San Leandro should raise the Pride Flag at City Hall

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Here is a message I sent Mayor Cutter and the City Council today requesting that San Leandro raise the LGBTQ Pride Flag at City Hall in the month of June. You can express your views on the matter by contacting the Mayor and City Council using the email address: citycouncil@sanleandro.org

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Dear Mayor Cutter and City Council,
I request that the City of San Leandro fly the Pride Flag at City Hall as part of the San Leandro's recognition of the month of June as LGBTQ Pride Month. For example, the flag could be flown the last week of the month in conjunction with the Pride Parade held in San Francisco at the end of June, which many San Leandrans attend including a contingent from the San Leandro Unified School District.
As you may be aware, six years ago as Mayor I asked and received the full support of the City Council to fly the Pride Flag at City Hall. The City Council took this action to show San Leandro’s support of marriage equality when the constitutionality of the issue was being argued before the US Supreme Court. San Leandro’s initiative spurred Oakland and Berkeley to follow our lead and fly the Pride Flag at the same time.
Given recent hateful public statements by community members in the City of Dublin and the decision of that City Council to not fly the Pride Flag in June, I believe it is important for San Leandro to fly the Pride Flag again as a visible demonstration of our city's ongoing support for and respect of the LGBTQ community. The Pride Flag serves as a beacon of hope, acceptance, respect and love to a community that has been discriminated against and vilified for most of its existence in world history and American society.
I recognize that the issue of raising flags other than those of the US, California and San Leandro at City Hall became a controversial issue when the City Council voted to fly the flag of the People's Republic of China (PRC) - which I stopped through exercise of the Mayor's power to suspend City Council actions. At the heart of the the controversy was the PRC flag being seen by myself and many others as the "calling card" of the current government of China and not a representation of the people of China. There is no similar division among the City Council or the community. I expect that the City Council will unanimously vote to issue a proclamation declaring June as LGBTQ pride month. That is symbolic action in support of the LGBTQ community as is flying the Pride Flag.
A further reason it was controversial to fly the PRC flag at City Hall was that under protocols applying to flying the flags of nations San Leandro would had to have taken down either the California or city flag. The City could not have flown the PRC flag underneath the state or city flags. Such is not the case with the Pride Flag. Many cities that have flown the Pride Flag have positioned it immediately below the California or their city flag.
Accordingly, I request that San Leandro raise the Pride Flag next month at City Hall.
Very truly yours,
Stephen Cassidy
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The photo above is of the San Leandro school district contingent from the 2013 SF Pride Parade.

As an update, the City will be flying the Pride Flag at Root Park for the month of June and at City Hall for two days at the end of June immediately before the SF Pride Parade.

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