Pride Month in EC

El Cerrito Mayor Carolyn Wysinger (left) and Suzanne Ford, executive director of San Francisco Pride.

June is Gay Pride Month, and the Rainbow Flag is flying in El Cerrito and at schools within the West Contra Costa School District.

Both the El Cerrito City Council and the West Contra Costa School Board passed resolutions recognizing Pride month.

Flag Raising Ceremony

On June 2, about 75 people turned out for an LGBTQ Pride flag raising ceremony at El Cerrito City Hall. Among those present were four city council members, Police Chief Paul Keith, City Manager Karen Pinkos, other city staff, and community members.

Mayor Carolyn Wysinger, a former president of the San Francisco LGBTQ Pride Celebration, was the opening speaker and emcee.

“Pride didn’t start as a party. It started as a protest. But it’s also become a celebration of how far we’ve come,” Wysinger said.

“Here in El Cerrito we don’t just tolerate difference, we embrace it. Let this be a celebration and a call to action,” she said.

In January of this year when two new council members took office, El Cerrito became one of the first city councils to have four out of five members who identify as LGBTQ+. El Cerrito is also the first city in Northern California and the third in California to have a gay majority on the city council.

Welcoming and Protecting

Council member Rebecca Saltzman said she enjoyed celebrating Pride with her daughter three different times within three days – at Mira Vista Elementary School, in Richmond, and at El Cerrito City Hall.

Saltzman also said celebrating Pride is about LGBTQ recognition but not only that. It's about accepting everybody for who they are.

“In El Cerrito we’re going to continue to welcome all families and protect our residents,” Saltzman said.

Council member Lisa Motoyama said she is the “straight ally” on the council and also the first Japanese American council member.

“El Cerrito is inclusive in lots of ways,” Motoyama said.

For instance, Motoyama said, El Cerrito is a sanctuary city, and is on a list of “sanctuary jurisdictions” that was published online last month by the Department of Homeland Security. (For now, the list has been taken down after protest and criticism.)

“We care about everyone especially immigrants and people who are vulnerable,” Motoyama said.

Mitch Galli, associate director of the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus, manages a program called Reaching Youth Through Music (RHYTHM) which has been at El Cerrito High School four times. “We talk about empathy and putting ourselves in other people’s shoes,” he said. As a response to people who hate others for no reason, he said: “Today I challenge every one of you to love everyone regardless of who they are.”

Joel Roster, executive artistic and managing director of the Contra Costa Civic Theater, said he understands the importance of having a place to be welcomed, hugged, and loved. For him that place was theater. And, he said, “CCCT welcomes all of you” and strives to “tell the story of all of us.”

Suzanne Ford, the first transgender executive director of San Francisco Pride, said the organization works hard to create a “radically inclusive” space, and that truly means everyone.

“All of you know what we are facing as a community – especially trans people,” Ford said. “We always stand for human rights for the LGBTQ community. This year our theme for Pride is Queer Joy is Resistance.”

And Ford said there will be great joy when a million people gather and march down Market Street.

San Francisco Pride is June 28-29. Wysinger will be a color commentator for broadcasts of the parade.

Loving Day Movie Planned for June 12

A community celebration of Loving Day is planned for 7 p.m. on Thursday, June 12, in the El Cerrito High School theater.

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The city Human Relations Commission will sponsor a free screening of a movie, The Loving Story, about Richard and Mildred Loving, an interracial couple who were arrested in 1958 after marrying in Virginia. Their legal fight led to a landmark decision by the Supreme Court.

Sanctuary City Status

On the issue of sanctuary city status, City Manager Karen Pinkos said the council first declared El Cerrito a sanctuary city in 2017 and “our status has not changed…El Cerrito employees, including police officers, are prohibited from actively participating with federal agents seeking to enforce federal immigration law, targeting individuals for detention or forced relocation…”

“We are of course monitoring the situation at the federal level,” Pinkos said.