Keizer marks Pride Month with powerful call to do better

City Council passes Pride proclamation after passionate warning from youth appointee

Pride Month in 2023 has been, most would probably agree, a flashpoint of sorts in the latest campaign of the right-wing culture wars. 

A lot of it has to do with the trans-panic movement slowly morphing into a full-blown campaign of generalized homophobia. 

Some of it likely has to do with the intrinsically divisive politics here in Oregon; in Washington, DC.; and across the country.

Add a few years of festering MAGA brain to the cultural mix, and we’ve got adult men recording themselves hysterically dismantling Pride displays in Target.

And it’s absurd. But it’s also really dangerous. These are not great days for the LGBTQ+ community. Even in left-leaning Oregon, the queer community doesn’t feel safe.

Amid that cultural context, Keizer City Council unanimously passed a proclamation at their June 5th meeting honoring June 2023 as Pride Month. 

And that’s nice. 

But before the City Council passed this proclamation, Keizer Mayor Cathy Clark invited McNary student Nevaeh Music to address the council. 

Nevaeh Music addresses the Keizer City Council on June 5, 2023. Screenshot from KeizerTV YouTube channel

Music is Clark’s youth appointee to the city’s Community Diversity Engagement Committee - the only youth position in Keizer city government with committee voting power.

Clark indicated Music was invited to speak to the Council about Pride Month. But it was clear Music intended to use her time to instead tell an uncomfortable truth about Keizer, and a stern reminder to do better. 

Here’s what Music said: (linked here and transcribed below)

“I would like to start off by thanking you all for letting me be here to do this today.

Um here it goes…

I wish I could tell a story about hope and acceptance and safety here in Keizer.

I wish I could speak about the joy of being queer in Keizer.

I wish I could say some meaningless statistics.

I wish I could use this time in any other way, but I believe that I can't.

I can't pretend the looks don't exist.

I can't pretend that I stood this far away from my girlfriend got called a ‘fa**ot’ in our school's hallways (Ed. note: I edited the slur used, but the speaker didn’t. Meeting recording reveals audible reaction from audience).

I can't pretend that there aren't whispers around me 

I can't pretend I wasn't crying on her shoulder and got told to get a room.

I can't pretend I wasn't cornered by five guys outside of McNary as they teased and heckled us.

I can't pretend I wasn't trapped in a bathroom (and I sobbed on her shoulder) by girls teasing saying we were having sex.

I can't pretend that I wasn't laying on her shoulder inside the school when a security guard saw us; came inside; and told us that that wasn't school appropriate. Because somehow it was inherently sexual. My love, made inherently sexual.

Oh, how I mourn those who have it worse in other states where it's not as accepted…those for whose thoughts aren't safe at all.

But progress doesn't stop at “at least.”

Progress doesn't stop at canceled Prides 

Progress must be maintained and watched with a careful eye, less progress be stopped and we regress. 

Progress starts and ends with education. Education of youth and adults alike and I fear that's something we lack in Keizer; at McNary; and our other schools 

I fear that that's something we have ignored and neglected - telling people that it's not okay to be like that.

And that's what I wanted to use my time here today for.”

This is powerful, moving stuff. Watch the video - the transcript doesn’t do it justice.

Music’s statement is so powerful because it’s a direct indictment of certain cultural elements that are able to flourish in a place like Keizer.

There’s a reason Pride celebrations get canceled in Keizer. There’s a reason our young queer community doesn’t feel safe when they go to school every day.

There’s a reason that Music - asked to come and talk about Pride Month - instead used her time to speak her truth & experience to power.

Keizer City Councilors can pass all the Pride proclamations they want. They could pass one every month. But the culture of homophobia and bigotry is baked into Keizer - and many other cities and towns across the state & country - in ways most either can’t or won’t notice.

Keizer’s Pride proclamation passed unanimously. Cool.

But how much does that matter when at least one of those “yes” votes spends their social & political capital to promote candidates that are openly anti-transgender?

Keizer City Council member Soraida Cross publicly endorsed Salem-Keizer School Board candidate Casity Troutt (book banning, anti-transgender activist).

How much do those “yes” votes mean when the Keizer Chamber of Commerce - like, the entire organization and, presumably, membership - endorsed the same anti-transgender candidate. The City of Keizer is deeply intertwined with the Keizer Chamber - several council members enjoying personal relationships with Keizer Chamber leadership & the Council regularly steers public funding to the Chamber.

The Keizer Chamber Executive Director also endorsed Troutt, separately.

How much does supporting a proclamation matter when back in early 2022, Keizer - city officials, local businesses; religious communities - welcomed with open arms a huge religious gathering where speakers assailed the LGBTQ+ community and targeted specifically the transgender population with deeply hateful disinformation and propaganda. Event organizers claimed Keizer Police were working to monitor folks demonstrating against the gathering. And there were multiple reports of demonstrators being pursued by police as they left the area.

What about all that shit? How does a “yes” vote on this proclamation change that from happening again?

What about something far simpler?

Like…I don’t know. Where’s an appropriate Pride flag y’all could hang at City Hall? Do none of the City Councilors know where the flag is? Was it misplaced? Is there a practical reason that the city can’t meet the bare minimum effort threshold for showing support to its own LGBTQ+ community?

That is, apologies in advance, fucking embarrassing.

The City Council should listen - really listen - to Music. We all should. Roll those words around your head. Think about how shitty and heartbreaking it is that students in our schools have to worry about something as private as who they like or love. And not just worry like “oh I’ll be embarrassed” worried. But, like, “oh am I going to be targeted today” or even “am I going to make it through today.”

These particular words from Music really stuck (emphasis mine), and I’m thankful for them.

Progress must be maintained and watched with a careful eye, less progress be stopped and we regress. 

Progress starts and ends with education. Education of youth and adults alike, and I fear that's something we lack in Keizer; at McNary; and our other schools 

I fear that that's something we have ignored and neglected - telling people that it's not okay to be like that.

Not only is this really good writing, but it’s such a powerful message. Progress isn’t an accident. You have to work at it. 

And Music - literally the voice of the future of Keizer - is clearly telling us Keizer has a lot of work to do.