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Residents spoke calmly, most obeying the council’s new rules of decorum while expressing passionate opinions on the matter of gay pride and proclamations in general at the Tuesday, March 4, city council meeting.
However, Randy Jordan of Fort Worth, who spoke against Gay Pride Month, literally thumped a Bible, tossing it behind him and nearly hitting someone in the audience during his three minutes. The flying book caused two members of the audience to lean away as it approached them. It landed with a thump in the aisle behind the podium.
Citizens comments were part of the council's consideration of a resolution for a calendar of events for the city to recognize either with proclamations or social media posts.
According to a Nov. 1, 2024 memorandum from Deputy Director of Administrative Services/Deputy City Secretary Erin Flores, City Councilmember Richard Jackson requested research on proclamation policies and common proclamations passed in neighboring cities.
Mayor Pro Tem Omar Roman requested city council discussion on the recognition of events and provided a calendar to start the conversation.
Roman's suggested calendar proposed proclamations for Black History Month, National Women’s History Month, Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month, Pride Month, Hispanic Heritage Month and Native American Heritage Month. It included social media mentions for New Years, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Lunar New Year, Presidents Day, Ramadan, Holi, St. Patrick’s Day, Eid al-Fitr, Passover, Good Friday, Easter, Earth Day, Cinco De Mayo, Mother’s Day, Vesak, Memorial Day, Father’s Day, Eid-ul-Adha, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Ashura, Labor Day, Patriot Day, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Indigenous Peoples Day, Diwali, Dia de Los Muertos, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Kwanza and New Year's Eve.
Resident Brenda Brodrick sent an email campaign before the meeting asking people to attend and speak during the three-minute period for citizen comments against a pride month proclamation.
However, during the meeting more people spoke in favor of a proclamation for June's Gay Pride Month and supported the calendar proposed by Roman than those who spoke against it while supporting the rest of the proposed calendar.
Several people spoke against the calendar in its entirety.
Roman started the council’s discussion with a statement of his goals with the calendar.
“I think part of what I’m trying to achieve in bringing forward this calendar is the inclusion of the people who live in this city. We are a ever-changing city, and I think it’s important that we have an opportunity to recognize the growing diversity,” Roman said. “For a week now, I’ve struggled with finding the words for tonight’s meeting. I later realized that the reason I struggled was because I felt my job was to convince those who disagree with the existence of the LGBTQ+ community that we are good people, real people with real families and lives, contributing to society just like everybody else. But things became clear when I realize that my job as I sit here on city council is to represent everyone. Now I may not agree with everyone’s interpretation of the Bible, but I do support you being able to practice your religion freely without fear that you will be retaliated against. In the same vein, people from the LGBTQ+ community are asking for the same, and that is the ability to live their lives freely without fear that they will be retaliated against. The same can be said about every culture or group that is mentioned in our proposed calendar.”
City Councilmember Tina Bennett-Burton said she found it interesting that no one spoke against any of the religious holidays on the proposed calendar, while at the start of every council meeting, councilmembers pray only to “the one.” She said she’s previously said that religion should not be from the dais, and that she thinks prayers should be offered by a wide range of community groups from the podium on the floor of the council chambers. “We should include everybody, absolutely everybody. It is all, or it is none. To me this calendar is just a marketing calendar.”
Bennett-Burton said she previously asked for a list of the city policies or bylaws mentioned on the proclamation application on the city’s website that provides guidance about what purposes proclamations may or may not be issued. “I would like to know what those city policies or bylaws are or is that what we’re here tonight to do?” she asked.
She received no answer during the meeting. Since the meeting, the statement about bylaws has been removed from the city's proclamation page.
Councilmembers David Reid, Richard Jackson and Roger Neal sounded a refrain of concern that the proposed calendar would leave groups out.
“I agree that we all should be respected and recognized. We are a community. One of the great events we have coming up is our Gateway to the Globe, celebrating all the cultures that are around. I think part of that responsibility of the city is to promote awareness and recognition of all groups,” Reid said. “I don’t think the various heritages that we had mentioned should have proclamations to them… I feel that proclamations should be to celebrate accomplishments, achievements, milestones, things that are part of the entire community.”
Jackson said that he found that month of March had more than 800 holidays. He said he preferred replicating a national holiday recognition list. “It takes out the hard part out of trying to recognize individual groups and leaving out others. It’s just not practical to recognize all,” he said.
Neal said the city should be inclusive of all people but not “delve into some of these areas that are ideology and individual convictions.”
Mayor Terry Lynne said that he receives many requests for proclamations and works with the city manager and city secretary to filter out those from people who don’t live, work, have a business interest or haven’t don’t anything to benefit the City of Farmers Branch, but approves most. “I have my guidelines that are pretty clearly spelled out, and I don’t deviate because I don’t want my personal opinion or bias to influence or override – and it should not – what the council has spelled out and the authority I’ve been given so that makes it pretty simple for me,” he said.
Neal said he wanted to stick to the city’s core competency, which is public health, safety and infrastructure to our residents. “That’s what we’re good at doing.”
Bennett-Burton motioned to table the resolution until the council could see the state and federal calendars and study the issue. Roman seconded the motion. It failed to pass with Reid, Jackson and Neal voting in opposition.
Jackson then made a motion to deny the resolution with the proposed calendar, which Neal seconded. It passed with Reid, Jackson and Neal voting in favor and Roman and Bennett-Burton voting against.
