Click Pride Month Proclamation to view larger image.
Click Juneteenth Proclamation to view larger image.
City Proclamations for Pride Month and Juneteenth
Last night at their monthly meeting, the St. Albans City Council considered proclamations for Pride Month (June) and Juneteenth (June 19), signed by Mayor Tim Smith.
Pride Month Proclamation:
WHEREAS, the uprising at the Stonewall Inn in New York City in June, 1969, sparked a liberation movement that continues to carry on today among many Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) community members and allies in our state and country; and
WHEREAS, June has received the nickname “Pride Month” as a particularly significant time of year for LGBTQ residents to stand up as proud members of our community, even as they still risk higher rates of violence and discrimination; and
WHEREAS, we as City residents share the responsibility to recognize the work that must continue for the cause of safety and equity for the LGBTQ community;
NOW, THEREFORE, I, Timothy J. Smith, Mayor, hereby recognize June as PRIDE MONTH in the City of St. Albans.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 14th day of June in the year 2021.
Juneteenth Proclamation:
WHEREAS, men, women and children who were enslaved in Texas were not informed that they had been granted freedom by the federal government until June 19, 1865, which was more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation and nearly three months after the surrender of Confederate forces in Virginia; and
WHEREAS, June 19 has remained a significant date of annual remembrance of our country’s ongoing reckoning with the practice of slavery, which includes violence and discrimination against members of historically enslaved groups; and
WHEREAS, we as City residents share the responsibility to recognize the work that must continue for the cause of racial equity in our country;
NOW, THEREFORE, I, Timothy J. Smith, Mayor, hereby join the State of Vermont and many of our fellow communities in recognizing June 19, also known as “Juneteenth,” as an important day of remembrance and ongoing work toward racial equity in the City of St. Albans.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 14th day of June in the year 2021.