‘A city welcome to all’: Elk Grove raises LGBTQ flag at city hall to celebrate Pride Month
The Progress Pride flag is flying on Pride Month at Elk Grove City Hall for the first time, a sign city leaders and Elk Grove’s LGBTQ community said Wednesday, of a city welcome to all.
“We celebrate you today and everyday,” Elk Grove Mayor Bobbie Singh-Allen told members of the city’s LGBTQ community outside Elk Grove City Hall Wednesday, where the multi-hued banner will fly through June in celebration of Pride Month. “This is Elk Grove. It’s also a call to action. What can we do to inspire our community? This is how we change the world and it starts right here in our backyard.”
Elk Grove had recognized Pride Month by proclamation annually since 2019, but flying the Progress Pride flag at the city’s address is a first. Jace Huggins of the city’s diversity and inclusion committee said it’s a visible symbol that the LGBTQ community is welcome and safe in Elk Grove.
“When people talk about moving to Elk Grove, they say it’s super welcoming, you’re not going to get any hate, but you’re not going to see any (Pride) flags flying,” Huggins told the crowd.
That changed on Wednesday, he said.
“It sends a sign to all the citizens of Elk Grove of what our values are as a city,” Huggins said. “We’re more than just words, more than just a logo.”
For 14-year-old Devin Schwartz of Elk Grove, watching the Pride flag fly at City Hall showed him that he does belong in a community that at times has felt cruel.
“I’m so glad that this is happening. As someone who has been told to my face that I don’t exist — it’s just so important,” Schwartz said. “It just means the world to me.”
The day held powerful meaning for Elk Grove vice mayor Darren Suen, the parent of a child who identifies as transgender. Suen joined other council members last week in unanimously approving the city hall flag raising.
“I’m speaking as a parent of a trans/gay child who wants to know that his child can be accepted in this community, can feel safe in this community,” Suen said. “Your character is what matters in this community. We are accepting to all.”
Elk Grove has adopted the “A City Welcome to All” tagline as an unofficial motto for the growing multiracial and multicultural city in recent years.
It began with the 2016 proclamation declaring Elk Grove a “No Place for Hate” city, promoting the message through social media and community events and city committees including its diversity and inclusion committee which brought the Progress Pride flag to city leaders this year.
“When we go through it, we go through it together,” Suen said following the flag-raising ceremony. “We’re Elk Grove. This is what we stand for. I’m very proud of this moment.”
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