City Council issues proclamation for Pride Month

posted on 6/29/2021

At the June 23 City Council meeting, Dover Mayor Robert Carrier issued a proclamation to
recognize June as LGBTQ Pride Month. Pride Month is celebrated nationally in June to
commemorate the Stonewall Riots in June 1969, which are considered to be the catalyst for the
LGBTQ rights movement.

“The City Council and staff have committed to make Dover an inclusive and welcoming
community for all, including the LGBTQ+ community,” Carrier said, reading from the
proclamation. “Dover is committed to standing with and supporting the LGBTQ community, and
to working to ensure that all of its residents, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender
identity or expression, are treated with respect and dignity.”

Ben Bernier, a district staff member for U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas, attended the City Council
meeting and read a letter on behalf of Pappas.

“As a proud member of the LGBTQ+ community, and a co-chair of the Equality Caucus, I
believe every person, regardless of race, sex, religion or gender identity, deserves the same
pathway to the American Dream,” Bernier read from Congressman Pappas’ letter. “Too often,
members of the LGBTQ+ community face a lack of legal protection, experience violence and
harassment, and face discrimination at disproportionate rates.”

Pappas said in his letter Dover is one of New Hampshire’s most welcoming communities.

The full proclamation is as follows:

WHEREAS: LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer) Pride Month is
celebrated nationally each year in the month of June; this month was chosen to commemorate
the riots that took place at the Stonewall Inn in Manhattan on the morning of June 28, 1969,
often viewed as the birth of the modern LGBTQ rights movement; and

WHEREAS: The City Council and staff have committed to make Dover an inclusive and
welcoming community for all, including the LGBTQ+ community; and

WHEREAS: the United States Supreme Court ruled in June 2015 that same-sex couples can
marry nationwide, establishing a new civil right in our country; and

WHEREAS: former president Barack Obama designated the first national monument to LGBTQ
rights in June 2016, honoring the LGBTQ community’s long-term presence and struggle for
equality across our nation; and

WHEREAS: all members of the Dover community, including those who are lesbian, gay,
bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning, intersex and asexual have the right to feel safe,
not be discriminated against and to live without the threat of harassment; and

WHEREAS: unfortunately, there is still much physical and psychological violence inflicted on
LGBTQ people both at home and abroad; and

WHEREAS: Dover is committed to standing with and supporting the LGBTQ community, and to
working to ensure that all of its residents, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender
identity or expression, are treated with respect and dignity; and

NOW, THEREFORE, I, ROBERT CARRIER, MAYOR OF THE CITY OF DOVER, NEWI
HAMPSHIRE, AND THE ENTIRE DOVER CITY COUNCIL, do hereby proclaim June 2021 as
LGBTQ Pride Month. I encourage Dover residents to recognize and support their LGBTQ
family members and neighbors, and to FEEL FREE to show their PRIDE.