Watch the proclamation here.
The Board of County Commissioners has historically proclaimed Pride Month in Multnomah County during a June or July Board meeting — and that remained the plan for this year. However, the proclamation was rescheduled after an outbreak of COVID-19, which would have compromised the safety of people participating in or attending the Board meeting for the celebration.
So on Aug. 15, the Board proclaimed June 2024 as Pride Month for the Two Spirit, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex and Asexual (2SLGBTQIA+) community in Multnomah County. In light of the necessary postponement, speakers shared that the commitment to supporting the rights, inclusion, and liberation for all regardless of sexual identity or gender identity is, and remains, relevant every day.
The proclamation was co-sponsored by Commissioner Jesse Beason and Commissioner Sharon Meieran and hosted by PRISM and Queer and Trans People of Color (QTPOC) Employee Resource Groups, as well as employees from other offices throughout the County.
“I decided to come out to myself and my family during my freshman year of college,” said Beason, who opened Thursday's proclamation.
“I had gotten my first girlfriend and quickly realized that life wasn't for me. I came out to my mom and my sister, but it took me many years to come out to my father because I felt like I didn't truly know him.”
Beason decided to make a documentary about his dad during his senior year. It turned out to be a revealing week, as he learned about the physical and emotional abuse his father suffered as a child and the ensuing physical and emotional abuse he imparted on others. Beason then found the courage to tell his dad that he was gay.
“I turned off the camera and told him. He looked at me and said, 'I grew up with a father who did not accept me and love me for who I was, and I could never do that to my own children,'” Beason said.
“I remember that every time I think about him; I remember that every time Pride Month comes around. Whether it's a chosen family or our born family, we are looking for people who love and accept us for who we are today and who believe in who we can become in the future. Whether it’s June, July, or August, we can celebrate these important moments and say that every human matters and that everyone belongs here in our society.”
Sam Silverman, a senior equity policy analyst in the Office of Diversity and Equity who identifies as an Asian American, pansexual, cisgender woman living with invisible disabilities, shared appreciation for the Board’s flexibility in honoring Pride Month in August, while also acknowledging the tensions inherent to the experiences of many in the 2SLGBTQIA+ community.
“We wanted today to feel more celebratory because the narrative around the LGBTQ community is so often focused on our oppression instead of our joy,” Silverman said. “But the truth is, it’s hard for us to find joy in our lives when we feel the weight of the world on our shoulders and we can feel ourselves sinking.”
Silverman also noted the troubling rise of severe burnout, something she has noticed especially among County 2SLGBTQIA+ employees. While she acknowledged widespread support from managers, many 2SLGBTQIA+ staff feel even that is inadequate to address the negative outcomes many County employees face, said Silverman.
“We're tired, we’re hurting and we are burning out really fast,” Silverman shared. “So for today’s Pride Proclamation, I wanted to send the message out to my community: Please, please take the time to rest. Please take care of yourselves. And please show up to take care of each other.
We send our hearts out to community members who are hurting right now. We are here for you and we are fighting for you.”
Honoring a “transformative force in this world”
The presentation also included the recognition of this year’s Kathleen Saadat Award winner, Babatunde "Zubbi" Azubuike. Created in 2018, the annual award is named after Kathleen Saadat, a pillar of the social justice movement for queer and trans rights, as well as critical intersectional issues like economic justice. The award is given by the QTPOC and PRISM Employee Resource Groups to a leading member of the local 2SLGBTQIA+ who embodies Saadat’s values and spirit of service.
“For 50 years Kathleen has served Oregon’s 2SLGBTQIA+ community as a mentor, organizer, advocate and changemaker,” said Commissioner Meieran, who introduced Saadat. Saadat’s work is rooted in intersectionality and social justice, particularly in the queer, feminist and Black communities, said Meieran.
Her leadership has ranged from being a planning member for Portland’s first gay rights march in 1976 to supporting the development of Portland’s civil rights ordinance prohibiting discrimination against people in the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, Meieran said, while listing the many accolades Saadat has received as a local and even national figure.
“I don't expect anyone to know what it was like for me to ride a bus in the back in Nashville, Tennessee, but I do believe each of us understands humiliation, outrage, sadness, and out of that, a struggle to retain dignity and self-esteem,” Sadaat said. “If we can look at each other and understand the feelings generated by the experience of bigotry and discrimination, I think perhaps we can come closer to being allies because we begin to empathize.”
Saadat soon introduced Azubuike, who uses xey/xem/xir or dey/dem/dey pronouns, as the 2024 awardee. Xey are the executive director and founder of the Black & Beyond the Binary Collective, which builds leadership, healing, and safety for Black-African transgender, queer, nonbinary, Two-Spirit and intersex (TQN2SI+) Oregonians.
Black & Beyond the Binary Collective is the only culturally specific organization serving people at the intersection of the Black community and Black-African transgender, queer, nonbinary, Two-Spirit and intersex community. The organization provides direct services such as housing assistance and a culturally specific healing program for Black-African queer/transgender youth and adults; it also offers opportunities for training, community building and community service. Their values are rooted in the African diaspora and the celebration and empowerment of the Black queer and trans community.
The organization’s work, however, hasn’t been without serious challenges. There have been attempts to burn down their building, their cars have been vandalized and windows shot out, and even DJs at their events have been shot at by pellet guns, as Azubuike testified at a Transgender Day of Visibility proclamation in March.
“I know with all these words of congratulations and ‘you did a good job’ — behind that is your courage, your tenacity, your hard work, your creativity and your commitment and your love,” said Saadat, “because it takes all those things to be a transformative force in this world.”
Azubuike told the Board that while xey acquired the skills to lead Black & Beyond the Binary Collective in Georgia, xey brought them here and refined them with the community and in collaboration to build something lasting. “I wasn’t born in Oregon, but I am an Oregonian by choice.”
Azubuike shared xey came out at a very young age, but that “each year that I survived and lived as a young child — being told that who I was was blasphemous and who I loved was sinful — the only thing that got me through was my elders, my sisters, my kin.”
Xey tearfully expressed thankfulness for the recognition. “Most of my life I’ve felt invisible, but it really means the world to me to have my work recognized by people in the community.
“I want to extend my gratitude to the commissioners, to Kathleen for paving the way for this to happen, and to the people from PRISM and QTPOC. But most importantly, to the people in the community who are able to show up for us and each other and who keep moving every single day.”
Chair Jessica Vega Pederson read the proclamation.
“Zubbi, thank you so much for your incredible service and support over the years. I’m so glad we were able to honor you with this award,” said Chair Vega Pederson.
“Your advocacy is felt in so many ways throughout Multnomah County. I appreciate everyone’s time and efforts and the ways you’re fighting for the community, serving the community and advocating your needs here at the County and abroad.”
Commissioner remarks
“This is my last year as a commissioner and my last opportunity to be with you in this role and to have the honor of co-sponsoring this important proclamation and sharing so much with all of you,” said Meieran.
I really appreciate Kathleen's framing that for those of us who are discouraged, things are improving, said Meieran. “Love is what drives us, and that is going to be my takeaway today and the real hope that exists - that the community can come together — all of us — and can be who we authentically are.”
“This proclamation was delayed, but not at all diminished,” said Commissioner Julia Brim-Edwards. “And I’m glad we’re having the opportunity to celebrate, and my appreciation to both Commissioner Meieran and Commissioner Beason.”
“I wish we were in person. Last year, the love in the room you could feel but I can feel it through the screen. This proclamation is important in that it sends a message that Multnomah County continues to be a welcoming and inclusive community and everyone belongs. “
Commissioner Lori Stegmann thanked each of the speakers. “Sam, I really appreciate what you said about the right to exist. Sometimes people don’t feel like they have that right. When I look up the word ‘exist’ and its synonyms, some are stay, endure, last, persist and survive.
“When I look at this amazing group of leaders, those are the exact words that come to mind. I just want to thank you all for sharing your lives and personal stories. Seeing is believing. When we see others in leadership roles, in elected roles, then we know that’s possible for us.”
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