Thanks to the efforts of the Stonewall Democrats of Denton County, on Tuesday, June 5, the Denton city council will read a proclamation declaring June as "Pride Month" in Denton. 

Stonewall Democrats is a national organization which functions to elect individuals who better the livelihood of the queer community. President of the Denton branch George Ferrie said this has been a steady progression for recognition of the queer community in Denton. Where before it was a day, then a week, and then a month, the organization really wanted to focus on making the proclamation for the month a big deal. 

“It’s really important to remember when it comes to marginalized minority groups, you need allies to back your voice. And on [the] council and our mayor, having no queer folk bespeaks that message," Ferrie said. "You need to reach out to them and hope they are willing to extend that hand to help you push forward.”

Ferrie said they have invited groups such as Glitterbomb and OUTreach Denton to attend the proclamation as well so they may celebrate the push in this direction. 

The proclamation will be read and Stonewall will then be asked to speak. Ferrie said Denton's theme for Pride this year is a focus on intersectionality, specifically queer people of color and queer women of color. Treasurer Lesly Gutierrez will speak on behalf of them and share this message. 

“Denton is already pretty openly queer, from the former Mable’s to Glitterbomb every week at Andy’s. We got these pockets of spaces we can go to and it’s a really visible step forward that it’s a city-wide proclamation," Gutierrez said.

Ferrie owns local business Wine Squared which sits on West Oak Street and is only one of two queer people who owns a business on the square.  He has lived in Denton for 12 years and said he is excited at how Denton has progressed.

“Denton has really come into its own, embracing the fact that we are a huge artistic community, we are very entrenched into the LGBTQ issues, I mean we got Glitterbomb on the square now at Andy’s owned by non-queer folk," Ferrie said. "We are lucrative humans, we are smart[...]we are important, we are entrepreneurs, we are artists, we are exactly what Denton is. We embrace our music community, our visual art community, and our performing arts community, and that innately is a huge part of the queer community."

While the proclamation comes with excitement, Gutierrez said there is still more work to be done.

“While Denton has been queer-friendly, we still don’t have an equal rights ordinance. We have great allies in city council and we’re asking for more," Gutierrez said. "The proclamation is hopefully a step forward into getting housing and other protections for the LGBTQ community and making Denton a place everyone wants to live in.”

Ferrie said the last three years has been a lot of work expanding Pride in Denton. From the proclamation, to now a four-day Pride event this year (as opposed to the previous year's 1-day event), the work is paying off. Pride will be kicking off Thursday, June 28, with Glitterbomb at Andy's and will extend until Sunday, July 1. 

The proclamation will be this Tuesday and will be announced during an open city council meeting at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall on 215 E McKinney Street.

Header image and layout design by Tori Falcon.