The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
LGBTQ+ panel formed
9-member committee charged with promoting justice and equity
MIDDLETOWN — Officials voted overwhelmingly this week to create an LGBTQ+ Advisory Committee intended to help the city work toward improving the quality of life and well-being of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer/questioning residents.
The ordinance passed the Common Council 9 to 0 with Councilman Grady Faulkner abstaining from the vote. Majority Leader Thomas Serra and Councilwoman Deborah Kleckowski were absent from the meeting. Drew asked for the council’s unanimous support.
Nine individuals were appointed to the board: Common Councilman Phil Pessina, Christine Santacroce, Beth Shapiro, Andrew White, Arielle Kubie, Daniel Barry, Santina “Sandy” Aldieri and Salvatore Uccello.
As the city is “a place of inclusivity,” according to the resolution, the committee is charged with “promoting justice, championing equity, ending oppression, and ensuring that all voices in the community are represented to advocate for a culture of respect and equality toward all persons, especially with regard to sexual orientation, gender identity and expression.”
Faulkner said he declined to vote in favor of the ordinance change because he “didn’t understand what we were trying to do, and I’m not sure it’s in line with some of my priorities, in particular, with our young people,” according to video footage of the meeting.
Faulker questioned whether city youth will be educated about LGBTQ citizens, just as students have been taught about correct use of social media, appropriate screen time and other issues. “I just want us to be careful when we introduce certain things.”
Mayor Dan Drew said the city doesn’t have a school curriculum or education plan in place to do so, according to the video.
Faulkner also asked what prompted the resolution. Drew said staff had approached him with the idea. “We feel that it’s really important to affirm Middletown’s place as a community that is welcome and affirming, and to celebrate all those members of the community, and to plan at least one major pride event in June.”
Faulkner said he would have expected the Citizens Advisory Committee, which he sits on, to be consulted for discussion before the issue came to the council. The mayor countered by saying the panel isn’t expected to review such a proposal.
Drew said he wished the city had instituted the committee sooner, according to meeting minutes. A citizen asked him if the city could add the pride flag to its flagpole outside City Hall this summer, which was done June 1 in a public ceremony.
“Neighbors, co-workers and friends should cele-
brate and create a space to say to the world through our words and actions that Middletown is their home as well,” said Drew, who offered two examples of a “resurgence” of “hatred” for members of the LGBTQ community over the past several years.
He referenced the Sept. 26 beating in Athens which killed Zak Kostopoulos, 33, a Greek LGBTQ activist and drag performer, as well as the 1998 attack on University of Wyoming student Matthew Wayne “Matt” Shepard, who was beaten, tortured,
tied to a fence, and left to die near Laramie. He died six days later from severe head injuries.
Councilman Gene Nocera said the resolution was important to “support empathy, and support all people, and all people’s perspectives.”
“There are a lot of young adults out there that, had the LGBTQ community not gotten some significant events up to the Supreme Court,” would have suffered because they “don’t know how to approach their gender and sexual orientation,” Pessina said.
“This is another step forward to help them and recognize this community. We’re going to make them comfortable,” Drew said.
“We can, as a community, as
groups of like-minded people, or as groups of people who disagree with one another, but generally agree on at least some core foundational values, should unite to protect one another, create these safe spaces for one another, and be there as neighbors for one another,” he said.
“We reject any discrimination based solely on someone’s identity — who they are and who they love — because that’s not how we are supposed to be,” he told council members.