At its April 5 meeting, the Golden Valley City Council approved proclamations for LGBTQ+ Pride Month and Juneteenth.
LGBTQ+ Pride Month
June is celebrated as celebrated as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer (LGBTQ+) Pride Month across the country. The purpose of the month is to recognize the contributions made by members of the LGBTQ+ community and to actively promote the principles of equality, liberty, and justice. The proclamation also calls upon the entire community to work together to promote equal rights and eliminate prejudice everywhere it exists.
Juneteenth
For more than 150 years, Black Americans celebrate June 19, or Juneteenth, as Freedom Day in recognition of the end of slavery. Although President Abraham Lincoln ratified the Emancipation Proclamation to abolish slavery on January 1, 1863, slaveholders in Texas withheld information of abolition from enslaved Black Americans until Union troops shared the news on June 19, 1865. As word spread Black Americans nationwide collectively celebrated their freedom and called the celebration Juneteenth, a combination of June and Nineteenth. Black communities across the nation still celebrate and recognize Juneteenth Freedom Day, as the end of slavery. The proclamation calls for the recognition of June 19 as Juneteenth Freedom Day and the continued commitment to dismantle oppressive systems impacting the descendants of formerly enslaved Black Americans.
To celebrate Juneteenth, the week of June 13–19, 2022, the City of Golden Valley will support community celebrations like the Kumbayah! Play and conversation facilitated by Sweet Potato Comfort Pie and conduct interviews of Black-owned businesses and Black business owners in Golden Valley.