, and let’s make it clear to all our LGBTQ+ members: It’s OK to be the way you are—there is nothing wrong with you! Be proud of who you are! Let’s celebrate the Pride month of June together, as the great community we are!”
Pride Month acknowledges the 1969 Stonewall Riots in Manhattan, a tipping point for the Gay Liberation Movement in the United States.
