SLO County won’t yet recognize Pride Month after supervisor vote stalls. What happens next?

The San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors will wait to vote on whether to officially recognize June as Pride Month.

Supervisors reached a stalemate during a tense meeting Tuesday in which several members of the public made homophobic comments while urging the supervisors to not recognize Pride Month.

Supervisors Dawn Ortiz-Legg and Bruce Gibson both voted in favor of a proclamation, but supervisors John Peschong and Debbie Arnold chose to abstain from voting.

With Supervisor Jimmy Paulding out for illness, this meant the motion did not meet the three-vote threshold for an item to pass.

Instead the board was expected to revisit the issue at its next meeting July 9.

During Tuesday’s vote, Peschong said he did not want people to take his decision to abstain from voting “as hatred, and blow it out of proportion like they did a year ago.”

“I still have a problem with biological males not participating in women’s safe spaces, and that includes women’s sports,” he said.

In 2023, the Board of Supervisors was similarly divided on whether to recognize Pride Month. The supervisors ultimately voted 3-2 to pass the resolution with Arnold and Peschong dissenting.

At the time, Arnold said the proclamation had a “divisive feeling” and that she preferred a countywide statement of support that applied to all residents, rather than a targeted statement of support for the LGBTQ+ community.

Arnold did not speak further on Tuesday’s proclamation other than declaring she would abstain from the vote.

Neither Gibson nor Ortiz-Legg offered further comment beyond their “yes” votes Tuesday.

Planned Parenthood: SLO County should designate June as Pride Month

Ahead of the stalled vote, representatives from Planned Parenthood urged the board to designate June as Pride Month.

“Recognition from one’s government is crucial for feeling safe and seen in one’s community,” Mariam Shah, director of public affairs for Planned Parenthood’s Central Coast Action Fund, said during Tuesday’s meeting. “We also believe everyone should have the freedom to live an authentic life and we honor and celebrate the diversity, strength, humanity and power of LGBTQ+ communities.”

The board was considering a proclamation stating that the Pride movement started “as a protest against profiling and violence” that targets the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community.

“LGBTQ+ people have historically struggled to find others like themselves in media, community and commerce, so Pride month serves as a crucial time of visibility and community,” the resolution said. “The county of San Luis Obispo is intent on ensuring that everyone in the county feels welcome, safe and a sense of belonging.”

The resolution also noted that “LGBTQ+ people continue to targeted in legislation across the country.”

According to the American Civil Liberties Union, more than 522 anti-LGBTQ bills have been proposed across the country, many of which seek to block gender-affirming care, drag performance and curriculum that discusses LGBTQ+ history and experiences.

Homophobic, racist remarks at Atascadero City Council meeting

Tuesday’s tense Board of Supervisors meeting comes nearly a week after Zoom callers bombarded an Atascadero City Council meeting with homophobic and racist comments ahead of the city’s first-ever Pride event.

During that meeting, several members of the LGBTQ+ community spoke out against the Atascadero City Council not officially declaring June as Pride Month as part of a change in its overall policy on proclamations.

Instead the city’s policy switched to having council members offer letters of recognition, which City Council member Susan Funk did to recognize Pride Month this year.