City, county recognize Pride

Matt Baide | Jun 23, 20220

The Mason County Board of Commissioners and the Shelton City Council each signed proclamations recognizing lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer-plus month, commonly known as Pride Month.

According to the Library of Congress, LGBTQ+ Pride Month marks the 1969 Stonewall Uprising in Manhattan, which was a tipping point for thea gay liberation movement in the U.S.

Billy Thomas spoke at the June 7 commissioners’ meeting about the proclamation after commissioners signed it.

“Thanks to this declaration, Pride is celebrated right here in Mason County,” Thomas said during the meeting. “We need Pride more now than ever to support LGBTQ+ community members and to show the rest of the world that we understand, we celebrate and we’re ready. We need leaders, allies and role models in our communities, like the three (commissioners), to offer safe spaces, stand up for what’s right and recognize the cultural contributions and acts of courage that this declaration mentions.”

Thomas spoke with the Journal and said the proclamation felt like a sense of belonging, inclusion, respect and dignity.

“It was this official recognition that I, my husband and other LGBTQ+ members of the community are here, that they’re embraced, that we’re protected,” Thomas said. “It was just that moment of we recognize that you’re here and we appreciate that you’re here.”

Thomas has been a part of Mason County for about four years, working at Hood Canal Communications before his current position as marketing director at Peninsula Credit Union. He said he’s never felt unwelcomed in the community.

Mason County does deal with some anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric, and Thomas said that can sometimes be hard to deal with.

“It’s tough because being a member of the LGBTQ+ community is not something that’s visually obvious a lot of times,” Thomas said. “You can sort of fly under the radar a little bit but when you see that active hatred, it does sting a little bit. There are probably hundreds of microaggressions that you go through on a daily basis and so you do develop a bit of a crust to that but when you see that, it does sting a little and you wonder, why someone feels so passionately about the hatred toward other people. That’s what gets me is trying to understand the why. I have a phrase that I came up with that you’re trying to apply logic to an illogical situation and at some point, you need to understand that people are going to have their views and you cannot change everybody’s view, just really try to get past that hatred.”

Five others spoke in support of the LGBTQ+ proclamation during the June 7 meeting and Thomas said it’s nice to know people “have your back.” Thomas thanked the commissioners and the City of Shelton for their Pride Month proclamations.

The Shelton City Council also issued a proclamation for LGBTQ+ Pride Month, signed by Mayor Eric Onisko on June 7, a meeting Thomas also spoke at. Councilmember Joe Schmit said it was important to the council and to himself.

“We are definitely conscious of a diverse community in Shelton and things in the world are challenging right now and I think it’s important for city councils, county governments, state governments to use their platforms to do good things like this,” Schmit told the Journal. “To show the community that everyone is welcome, everybody who lives here in Shelton has a voice, they’ll be listened to and treated equitably and fairly. It’s been a goal of ours to show inclusivity and equity in terms of staffing and our workforce at the city. We have a pretty diverse workforce and we need to support our staff as well as the folks in our community. Quite frankly, it’s the right thing to do.”

Schmit recognized there hasn’t been a Pride Month proclamation in the past and this is one small step in accomplishing the goal of respecting people in the community. He said he’s only heard positive comments from the proclamation and is pleased with how Shelton has accepted this.

“These are people in our

community in many cases who are community leaders, a lot of students, a lot of kids, a lot of people growing up and these are people that are going to be future leaders in our community,” Schmit said. “They need to know from an early age in some cases that they’re going to be supported and they have a track to be successful in whatever they want to do. If I can use my platform to support them, I’m going to 100% and I’m very grateful that I was able to help some of my friends out but I’m looking to do more and my counterparts are as well so I’m excited for that.”

Schmit said people can contact him or anyone on the council to learn about resources for the LGBTQ+ community.

Thomas said the best way to help the community would be to volunteer at and support organizations in the county that support LGBTQ+ people, including Shelton and Belfair Youth Connections and the Shelton YMCA.

Susan Kirchoff, executive director of Shelton Youth Connection, said “at least 50%” of the youths in the program are in the LGBTQ+ community.

Shelton Youth Connection is having a Pride event from 3 to 7 p.m. Friday at its building in downtown Shelton. Outreach Coordinator Amanda Oakes said some pushback occurred during last year’s Pride event, including someone who came in and said it didn’t belong in this community.

“We want it to be fun, safe and accepting. It’s supposed to be fun and accepting and you need to feel safe to walk in the door,” Kirchoff said. “It was pretty nasty. The cool thing about the nastiness was the community really was like, ‘You have no idea what you’re talking about.’”

Kirchoff said the organization accepts everyone.

“You are a person, and you deserve respect,” Kirchoff said. “I embrace that. I require it. I’m very verbal about it to anyone who comes in and works here or volunteers here.”

Oakes said they don’t run programming because the don’t want to have straight people running it, but they bring in resources, community connections and help LGBTQ+ youths become familiar with safe people.

“It’s a safe place all the way around and that’s what we strive for for the Pride event,” Oakes said. “It’s like how do we make sure that we’re safe? By bringing in those people, Free Mom Hugs, the Mama Bears, they’re really good.”

The Pride event will have photo booths, food, painting, music, socializing and creating a Pride banner.

Oakes and Kirchoff said Mason County can be a scary place for LGBTQ+ youths, according to the feedback they’ve received. Kirchoff added she believes Mason County is trying to embrace change and the proclamations have set a standard that needs to be stepped up.

The Pride month event is one more step in the direction of saying it shouldn’t matter, according to Kirchoff.

“We’re here for everyone and this shows that we want to support everyone,” Kirchoff said. “I would do it every week, and that’s one of the things we’re going to try to do. This is available, we can make this a Friday afternoon thing if you want. You want to do this from 2 to 5 and be in our building, that’s our hope, is to say, we are willing. It’s one way for us to say no matter what, we love you.”

One way to support LGBTQ+ youth in Mason County is by asking pronouns, according to Kirchoff and Oakes.

“That was their biggest thing was acknowledging their identity,” Oakes said.

“If you don’t know, get trained. Take some training,” Kirchoff said. “Do something, the unknown is always fearful but if you can stop, take a minute, open your mind, open your brain, open yourself up to really try to learn. That’s what’s happened for me, I had a hard time with it, I’m not going to lie. It wasn’t that I was close-minded, it’s the way I was raised. It’s more difficult for older people to embrace change.”

LGBTQ+ people or family members seeking resources can go to realmamabears.org or freemomhugs.org and those in the youth LGBTQ+ community can go to Shelton Youth Connection or go to sheltonyouthconnection.org. Thomas said he hopes everyone in the Mason County LGBTQ+ community can be themselves.

“I celebrate Pride every day by being myself and living openly and authentically,” Thomas said. “I really think Pride is important and it’s important for us to continue to remind people that LGBTQ people are here and they’re part of the community and they’re a valuable part of the community. We have really struggled to get to where we are and so I think it’s important to continue that recognition, but I celebrate Pride every single day.”