Beaverton and Vancouver have hoisted Pride flags over their city halls for the first time in honor of Pride month celebrating the LGBTQ+ community.
Beaverton Mayor Lacey Beaty challenged other mayors to follow suit.
“I want it to be a normal thing that we do,” Beaty said. “We should ask ourselves why it’s taken so long.”
The two cities join others across the country, including Salt Lake, Cincinnati and Pasadena, California, in flying the flag for the month – something that has become more common over the last two years. Portland, which has raised the flag in the past for Pride, did not this year. The city did light Morrison bridge in Pride colors on June 1. Portland City Hall did not respond immediately for comment.
Raising the flag was something Beaty wanted to do since her election in 2020, but she got further motivation when Beaverton elected its first LGBTQ+ city councilor in May, John Dugger. Beaty ran the idea by the city manager and the Beaverton City Council before making the decision.
“I wanted to make sure that, right when he started, he knew that he was coming to a team that respected him,” Beaty said. “It was important for me that we did that ahead of his swearing.”
In Vancouver, the decision to fly the first Pride flag went beyond City Hall to every city building, according to Alicia Sojourner, the city’s director of diversity, equity and inclusion.
A collection of city leaders and staff made the decision, Sojourner said. While the city has done proclamations for Pride month in the past, it wanted to show a wider commitment to the LGBTQ+ community, they said.
“We hear them, we see them – and we want to honor that,” Sojourner said.
In March, the city also raised the transgender flag at City Hall for Trans Day of Visibility.
While both Vancouver and Beaverton have received a positive response to the Pride flags, some people have pushed back.
“I got some shade on Twitter from people asking us to fly a straight flag or saying, you know, that we didn’t need to do this,” Beaty said. “But we do need to do this. We need to make sure people know this government works for them.”
In Vancouver, some mixed feedback stems from general misinformation about Pride and the Pride flag, Sojourner said. The rainbow flag, originally created in 1978 by the late activist Gilbert Baker of New York City, was designed as a rallying symbol for the LGBTQ+ community. Each colored stripe holds its own meaning. For example, red is life, orange is healing and yellow is sunlight.
Despite some negative comments, Sojourner said appreciation from residents makes it worthwhile.
“I got a phone call from a resident and she is a mother of a middle schooler, and the middle schooler had, in their words, just ‘come out,’” Sojourner said. “She said it was the first time since their kid came out that she felt like she had a community.”
– Austin De Dios
