Fiscal Note
No fiscal impact.
Title
Recognizing June 2025 as Pride Month
Body
WHEREAS, LGBTQ+ Pride was started by the Stonewall Rebellion of 1969, led by Black and Brown LGBTQ+ people; and,
WHEREAS, in 1969, just months after the Stonewall uprising, the Madison Alliance for Homosexual Equality was founded as Wisconsin’s first gay rights organization; and,
WHEREAS, in 1973, Judy Greenspan was the first out lesbian in the nation to run for public office when she sought election to the Madison School Board after she and others had been denied the right to speak in Madison high schools; and,
WHEREAS, the City of Madison in 1975 became the first place in Wisconsin, and one of the earliest in the country, to ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation by amending its Equal Opportunities Ordinance; and,
WHEREAS, Alder Jim Yeadon was appointed to the City Council in the fall of 1976 and elected in the spring of 1977, and was the first openly gay man elected to a city council in the United States; and,
WHEREAS, when the Madison equal rights ordinance came under attack from an anti-gay movement motivated by activist Anita Bryant in 1978, Madison successfully defended its ordinance even though similar anti-discrimination ordinances were repealed in cities like St. Paul, Minnesota and Eugene, Oregon; and,
WHEREAS, in 1982, Madison State Representative David Clarenbach skillfully led the fight to pass a first-in the-nation state gay rights law, which was signed by Republican Governor Lee Sherman Dreyfus; and,
WHEREAS, the fifth annual conference of gay and lesbian officials was hosted in Madison in 1989 at the State Capitol with a local host committee chaired by Dane County Supervisors Dick Wagner and Tammy Baldwin; and,
WHEREAS, Black and Brown LGBTQ+ people have been leaders in advancing social change, creating and shifting culture; and,
WHEREAS, Ricardo Gonzalez was the first openly gay Latino official elected to public office in the United States when he was elected to Madison City Council in 1989; and,
WHEREAS, the City created the State’s first domestic partnership registry in 1990 by ordinance, affording limited rights to same sex couples; and,
WHEREAS, in 2000 the City became the first place in Wisconsin to prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender identity by amending the Equal Opportunities Ordinance; and,
WHEREAS, Dane County Supervisor Tammy Baldwin became the first openly LGBTQ+ member of the Wisconsin State Assembly in 1993, and then the first openly LGBTQ+ non-incumbent elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1998 and became the first out LGBTQ+ U.S. Senator in our nation's history in 2013; and,
WHEREAS, Dane County Supervisor Mark Pocan became the first openly gay man to be elected to the State Assembly in 1998 and became the first openly gay non-incumbent, married man to be elected to United States Congress in 2012; and,
WHEREAS, organizations such as Gay Straight Alliance for Safe Schools, Inc. (GSAFE), Fair Wisconsin, OutReach LGBTQ+ Community Center, Freedom Inc. and Orgullo Lantinx, among others, work to uplift and empower the queer community in Madison; and,
WHEREAS, in 2024, Tyrone Creech Jr., a proud Black gay man and fifth-generation Madisonian, became the Executive Director of GSAFE; and,
WHEREAS, Ali Muldrow, a bisexual woman and lifelong Madisonian, is currently a Madison Metropolitan School District School Board member and the Executive Director of the Wisconsin Abortion Fund, as well as previously serving as the Executive Director of GSAFE; and,
WHEREAS, Dana Pellebon, who identifies as queer, is the Executive Director of the Rape Crisis Center and serves on the boards of organizations doing important work for the LGBTQ+ community in Madison, such as OutReach LGBTQ+ Community Center, Freedom Inc., and others; and,
WHEREAS, in 2015, Wisconsin-born retired U.S. Army colonel and transgender advocate Sheri Swokowski, the highest-ranking transgender veteran, was the first woman to legitimately wear a U.S. Army infantry uniform and is also the first person to have been granted an official change-of-gender marker on their military record; and,
WHEREAS, Satya Rhodes-Conway was elected the City of Madison’s first openly lesbian Mayor on April 2, 2019; and,
WHEREAS, in 2023, Alder Dina Nina Martinez Rutherford became the first openly transgender member of the Madison Common Council; and,
WHEREAS, Madison activist, historian and County Board Supervisor Dick Wagner published many important articles and analysis about the unique history of the LGBTQ+ community in Wisconsin, culminating with a two-volume book on Wisconsin LGBTQ+ history; the City mourned his passing on December 13, 2021; and,
WHEREAS, since 2023, the Madison Common Council has had at least a quarter of alder districts represented by LGBTQ+ alders, including now-former alders Juliana Bennett and Marsha Rummel, whose service is greatly appreciated; and,
WHEREAS, the City of Madison has a proud history of protecting LGBTQ+ rights and advancing LGBTQ+ equality and continues to do so; and,
WHEREAS, our LGBTQ+ youth, especially transgender youth, have bravely faced discrimination in Wisconsin communities and schools and organized to fight back against discriminatory, unconstitutional partisan attacks in the Wisconsin legislature in an effort to divide and distract our communities from real problems we face; and,
WHEREAS, the LGBTQ+ community currently faces attacks from politicians across the country, whether it be the Trump Administration’s attacks on the rights of transgender people or the already 588 anti-LGBTQ+ bills the ACLU has tracked in state legislatures in 2025; and,
WHEREAS, regardless of these attacks, the City of Madison will continue to stand with the LGBTQ+ community; and,
WHEREAS, the City of Madison Common Council considers bodily autonomy to be a fundamental right and the foundation for gender equality and gender justice, including the ability to make decisions about one's body and life, and to be free from violence, discrimination, or coercion; and,
WHEREAS, the LGBTQ+ community, both locally and globally, has been historically strong and resilient and will continue to be; and,
WHEREAS, having pride itself is both an act of bravery and joy, and Pride Month is about celebrating the beauty of all LGBTQ+ people; and,
WHEREAS, the City of Madison recognizes the LGBTQ+ community as an important part of the diversity of the greater Madison community, and appreciates their contributions to our economy, culture, neighborhoods, and city;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the City of Madison declares June 2025 as Pride Month in the City of Madison.