Alderperson Vered Meltzer’s Invocation At 06/15/2022 Common Council Meeting – “That which threatens the LGBTQ community and dehumanizes us is also a threat to democracy in general and to American freedom as a whole.”

Mayor Woodford: Tonight’s invocation will be delivered by Alderperson Meltzer.

Alderperson Meltzer (District 2): Thank you. I’d like to first start with saying that I hope that everyone is taking care and staying safe out there tonight with the weather that we’re having. So, since June is Pride Month and we just celebrated Flag Day, during which we honor the flag of the United States of America, it is fitting to talk about another flag, the pride flag.

The rainbow flag wasn’t always the emblem that represented the LGBTQ community. A pink triangle was used by the Nazis in Germany to identify homosexuals in internment camps during World War II. After that, the pink triangle because the symbol associated with the LGBTQ struggle against oppression. However, because this symbol represented such a dark part of history, in the 1970s the rainbow flag was adopted after Gilbert Baker and other artists and activists were inspired by Harvey Milk to create a positive symbol to represent the LGBTQ community. This rainbow flag was called the pride flag.

Harvey Milk was an influential gay leader who was assassinated on November 27, 1978 while serving as a city supervisor in San Francisco. After his death, the rainbow flags were in high demand and became ubiquitous.

In 2017, the city of Philadelphia produced a pride flag with black and brown stripes added at the top to draw attention to the disparities experienced by people of color within the LGBTQ community.

In 2018, Danial Quasar designed a flag with a chevron containing additional stripes to represent marginalized people of color, trans people, and those living with HIV or AIDs and those who have been lost, explaining the arrow points to the right to show forward movement, while being placed along the left edge shows that progress still needs to be made.

Just as this flag has evolved, so does our community evolve. This is the beautiful freedom of being American. The LGBTQ community’s progress in our country is thanks to the success of American democracy. That which threatens the LGBTQ community and dehumanizes us is also a threat to democracy in general and to American freedom as a whole.

Let’s be proud this month. Let’s be proud of stars and stripes and be proud of rainbows and celebrate the freedoms we have in this country to be authentic in our gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation without threat of punishment or risk of execution. Let’s celebrate the right of individuals to marry whom they love. Let’s celebrate the freedoms that we have and the amazing community that continues to adapt and evolve ever towards a better world where progress continues towards realizing the deepest ideals of democracy and liberty. Thank you.