Stafford County’s government is officially recognizing Pride Month, though some will take exception to that move.
The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday night voted 4-1 with one abstention in favor of a proclamation that recognizes June as a time supporting those of diverse sexual orientations and gender identities in the county.
The proclamation was board Chairman Deuntay Diggs’ idea. Diggs, the first openly gay supervisor to serve as chairman, said that, in his leadership role, he gets to see all the proclamations the county issues, and he thought: why not Pride Month?
“Right?” he said. “Why do we recognize any community? Because they’ve been marginalized.”
Then he got more personal. “We’ve been marginalized,” he said. “And so there’s a lack of access to health care. There’s a lack of access to residential or living spaces, jobs.”
Diggs said he sometimes feels like a “walking conflict” because he’s Christian, Black, gay, a veteran and a law-enforcement professional.
He said it’s especially important to recognize Pride Month because many in the LGBTQ+ community suffer from mental health problems, including depression and suicidal ideation.
Diggs revealed that he’s lost several veteran friends to suicide.
“They’ve gone overseas and fought for this country in specialized units, and they come back, and, ultimately, they commit suicide because they can’t come out and be who they are,” he said.
His mention of military service served as a kind of counterpoint to some Stafford residents who spoke against the proclamation Tuesday, saying that veterans should get special recognition instead of those who they said made a “lifestyle choice.”
Two other veterans, however, supported Diggs’ effort. April McCarthy, an Aquia District resident who served in the Air Force, said there’s room for celebrating pride and the military.
“As a veteran, I feel completely supported by my county,” said McCarthy, “and I would say that having another celebration in no way detracts from another celebration.”
Molly Denham, who lives in the Hartwood District, agreed.
“I am appalled when people use military service as a counterbalance to recognition of others,” she said. “There are 37 separate days of the year dedicated to military holidays and observances. Not only that, there’s the Month of the Military Child, Military Appreciation Month, Military Caregiver Month, Warrior Care Month, and Military Family Month. Believe me, we military members are not lacking in recognition.”
Hartwood District Supervisor Darrell English cast the sole dissenting against the proclamation. He said he simply thought the measure went beyond the role of government.
“I don’t think this is something that we should be dealing with,” he said, while noting that he didn’t intend his vote to be a personal move against Diggs, his friend and peer.
Falmouth District Supervisor Meg Bohmke abstained from the vote, and Rock Hill District Supervisor Crystal Vanuch was away from the dais when the measure was discussed.
Earlier in the meeting, Bohmke also tried — unsuccessfully — to exclude the proclamation discussion from the agenda.
She said during a break in the meeting that she was concerned about how the vote could affect federal funding coming to Stafford. President Donald Trump has made clear his disdain for anything that has to do with “diversity, equity and inclusion,” or “DEI.”
In other business Tuesday, the supervisors voted unanimously to:
- Support a route for a new road and bridge over the Rappahannock River that would stretch from Celebrate Virginia Parkway in Stafford to Gordon W. Shelton Boulevard in Fredericksburg. The supervisors came to consensus on the route last week but made their pick formal Tuesday. The Fredericksburg Area Metropolitan Planning Organization, a regional transportation planning body, has been studying the proposed construction of a river crossing west of Interstate 95 for months, and its policy committee is scheduled to vote on a preferred route June 16.
- Appropriate $3.4 million in state funds for retention bonuses for county school employees. Full-time employees will get $700 and part-time employees $350 under a plan formulated by the Stafford School Board.Though she voted for the move, Vanuch said she wanted to make sure that it was clear to the public that only school employees — and not county government employees or first responders — would be getting the bonuses. She said that, during Stafford’s recent budget season, there was an effort to try to give county government employees and school workers the same pay increases, but now only the latter would be getting extra money on top of raises.
