Council to vote on symbolic measure affirming Springfield's LGBTQ community

Andrew Sullender, Springfield News-Leader
·3 min read
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PFLAG Springfield distributed Pride flags, buttons and Safe Space stickers early Monday outside Kickapoo High School.
PFLAG Springfield distributed Pride flags, buttons and Safe Space stickers early Monday outside Kickapoo High School.

Next week Springfield's City Council will vote on a resolution affirming the city's support for its LGBTQ community. Though symbolic, the resolution could represent a rebuke to recently passed statewide legislation targeting queer Missourians.

According to a draft agenda, the resolution specifically cites Springfield's continued adherence to a Mayor’s Initiative of Equity and Equality report, which was adopted by council in 2022.

The resolution is "affirming City Council’s commitment to application of the five pillars of change detailed in the 2022 Mayor’s Initiative of Equity and Equality report to constituents from the LGBTQ+ community and demonstrating City Council’s dedication to continue collaboration with constituents from the LGBTQ+ community and all citizens to improve the culture of inclusion and belonging in Springfield."

Those five pillars include:

  • Dialogue and Understanding

  • Cultural Consciousness

  • Advocacy and Partnerships

  • Structural and Systemic Barriers

  • Personal and Organizational Accountability

The two-page report released last year also states Springfield should be “committed” to the following guidelines.

  • Seeking and listening to diverse thoughts respectfully

  • Fostering a culture of mutual learning through continual dialogue and education

  • Developing awareness of our own existing biases

  • Understanding, valuing, and respecting diversity

  • Cultivating inclusive partnerships to increase intentional and effective collaboration

  • Welcoming diverse voices and advocating for the underrepresented and the disenfranchised

  • Identifying and removing diversity, equity, and inclusion barriers

  • Refining policies and implementing practices to protect the rights of every member of our community

  • Inspiring, modeling, and promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion excellence

  • Honoring individuals and organizations that demonstrate accountability for fostering an inclusive community

The 18-member group that drafted the report was tasked with developing these principles in 2021. While the group aimed to include those of "various cultural backgrounds," the group received some criticism at the time for not including a queer person among its ranks.

Why now?

This new resolution specifically outlining City Council’s support for the LGBTQ community is co-sponsored by four city councilpersons: Monica Horton, Brandon Jenson, Craig Hosmer and Heather Hardinger. This means the bill will only need one more vote to pass in the nine-person body.

The introduction comes less than a month after a letter from a losing City Council candidate who ran earlier this year urged the city to push back against statewide efforts to restrict LGBTQ rights.

The letter urges the body and its members to publicly affirm the "LGBTQIA+ community that they are welcome and safe to live in Springfield."

"Continuous displays of harmful rhetoric within our state legislature have shown that city leaders must step up and rebuke this government overreach," it reads.

Jeremy Dean, and his former campaign manager Liz Wertz, reference legislation at the state level banning or restricting gender affirming care for minors as well as a recent administrative rule by Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey that highly curtails such medical care for minors and adults. Since the letter was sent to City Council, the legislation has been approved by the Missouri state House and Senate, but the administrative rule has been revoked by the Attorney General.

Springfield Councilwoman Monica Horton said a statement of support is the "bare minimum" and "very least" City Council can do.

"Feedback on the treatment and ostracism of LGBTQ+ Springfieldians documented in The Mayor's Commission for Human Rights and Community Relations' 2020 Springfield Inclusion Survey have only been minimally addressed at best and at worst, ignored," she told the News-Leader at the time.

Dean said he would be "ecstatic" to see a formal resolution be passed, even if it is symbolic. His letter also calls on City Council to ban conversion therapy, a discredited therapy that attempts to change one's sexual orientation or gender identity, within city limits. It does not appear the proposed resolution goes that far.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Council to vote on measure affirming Springfield's LGBTQ community