‘A good first step:’ As national Equality Act still in progress, City of DeKalb to issue Pride Month proclamation during Monday meeting

DeKALB – Jay King of DeKalb said he grew up “isolated and underrepresented” as an asexual male.

“I grew up in Chicago and I noticed anywhere I went, I was a little different, especially as a person of color that’s in the LGBTQ community,” he said. “We’ve come a long way as a society, but it’s still a common theme. Everyone just wants to be happy and look forward to their future. We want to be treated equally, with kindness and understanding.”

King is creating a film project, Alphabet Soup, to help show kids that “their future has promise.”

“It’s like when a little boy is excited to see an astronaut on TV,” King said. “They can see that representation and realize they can be that person, they can be successful, too. People often say what you can’t do, not what you can do. I hope my project shows them that queer people are living happy, successful lives and they belong.”

To better foster a community of belonging locally, DeKalb Mayor Cohen Barnes will issue a proclamation at the start of the next DeKalb City Council meeting, which will begin at 6 p.m. Monday, June 28, at the DeKalb Public Library, 309 Oak St.

In the proclamation, Barnes will “hereby proclaim June 2021 as LGBTQIA+ Pride Month in the City of DeKalb, and I encourage all people in our community to join in celebrating diversity, and promoting inclusion and equity, and I further encourage people to join me in eliminating discriminatory policies and practices toward any culture, race or group.”

June was chosen as Pride Month to commemorate the riots that took place the morning of June 28, 1969 at the Stonewall Inn in New York, often viewed as the birth of the modern LGBTQIA+ rights movement. The “Q” stands for queer or questioning, “I” stands for intersex and the “A” stands for asexual.

“It’s really important to declare June Pride Month in DeKalb because as a community, DeKalb is a city where everyone should feel like they belong, feel welcomed and like they are respected,” Barnes said. “Diversity is our strength. It’s why my parents chose to move to DeKalb and raise their kids here and why I raised my kids here. … Americans are entitled to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and it’s important that we offer and allow that for everyone here in DeKalb.”

The proclamation comes after DeKalb City Clerk Sasha Cohen pointed out to aldermen in a June 14 City Council meeting the City has yet to issue such a proclamation.

“But I would like to just acknowledge it for the record,” Cohen said during the June 14 meeting.

On June 18, The Egyptian Theatre, Safe Passage, DeKalb Public Library, Queer-Oriented Rural Resource Network, Prism NIU and NIU Center for the Study of Women, Gender & Sexuality hosted a free Pride Month event, which also featured a short Pride march.

King said the mayor’s proclamation and the Pride event held a week ago “is saying that we have Pride here in DeKalb, we’re celebrating Pride, being inclusive and diverse.”

“It’s important to celebrate Pride Month, because it’s a uniform time when everyone in the LGBTQ community can get together and celebrate,” King said. “June is the month we can be ourselves. We are represented, and there is so much freedom, unlimited love and kindness going around.”

DeKalb City Manager Bill Nicklas said that the proclamation and Pride event are “all about making people truly equal and welcome in the community.”

“It’s important not to be quiet when you’re trying to get people to open their minds and their hearts,” he said. “All of us, in our own lives, need to understand and appreciate the language and behavior that’s required to be truly embracing of equality and equity. It’s up to all of us to extend our thinking and how we relate to other people and their rights.”

The Equality Act

Molly Holmes, the program director of Northern Illinois University’s Gender and Sexuality Resource Center and chief diversity officer, said that one “giant step for LGBTQ rights is the U.S. Equality Act.”

The Equality Act would amend the 1964 Civil Rights Act to explicitly prevent discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. In February, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to pass the act. The act has yet to pass the Senate.

The bill also would be national, covering states that do not have LGBTQ anti-discrimination laws. According to the Human Rights Campaign, an LGBTQ advocacy organization, 27 states do not have those laws.

“There are no federal protections for LGBTQ individuals, although some states have made their own protections,” Holmes said. “Since 2006, our state has had the Illinois Human Rights Act, which provides protection against discrimination. However, if we cross state lines, go on vacation, visit a family member or to get a new job, we have to look up information and see if we’re protected.”

The federal act would not only prohibit an employer from firing an employee due to sexual orientation, it would also allow more equal access to loans and credit, education, public spaces and services.

Holmes said that “getting the word out about the act and showing up and supporting LGBTQ any way we can is important: we need to educate others, interrupt discriminatory or stereotyped behavior, look at policies and practices and find ways to make overt changes to make our country more LGBTQ inclusive.”

“Advocacy is not just about pronouns, bathrooms or proclamations, but they’re a good first step,” Holmes said. “It’s important to take a look visually at what we’re putting out there, making sure LGBTQ are safe here and are welcome. Are we using gendered language like mother and father instead of parent or husband and wife instead of spouse? It’s all about the human component of relating to others, even if your sexual identity is different from someone else’s.”

For more information about NIU’s Gender and Sexuality Resource Center, email gsrc@niu.edu. Visit the center’s website for links to an LGBTQ+ terminology list and the center’s social media accounts.

For more information about King’s documentary movie or to get involved, email King at japhoto.14@gmail.com.